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.

14. Chapter 14: Problems from the Future

Hey ya all! It's been a minute, or actually it feels like a lifetime ago.

I'm immensely sorry for being away for so long. Lots of reasons for that actually.

First: … My 6-year-old cousin passed away in an accident back Easter. It's been hard on me and the rest of the family, I had to devote my time to them and myself during the period of mourning.

Second: I had to finish my exams, which took up a bit of time.

Third: Funeral arrangements required extra hands, I had to help out there as well. Had to step away from the PC for a bit.

I will try and write a bit faster nowadays, but it's gonna be a hard promise to keep though. But I will try.

Also, thanks to a friend, I've learnt that the first installment, Enter the Demon, has been posted on WebNovel, and not by me and it was without my consent. While I'm happy that people are loving the story, I'd appreciate it if any of you want to try this on other similar sites, I'd like to be informed beforehand. Just so I can give my consent to it or not, you know.

But again, thanks for enjoying the stories so far.

Now to answer some reviews:

Stefan Anthony Arbuzinski: Hey man, you're not wrong. Seth is a little less-lethal, but that is due to him having been reunited with his family after several months of being on the Speed Force's payroll, so to speak. Family tends to make anyone's hearts softer; you know. Regarding Griffin Grey, well… You're just gonna wait ?

Guest: 1. That's a wonderful suggestion, I might put that to heart if that's okay. 2. It's not actually true, he was called/referred to as the Avatar back in Enter the Demon, the first installment of this series, if you will.

Ka4tyna27: I haven't decided on that actually yet. Maybe or maybe not. And have Seth his own version of X23… That could be interesting to say the least. Give me some suggestions in a PM, then we can discuss if you're up for it.

guest: Who knows? Fanfiction, after all. Anything's possible in this universe.

hunter41963801: Only time will tell what reason lies behind Anti-Venom's obsession, my friend. I will consider your idea for sure; I promise.

Once again, sorry for the late update…

And now…

Without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 14: Borrowing Problems from the Future

Night has fallen over Central City, the only source of light coming from the numerous streetlamps and the passing cars driving across the lanes. This layer of darkness that has covered the entire city…

Allowing a certain long-haired symbiote-bearer to move through the night. Scream spun into the air, moonlight illuminating her aerial form. Her long hair scattered behind her, each hair strand shooting out like a python. Each of them dug into the nearest rooftop.

Scream pulled on them, yanking her down to it. Eliza landed on all four, her claws digging into the rooftop of the apartment building. Her head twisting from left to right as she took in the sights. She stood up, walking slowly across the edge of the rooftop.

"What do you think of the city?" Eliza asked.

"Too bleak." Her symbiote started. "Without color. could use some." She sharpened the claws that she and her host share. "Should we shed the blood of these weaklings?" She suggested, the two of them looking down at the humans roaming the streets.

"Too many humans, too messy." Eliza argued. She reached the end of the rooftop, standing over an alleyway.

"Give me all your damn money!"

"But that one…" She looked downwards, seeing a man wearing a ski mask. He was pinning a young woman up against the wall with his right forearm pushing against her throat and his other hand holding a large hunting knife to her face. Even through the shadows that come with the darkness and from her elevated vantage point, Eliza was able to see tears roll down the girl's face. Her makeup being ruined with each tear coming out of her eyes. "Feel up for a midnight snack?"

"Always." Scream replied to her host.

Casually, Eliza stepped off the rooftop and landed on the ground without making a sound. She stood up, still listening to the mugger continue to spout his empty threats of hurting the woman he's trying to rob. "How insignificant." She announced her presence.

In a moment, the mugger snapped his attention to the voice and backed away from his victim who slid down to the ground. Both mugger and victim held fear in their eyes at the sight of the long-haired symbiote-bearer that was inches closer to them.

"What? Who are you?!" The masked mugger shouted, pointing his knife at her as his fear drove his actions.

"How insignificant your life must be for you to resort to this." Scream gestured to his pathetic robbery attempt. "For you to try and hurt an innocent, defenseless girl to get money. To threaten her… You're insignificant."

Like a whip, Scream lashed out one of her hair strands and knocked his knife out of his hand. The mugger didn't get a chance to gasp in shock when suddenly he was the one pinned up against a wall. Scream forced his mouth open, making it difficult for him to form any words. "You are… Uninteresting." She admitted, her mouth opening up and her tongue stuck out.

Her tongue shot into his mouth, making the man gag and cough in pain as Scream's tongue traveled through his lungs and into his stomach sack. Scream showed a smirk, manipulating her tongue and forming spikes all around it.

The spikes punctured his organs and his skeleton, his life draining from his eyes and Eliza watched it all with a smile. She retracted her bloodied and bone-dusty tongue from his limp body that fell to the ground.

With a chuckle, Eliza remembered the young girl who was still there on the ground. "You're still here…" She trailed off when feeling something else in the girl's system. Something she hadn't felt before, something… foreign inside the girl. Something… Impure.

"I'm… I'm… I'm sorry. Thank yo-"

She was cut off when Scream wrapped her hair strands around the girl, lifting her up and wrapping her hand around the girl's throat. Her claws had retracted. "You're… Impure, little girl."

The girl didn't get to say anything when her hand dissolved and spread around her entire body, enveloping her form entirely in a white cocoon-like mass made of symbiote mass.

At that moment… The girl thought she was gonna die.

X

(The next morning…)

"I'm sorry, but it's… Null?" Caitlin asked as she placed the cart box with stuff from their loft down on the floor of their new house.

"No, it's Knull. Silent "K"." Seth corrected her as he dropped down several other cart boxes. The entire family has spent the entire day moving boxes with items from their old home into their new one. It took its time but with all five of them helping out, they're getting closer and closer to completion.

Caitlin and Seth worked on getting boxes into the living room and the kitchen whilst the girls readied their bedrooms upstairs. And while the parents were doing their part, Caitlin inquired the elemental about the so-called Klyntar Demiurge that both the Dominators and Seth know about.

Thankfully, the elemental could say the evil god's name now without it affecting his "other".

"And… Could you maybe tell me the entire story from the beginning again?" Caitlin asked as she wiped off dust out of her ponytail.

With a nod, Seth explained the story that his partner told him.

"Venom only knows his past because he still retains knowledge from the original Venom symbiote." Seth started. "But… Long before the universe existed there was a single being who was said to be… The Master of The Void. It's one of his many names, but they all lead to one deity, Knull. An evil and dangerous god of symbiotes."

"Knull came before the creation of the universe?" Caitlin asked in surprise, halting their progress and facing him with undivided attention.

Seth nodded. "He was a god, before the Celestials, cosmic machines that were responsible for the creation of the universe appeared. But Knull he wasn't a fan of it. They brought something into his void, life and planets where life could thrive. They continued to do so, and Knull wouldn't let them go on, letting them continue to tarnish and fill up his territory. He plotted against them."

Caitlin continued to listen to his words, listening only to the tale he has come to learn from his "other". "He created a living sword from his own shadow. And with this sword, he decapitated one of the Celestials. That sword wasn't just any sword… It was the first of the symbiote kind. The first Klyntar, All-Black."

"All-Black?" Caitlin questioned. "The first symbiote in the universe… was a weapon?"

With another nod, Seth continued his tale. "The other Celestials retaliated, forcing Knull back into the void. But… They didn't know that it was his element, his territory. In that void, Knull used the head of the Celestial he beheaded as a forge. With this forge, he empowered All-Black with all cosmic powers that resided from Celestial he slew. Knull, intent on devouring the divine light that usurped his kingdom, created a symbiotic suit of armor from the living abyss. With both armor equipped and his sword more malevolent than ever, he embarked on… A genocidal war against the other gods and life itself. Because of this Knull became known as a legendary figure of terror for divine beings."

"What happened next, Dad?" Frankie shocked her parents with her presence. Beside her are her sisters.

"You listened?" Caitlin asked.

"We could hear it from upstairs." Ruby pointed a finger upwards.

Evelyn impatiently said. "Dad, come on! Go on, we wanna hear the rest. Did he win?"

Chuckling at his daughter's excitement, he continued. "No. He was outmatched, beaten and sent away, cast away to a barren world. He lost All-Black, stripped of his weaponry. But Knull's thirst for genocide was never quelled, merely magnified. With the powers he possesses and hellbent on dying the cosmos black with the abyss, he created an army of symbiotes, intent on conquering life on every single planter and devouring entire civilizations. He did all of this after creating an artificial planet made of the darkness from the void. It was his throneworld, where he watched as his symbiote army extinguishes stars and smother planets in darkness."

"Seriously?" Ruby asked, baffled by the knowledge her father was sharing with them right now.

"Honestly, it might have been pointless to even fight Knull during that time. It went on like this for centuries after all." Seth admitted. "But his reign of terror came to an end when powerful symbiote of his was sent to Earth, one that had been defeated by a god from Asgard. Whatever intense fight happened between symbiote and Asgardian severed the connection between Knull and the symbiotes he's created. It was through this… "Hive"-mind connection that he ordered his symbiotes to bond to lesser life forms, corrupting life itself rather than eradicating it. But without this connection, the Klyntars he created ended up bonding to benevolent hosts. It tainted his Hive-mind as the hosts showed honor and nobility. With these hosts and their influence on them, the symbiotes eventually rebelled against their creator."

"An insurmountable number of symbiotes all over the cosmos returned to meet their maker and fought him. But these symbiotes were his creations, and he was a god, their god. Knowing they couldn't defeat their maker; they chose the other best option that would lead to his downfall. The symbiotes imprisoned their creator within the heart of the throneworld that he himself had created. Knull was sealed away indefinitely. And the planet that became his cage, also became the home of the symbiotes and birthed the name of their species."

"Klyntar." Frankie muttered.

"The name of their people and their home world." Seth said.

A tendril spouted from his back, quickly forming the face of Venom. The Klyntar continued, finishing off the story. "In the human tongue, Klyntar means "Cage." As our god is sealed away by our kind and ours alone."

Both Caitlin and her daughters had lost their ability to speak after hearing the immense story behind Klyntars. They learnt how the universe… At least how the universe of Earth-616 came to be and it was beyond anything they've ever heard before. They learnt that in his universe a malevolent deity had tried to destroy all life in the universe as though it was a cancer to his darkness…

The knowledge left them baffled out of their minds.

Venom added. "As Seth mentioned, Knull became feared and the nightmare of all other deities of the universe. Over time, he had been given various names. But the one that we knew him by the most is… The King in Black."

"The God of Symbiotes themselves…" Ruby said with a whistle of shock. "So, this is the story behind the symbiotes, it's not what I thought. I always thought that the original Venom was that… The original symbiote."

"Oh no, just one of the first that were known on Earth-616." Seth told his child.

"Wait. That battle between Asgardian and Symbiote… Was that Asgardian Thor?" Ruby questioned.

"Don't think so, it didn't look like he had much knowledge about that first time I met him." Seth said. "Maybe it was his father, Odin."

Evelyn chuckled. "Can't believe we're talking about Asgardians like they're a normal thing."

"Honey, I bet you'd be studying Thor in school on Earth-616." Caitlin chuckled. She looked back to her mate and his "other." "But how do you know all of this Seth? Wouldn't Venom be the source of knowledge?"

Venom answered for his host. "We do not recall if the extent of our bond has been explained or not, but we share more than just powers and body, Caitlin. We share knowledge. And our kind, we share knowledge across the universe and through our genetic ancestry. We know our history because it's passed through from generation to generation of symbiotes since the first was born from Knull's shadow. Without a doubt, it is our beginning… But also our greatest shame. Our race was nothing more than a tool for our god, meant only to infest and spread like a disease, to destroy in his name and dye the cosmos black."

"Must be hard to talk about." Frankie noted.

"Indeed." Venom nodded.

"Wait if Knull's All-Black was the first of his kind, wouldn't that make your Venom symbiote the first of his, too?" Evelyn noted.

Caitlin and her daughters watched as Seth and Venom shared a look of confusion before turning their questioning gaze to Evelyn. "What do you mean, Evie?" The host asked.

"Venom, your Venom symbiote, Dad, is the first elemental symbiote, isn't he? Wouldn't that mean he is the first of his kind?" Evelyn clarified.

"Not likely." Seth shook his head.

"Why?" Frankie wondered.

Venom released another tendril, one that formed into a hand and pointed a finger to the top of Seth's head. "We are only considered an elemental symbiote due to Seth's mutation and the blood that we were forced to bathe in during our imprisonment at Stryker's facility. Officially, we are the clone of the original Venom that is part of the 998th generation of the symbiote lineage. Thus, we are part of the same generation, albeit with a few benefits."

"That makes Scream part of the same generation cause she's your sister, and since our symbiotes are your children, it means we're part of the 999th generation." Frankie realized, holding up her fingers. "Cool."

"Eliza…." Seth said with clenching hands. This didn't go unnoticed by his mate and his daughters.

Frankie got his attention. "Dad, it's not your fault."

"She's right, it's her fault for getting your symbiote sample and Peter's blood. She's the one who got Taskmaster involved." Caitlin told her mate.

"I know… Just can't help but feel responsible, you know." He admitted to his family.

"Though something is worrying." Ruby got her family's attention. "Uncle Joe said there are… Four more symbiotes like that."

Evelyn pieced together what her sister was going for. "That means there are four more elemental symbiotes out there. God, we're gonna be busy with that."

"And we still have the Sinister Seven to deal with." Frankie added.

Seth and Caitlin agreed with everything that their daughters had said. Central City would be ground zero for the battlefield with a speed god, a group of seven supervillains and five elemental symbiotes on the opposing side….

It'd be a devastating battle to come for sure…

And on their side… Barry still had to teach a fledgling speedster.

X

During daytime, the members of the team were informed of a fire in progress. Seth jumped out of his new house, promising his family that he'd be back in a moment. He discreetly got out of his house without arousing attention from their neighbors before his "other" enveloped his body.

In an instant, Seth had made his way into the city and swung through it, using tendrils to propel his way through the big city. Getting closer to the site, he could hear the blaring sirens. He arrived at the location, sitting on the rooftop of the opposite building to look down at the blazing building. The entrance to the building is filled with citizens coughing erratically, most likely due to smoke they inhaled from within the blazing establishment.

But despite his current position he was still within hearing range and could hear the officer speak into her walkie talkie. "Detective Patterson just ran inside. He hasn't come out yet. The fire department will not make it here on time."

"Time to work." Seth stood up in his full height, cracking his neck as he readied himself for action.

"Seth, wait!" Barry's voice came through his earpiece, halting the elemental's actions. "Let me and Wally handle this, it'd make for a good start."

Venom reasoned to himself that it'd make for good experience for the fledgling hero. "Fine. Keep an eye on him, it's his first time. We'll step in when things go hairy."

"They won't." Wally confidently stated.

"Careful what you say, Kid Flash." Seth countered.

WHOOSH

When he finished his sentence, two blurs of lightning sped into the burning building.

X

WHOOSH

The two speedsters came to a stop inside of the building. Both of them looked around in search of any civilians still there.

"Help! I'm trapped in here!"

Barry heard and recognized Detective Patterson's voice, finding him inside of a closed office. He was pinned down by a file cabinet.

Following the same direction as the other speedster's eyes, Wally stated. "We gotta get him out of here. This place is up in flames any second."

The Flash examined the door and its frame. "You see the soot around this door?"

"Yeah." Kid Flash nodded.

"Means the fire has no ventilation." Barry informed. "So, if we open the door now, the sudden inrush of oxygen will cause an explosion."

"HEY!" The trapped detective shouted, mentally wondering what they're doing while he's waiting in fear.

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

"Create an exit point for the heat and smoke, and remove all the oxygen at the same time." Barry answered, stepping back.

Wally understood. "Which will put out the fire."

"Yeah." Barry nodded.

"Help me!" Detective Patterson exclaimed.

Flash faced the fledgling speedster. "When I say so, open the door, all right?" Sticking one arm out, he began spinning it around and generated a wind funnel from it. The generated tornado inched closer to the door. "Now." Barry told Wally.

Obliging, the yellow speedster opened the door and the funnel entered the burning office. The tornado removed all the oxygen from the office and pushed out the heat and smoke through the windows that the force was shattering.

The pinned detective watched in surprise and relief as the sea of flames were extinguished. Barry stopped his wind funnel and shared a smile with Wally as they had successfully saved the detective's life.

X

"What do you think?" Venom asked his host, wondering what his opinion on the Scarlet Speedster's teaching is.

"It's something…" Seth trailed off unsurely. As a teacher himself, he understands the need to educate those that need it, especially those that use their powers in the name of goodness for the innocents. But something about it didn't sit well with the elemental.

WHOOSH

A familiar sound of speeding lightning came from the building, the two speedsters returning and dropping off the detective. "About time." Seth stood up, about to leave but noticed something cracking and creaking on top of the building.

The sign on top of the establishment was shaking and about to fall. Neither of the speedsters on the ground and the officers didn't see it. But Venom saw it.

Lightning and wind burst from his body before he leapt off the rooftop, launching himself off it like a rocket.

On the ground, the detective nodded his head. "Flash, thanks." He told the experienced speedster. His and the others' attention were instantly diverted to the elemental who slammed down on the ground. "V-Venom?!"

Venom lashed out his arms, splitting them both into dozens of tendrils. They traveled through the air and grabbed the sign before it fell. The civilians and metahumans turned their eyes up to the sign. Ice traveled emitted from the tendrils' tips, freezing the sign to its position again.

"The hell? Was it gonna fall?" Wally asked.

"Yup. Fire did a lot more damage than expected." Venom declared as he retracted his tendrils, reforming his arms. He walked over to the Scarlet Speedster.

Giving him a thumbs up, Barry said. "Nice job, Venom."

He wanted to retract that compliment but didn't get to when Seth leant his head down and gave him a glaring, menacing look. "What exactly were you two doing there? Having a tea party?"

"No, no, no!" Barry rapidly shook his head. "Just giving Kid Flash some pointers."

"Save the pointers till after we've rescued everyone." Seth snarled, his tongue slithering out and swiping the air like a snake's. "Moron. Next time you wait that long, we're going in and we're gonna strangle you with your own damn suit." He whispered…

Though anytime he whispers, it's practically a shout to everyone close by. So, even the officers heard the anti-hero threaten the hero.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Oh, man, that was so dope. How do you stay so calm?" Wally asked Barry as they and Seth walked through the hallway. "Like, both of you are calm out there. Like, scary calm in the middle of a fire."

"I wasn't there, Barry told me to stay outside to let you two handle it. Would make for good experience." Seth corrected the fledgling hero.

"And that's what it all is, just experience, Wally." Barry answered as he took off his gloves.

"Experience, huh?" Wally noted.

Seth noted. "It's why it's important for you to shadow Barry for a while, try and learn all of his tricks and learn everything he knows."

They entered the Cortex, seeing Cisco with a mug and Caitlin by the computers. Seth saw his daughters on the ceiling, somehow placing cards on it. Wally questioned the elemental. "Shouldn't I be shadowing the two of you?"

"Our fields are too different; you wouldn't be able to learn anything from me. You and Barry's areas are similar, you're both speedsters. Learn from him, not me. Besides…" Seth looked up, directing his attention to children on the ceiling, all three of them playing with cards on the surface. "I have to focus on those three." He pointed a finger at Barry. "So, you focus and learn from him, then you're bound to get somewhere."

Wally smirked. "And then I get to kick some ass?"

As the three girls on the ceiling looked away from their cards, turning their eyes to the yellow speedster who was approached by the viber. "Let me give you some advice, Wally. Being a superhero is not about kicking ass. Well, nope, actually, that's a straight-up lie. There's a lot of ass-kicking involved."

Frankie dropped down from the ceiling, landing on her feet. "If he doesn't have to do more training before going out in the field, I'm gonna be pissed."

Caitlin turned in her chair. "He is training, honey, but you and your sisters have your father with more experience, and you've trained under him and Uncle Matt and Aunt Liv. You've got much more experience and training than him."

"But we need more training now." Frankie crossed her arms. Her sisters agreed, dropping down from the ceiling. "We got bigger fish to fry."

The cards dropped from the ceiling, Ruby using her gravitational powers to make them fall into a stack in her hand. "Or bigger sharks to gut."

Evelyn agreed, shines of light and darkness emitting from her face and caused her marks to temporarily shine. "Dad, how are you gonna train us?" Seth opened his mouth, but his daughter quickly added. "Oh, we already finished setting up our bedrooms."

Thinking that there'd be a whole speech about his daughters' upcoming training, Wally chimed in. "I gotta go to breakfast with Dad, but I'll catch up with you guys later." He sped away, quickly speeding to the mannequin and put his suit on it.

Barry saw that his spot was filled with another man's suit, calling out to the trainee hero. "Yo, that's where-" Realizing that Wally's out of hearing distance, he stopped himself with a sigh of defeat. "Nope."

"Haha, nice job, Wallace." Seth faked impress.

"Dude come on." Barry gestured to the mannequin. "My suit goes there. We can't all have symbiotes like your family."

"Yup. We're awesome, speedsters suck." Ruby bluntly declared. "Nothing but cracked up jackasses in embarrassing onesies."

"It's not a onesie." Cisco countered, the creator of the suit feeling slightly insulted. He walked up to Barry. "Two suits, one mannequin. That is what we call a conundrum."

"Might be time to like… Take down the damn mannequin and not, like, display our secret operations." Ruby confessed, sitting on the console railing.

Frankie looked to Evelyn. "Rubs, sure got some strong opinions today."

Evelyn smirked. "Maybe she misses Miles." Ruby's head turned bright red. "Bullseye."

"Shut up, Evie!" Ruby bellowed like a predatory animal.

Seth was about to jump in, but a strange trilling mechanical sound emitted from his mate. Looking in her direction, he was confused and surprised to see Caitlin beat and punch her power-dampening cuffs into submission. "Cait?" She turned to him with a slightly angered expression. "Why are you beating the cuffs like they owe you money?"

Ruby looked at her mother. "You wanna shake some people down, Mom, I got excellent suggestions just waiting for a good scare."

"Come again?" Seth asked, wondering why his teenage daughter was thinking of shaking people down. And who the hell taught his daughter to think like a damn gangster?

"It's not that." Caitlin answered. "These things have just been on the fritz lately. It makes me feel like a criminal."

Seth kissed her head. "I assure you, you're not now nor ever gonna be a criminal." Caitlin smiled at his words.

"Hasn't been on the fritz, okay?" Cisco pitched in defensively, walking closer to the ice metahuman. "Maybe if you charged the battery like I told you…"

Caitlin faced him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, I'm just supposed to hook myself up to an outlet like I'm some sort of human tablet?" She noticed her daughters laughing at her joke, snickering and giggling at the mental image of their mother charging herself up after plugging into an outlet.

Cisco sternly said, raising a single finger. "Either you charge the cuffs or you go all Frozone on us again." He added a second finger at the end of his sentence.

"Or…" Caitlin stood up, holding out both of her cuffed hands as she pleadingly suggested. "You could fix them for me?" She pouted her lips for effectiveness.

Once again, Seth was dumbstruck by how adorable Caitlin looked in that moment. She'd give a newborn puppy a run for its money with those gorgeous eyes and pouty lips.

Cisco's stern look faded. "Or I could fix them." He accepted.

Caitlin smiled her gratitude. She looked to Seth. "Seth, Joe called before you left for the fire, you have to work with him on a couple of cases."

"Sure." Seth turned to his daughters. "I'll have to go and see if Uncle Joe's available now. In the meantime, you three go into the Klyntar Lab and work out till I come back."

"Aye aye, Dad." Evelyn saluted. Ruby nodded. Frankie gave a thumbs up.

Seth laughed to himself, walking over till he stood under the skylight. In a single jump, he leaped out of the facility.

Caitlin faced her children with a stern look. "That doesn't mean you guys get to go overboard and almost kill each other, okay?" Her daughters nodded immediately, agreeing to their mother's instructions. "Good. I find out otherwise, I ground you till you're all 50."

"That's a bit extreme, isn't it?" Barry mentally questioned her parenting methods.

Giving the speedster a fake glare, she countered. "Wait till you have kids, Barry."

"Sumptuous day, brethren!" H.R. called out as he entered the Cortex, announcing his presence… On a Segway.

"Where'd he get that Segway?" Frankie asked, wondering how he had managed to pay for that.

"Good morning, H.R." Caitlin greeted the Earth-19 native.

"Oh, not just good, it's great!" Harrison corrected her.

"And why is that?" Evelyn wondered.

"Exactly, young Evelyn Snow! Why is that?" H.R spun around on his Segway. "Because I'm finally ready to announce that… The new S.T.A.R. Labs Museum is ready for its opening. Soft opening. So, come, let's take the tour." He drove around the console.

"Tour of the facility you work in? The same one you've been working at longer than he has?" Ruby wondered, directing a gaze to Cisco and her mother.

Caitlin gave a shrug whilst Cisco faced Barry with a hard look. "This could've been avoided. You know that, right?" The speedster hummed his agreement. They all followed the Earth-19 native.

X

(CCPD)

Seth entered the precinct lobby floor via the stairs. Normally, he'd take the elevator like most, but he chose to get some exercise instead just now as he had to meet up with Joe.

He walked towards the area with office desks, bypassing Detective Patterson that the speedsters saved earlier this morning. The saved detective was talking with some other officers. Joe was by his desk and looking over some files by himself.

With a whistle, the mutant got his friend's attention. "Hey Joe."

"Hey." Joe looked up from his files. "Sorry for taking you away from moving your stuff into your new place."

"Ah, it's fine, we're almost finished. Besides, I gotta work to bring home the bacon and all." Seth assured him with a chuckle. Joe chuckled. "But what's the deal?"

"I got a couple of witnesses coming in for two different cases I want your help on. Need your expertise on them both when we have to question them." Joe stated.

Taking a seat beside the desk, Seth inquired. "What are the cases?"

"Christmas Eve, assault at a local station." The detective dropped one folder on the table. He dropped off another one. "Last night, mugging turned murder."

"Speaking of Christmas Eve, Joe…" Seth leant closer to his friend. "Why haven't the entire force been called to Mercury Labs? Is something happening or what?"

Joe, with a burdened look from regret, answered heavily. "Mercury Labs is closed off, every worker has been sent home until further notice and we're gonna have a lengthy talk with both Dr. McGee and Harmon's colleague, Joan Celia. But the reason why we haven't taken action yet is because funeral arrangements have taken its toll on the department."

"How are the families?" Seth asked, thinking of the departed officers' families.

"Mourning the loss of their lost ones." Joe answered. "I had promised to help Barry and Iris move into their new place but then these funerals came up. I had to attend them."

"I know, but I hope you're not blaming yourself still, Joseph." Seth said. Joe didn't answer, though the look on his crestfallen and guilt-ridden face spoke volumes and gave him all the answers he needed. "Eliza's the one responsible for this. Or if you wanna go to the root of the problem, it's my fault for letting my guard down and Taskmaster took a sample of Venom from me."

"Nah, it's neither of our fault." Joe sighed. "But damn feels like it."

"True." Seth agreed. Seeing the pain and sadness intensifying on Joe's face, he changed the subject. "You hear about your son saving Patterson earlier this morning?"

"Yeah, it was impressive. Glad it worked with having him there." Joe smiled.

In the corner of his eye, Seth saw Wally entering the lobby. But at the same time Detective Patterson spoke his honest thoughts. "Yeah, I just don't see why you're defending the yellow guy." Wally began walking slowly as he, Seth and Joe heard what the detective was saying. "Yes, he goes everywhere the Flash goes. But this morning, for example, he's just standing back, waiting for the warehouse to burn down."

Joe gave his colleague an offended look. The officer sitting in front of Detective Patterson countered. "Well, maybe he's training with Flash and Venom, you know, learning the ropes?"

"Okay, well, we send rookie cops out on patrol, expect them to perform. And I don't think training the yellow guy is Venom's job, he's got his own prodigies that can actually fight on their own. Remember, they actually fought against those aliens without waiting for their boss to give orders. They already learnt the ropes, and I doubt they just twiddle their thumbs in the beginning." The detective argued.

Seth struggled not to chuckle. Granted, his daughters didn't twiddle their thumbs in the beginning, but they did fight back a lot when he was training them. Or fight each other a lot more.

"Look…" Joe got his colleague's attention. "I think the yellow guy's gonna surprise you." He pointed a finger at his colleague. "Once he gains a little bit of experience, he's gonna give the Flash a run for his money."

Detective Patterson countered. "You know what I think? I think maybe he's just not that fast." Wally took little offense at the insult. "Or maybe he's just a coward." Wally definitely took offense at that insult.

"You don't get paid to think." Seth laughed at Joe's words. "And Kid Flash ain't no coward."

"Kid Flash?!" Detective Patterson burst into laughter. "Okay, there it is! The name says it all." He stood up, about to walk away. Wally sped away to hide his presence. "Hey…" The detective turned around, facing Joe again. "I say we just send him to Keystone. We already have a Flash." With his piece said, he walked away.

Joe sighed in annoyance at the harsh criticism his colleague had about his son's alter-ego. Hearing a cough behind him, he turned and saw Seth, the mutant nodding his head in the direction of the entrance to the area. Following the direction of his head, the detective saw Wally walking towards him. "Wally."

"I'll look through the files." Seth declared, taking Joe's seat and opened the folders.

"Thanks. I'll be back and help after breakfast." Joe told him before walking up to his son, wrapping an arm around him. "Did you hear any of that?"

"Any of what?" Wally sighed.

"Nothing, it was just a cop being stupid. Take you to breakfast?" Joe offered.

"Please." Wally accepted.

Father and son walked towards the elevators.

Meanwhile, Seth couldn't take his eyes off the images he found in the folder. The sight of them made him clench his fists till they turn white.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Leading the other members of the team into the historical center that he has constructed, H.R. raised a hand to gesture to it. "Behold."

"Whoa." Barry admitted in shock, he had changed out of his suit and wore normal clothes.

Frankie spun around, taking all the displays and murals around them. "You did all of this?"

"Of course, I did." Harrison admitted. "Well, I don't wanna take all the credit. I'm too modest to do that, but, yeah."

Ruby chuckled, examining the display cases around them with her hands. "Reminds me of Earth-2."

"Yeah, me too." Evelyn said, feeling eerily in the place that reminds her of her origin Earth. "But it makes me wonder if we should pursue a path of science like Mom and Dad?"

"We'd make it big." Frankie said, walking with both arms behind her head. "Speaking of big, who exactly is paying for all this?"

"Definitely not us." Caitlin admitted to her daughters' shock.

H.R. laughed at that valid question. "That's a great question. Olga!" At the mention of her name, the formal woman by one of the displays turned around and faced her employer who introduced her. "Allow me to introduce you to your new coworkers. Everybody, this is Olga."

"Da." Olga greeted them in Russian.

The fact that she didn't greet in English caught them off guard, but they waved and greeted her sheepishly, still unsure of why H.R hired a new employee.

"Wells, explain please." Frankie asked.

"Oh, she doesn't really speak English so much. But she's great." H.R. assured them. He turned in his Segway and drove further into the museum he had constructed. "So, right over here, we have the ticketing and the admissions." He pointed around. "Over there are specialty coffees. Oh, uh, that reminds me." He turned around, looking at Caitlin. "Caitlin, initially, I had you targeted for ticketing. But it occurs to me, with a few lessons in foam art, you could very well man up- Excuse me, woman up our cappuccino stand. What do you think?"

Reap, with a mentally raised eyebrow, questioned. "Okay, did he just demote your mother from scientist to barista… Without any real authority whatsoever?"

With a raised eyebrow just like her "other", Ruby replied. "I think he just did." A vein popped in her forehead. "Should have brought my blade."

"What is happening? Your Mom lost her job or something?" Dusk asked. "By the way, who exactly keeps the light on in this place?!"

Evelyn scratched her cheek unsurely. "All… All of those are good questions."

"What's the point of this museum?" Magenta asked her host.

"Hell, if I know." Frankie admitted. She then pitched in. "Wells, no offense, but I think my Mom's gonna have plenty to do as it is."

"Frankie's right." Cisco agreed with the ferrokinetic.

"Can I ask you a question?" Harrison jumped in. "Do you want to eat pizza pockets and chocolate doughnuts for every meal for the rest of your life? You don't. Nobody wants that." Caitlin watched as her daughters each gave arguing looks. She does feed them more than just pizza pockets, thankfully. Their Klyntar partners, though, stuck to their chocolate-based diets. "What you want is an income, and we, collectively, need a cover for S.T.A.R. Labs for our continued operation."

"He makes some good points." Barry admitted after thinking it over.

Ruby glared at both Harrison and Barry. "He makes me into some gift clerk, I'll punch his lights out."

"I assure you, young Ruby, after careful consideration I've deduced that you and your sisters are unable to work as clerks without scaring our customers, either physically, emotionally or mentally." The three girls nodded their acceptance, their mother briefly wondered if she was doing something wrong there. The Earth-19 native turned around, gesturing to a specific spot with a remote in his hand. "Now, for the pièce de résistance…"

Upon pressing a button, a device in the floor trills. A light emits from it, revealing the familiar form of Cisco Ramon in a hologram. The sight of their friend in a hologram left their mouths agape. Cisco listened closely as the hologram of himself spoke.

"Welcome to S.T.A.R. Labs." Holo-Cisco greeted them.

Barry and H.R. laughed at the sight; Caitlin covered her mouth as did her children. Cisco pointed a finger at the hologram. "I'm sorry, did you make a hologram of me?"

They moved closer to the flickering hologram; Harrison explained. "Well, Francisco, you made it perfectly clear you didn't wanna be a tour guide. You're not. You're a virtual tour guide."

"Think this is worse." Evelyn quipped.

Cisco rapidly nodded his head. "Evie's right on that. This here falls under the umbrella of "not wanting to be a tour guide.""

"On we go." H.R. pressed the play button, the hologram continuing.

"My name is Francisco Ramon." Holo-Cisco continued, flickering throughout his speech. "I wasn't always the esteemed engineer you see before you. It was my love of SCIENCE… that allowed me to overcome my tough upbringing and join S.T.A.R. Labs before our beautiful and handsome founder, Harrison Wells, stepped down." They could definitely see that H.R. have added his own personal touch to the speech. "I hope my love of SCIENCE will inspire some among you to join the scientific community."

Harrison turned to the others, awaiting their reaction and more importantly, their compliments. "Wow." Cisco started off.

"Thanks." He accepted.

Cisco continued. "Here's the thing: I don't sound anything like that."

"My love of SCIENCE!" The hologram got their attention. "My love of science…" He said in a distortive and slow voice. "My love of science…"

H.R. shut it off. "Yeah, I'm gonna need you to take a look at that." He told the viber.

"I can't do that, cause I have important things to do right now, so, yeah…" Cisco answered as he walked away.

"Girls, begin your training." Caitlin told her daughters. "And I gotta go meet Seth at CCPD. See you later." She quickly ran away and through the exit before the Earth-19 native could say anything. He didn't even bother directing his attention to her daughters who have already made their way to the Klyntar Lab.

X

(CCPD)

Seth bit the nail of his thumb as his eyes wandered over the images in the folders, taking in the violent images of the crimes for what was probably the hundredth time in the short period since he was left alone with them.

Joe hasn't come back yet, allowing the mutant all the time in the world to examine the photos. Each of them made him clench his teeth madly in rage.

The first case folder showed photos of a local gas station, one of the display refrigerators is completely caved in. There weren't any blood stains on it, so no humans were cut but the image did show glass shards that scattered all around the floor.

"Hope whoever this happened to is okay." He told himself in a whisper.

While the photos of the first crime shocked him, the ones of the second crime folder horrified him and he had to restrain himself from releasing smoke with his elements running wild inside of him.

The photos of the second case showed an alleyway, the furthest wall in the back of the alley was completely reddened with a fresh layer of blood. Laying in front of the red wall is a headless body of a man wearing filthy clothes. His hands are clad in black gloves. The headless body reminded him of only one person who could have done this.

"Only one person could have done this." Seth realized, knowing exactly who the culprit is.

"You're thinking Eliza Harmon, right?" Joe said, taking the seat beside the desk. Seth turned to him with a nod. "I was thinking the same. The one at the gas station, that one I'm confused about."

"You said you had witnesses on both cases, right?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, one of them's coming in. The other's at the hospital." Joe pointed a finger at him. "Was hoping I could have both you and Caitlin and help me out with the second witness."

"Something wrong with that one?" The mutant asked.

Joe sighed. "Gonna wait with the answer till the first witness is done."

"Sure, Caitlin's about to show up anyway." Just as he mentioned her name, in the corner of his eye he saw Caitlin walking towards them. She showed a smile as she waved at her mate. Returning the wave, he added. "Speaking of the sun…"

"Think I run a bit colder than that, babe." Caitlin joked walking up to her mate and the detective. "Hey Joe."

"Hey, perfect timing." Joe stated, confusing the doctor. "I was hoping you and Seth could maybe help me out with a case, if possible."

"Sure. I have to check on Julian first, then I'll be back and help out with the case work." Caitlin said.

Seth faced his mate. "Julian's sick or something?"

"Don't know about that, but figured someone should check up on him. Can't be easy to find out a speed god's been using you like you're a doll from Sesame Street." Caitlin quipped.

"Still not a fan of Elmo." Seth added.

Joe narrowed his eyes at that confession, wondering what lies behind those words.

Caitlin smiled. "I'll check on Julian, then I'll talk with this witness." The two of them nodded their thanks and watched as the doctor walked away.

"Let's get to work." Joe told his partner who nodded, the two of them moving into the lobby to see if the witness from the local gas station had arrived.

X

(CSI Lab)

Caitlin stepped into the laboratory where the CSI scientists reside, she saw Julian working on something at the centrifuge.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Julian looked away from his work. He looked into the reflective surface of an object on top of his centrifuge, surprised to see Caitlin in the reflection. "Ah…" He turned around, meeting the doctor's eyes. "Hello, you."

"Hey." Caitlin greeted her.

"Am I in for another kidnapping?" Julian sniped.

"Okay, I deserved that." Caitlin accepted. Julian scoffed as she added. "No, I just came to check on you. We haven't seen much of you since Christmas."

Julian took off his gloves. "That's very sweet of you. I'm doing well, thank you."

With a glance at his table, Caitlin found a bottle of pills which she took in her hands and read the label. "You know, what Savitar did, forcing you to hurt people-"

"Savitar was controlling me, okay?" Julian cut her off, standing up from his chair. "As far as I'm concerned, my conscience is clear."

"Really?" Caitlin questioned. She held up the bottle of pills for his eyes. "Then why the zolpidem? Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Hardening his expression, Julian snatched his bottle from her hands and demanded. "Why don't we stop playing games, Doctor Snow, and you tell me what you actually came for, rather than accusing me of having insomnia?" He quickly walked around his table, taking a seat there.

Caitlin turned to him. "I actually need your help."

Skeptically his attention returned to her. "How can I help you?"

"Well, you're the world's foremost specialist on metahumans." Caitlin noted.

"Yes, this much is true." Julian agreed.

"And I need you to help me get rid of my powers." Caitlin stated her problem. Giving her his full attention, Julian listened as she continued. "I've tried everything. I've run every test, blood, DNA. And I can't reverse this." She fearfully said. "I need to get rid of my powers before-"

"Before what?" He asked.

"Before I hurt someone else, the way I hurt you. Before I hurt someone like my daughters." Caitlin stated.

Curiously and carefully, he inquired. "And what does Seth think about this? I'm not looking to get on Venom's bad side."

"He knows about this." Caitlin vaguely said.

Another hard look aimed at her as Julian said. "I don't cure metahumans. I put them in prison." Caitlin grimaced at his brutally honest words. "You're on your own, I'm afraid." He returned to his work.

Caitlin's attention turned to her power-dampening cuffs around her wrists that are trilling loudly. With a horrified look, she rushed out of the CSI lab and into the hallway. "No, no, no. Please…" She chanted to herself.

Leaning against the wall, she opened and reached into her handbag. As her eyes turned white, she pulled out the chargers for her cuffs. The rapid trilling sound, announcing their power levels closing in on zero, came to a stop when Caitlin plugged her chargers into them.

The cuffs were repowered, Caitlin sighing in relief at the effects and leant against the wall, her eyes returning to their normal brown color.

She couldn't keep relying on the cuffs that can run out any time due to lack of power.

X

"Randy Sermon?" Joe got the attention of the young man with his arm in a sling.

Randy looked up from his phone, seeing the detective and Seth there. "Yeah, that's me." He nodded his confirmation.

"You're here to make a statement, right?" Seth asked. Randy nodded.

Joe gestured to himself. "I'm Detective Joe West, the primary assigned to your case." He pointed to Seth. "This is Seth Fury, civilian consultant to the CCPD. Randy, come with us and we'll take your statement."

"Sure thing, man." Randy stood up, grunting in pain as he moved. His hand clutching a bag.

"Easy, pal." Seth told him, helping the young man towards the area with the desks. He took the bag that was in his hand, the contents rattling and clanking strangely. Being close to him, Seth could see healed bruises on his other arm that wasn't in the sling. Small cuts and scratches were around his neck, thankfully they were either covered up with bandages or healed. But he was still in much pain, making it difficult for him to move around. "Looks like you've been put through the wringer, buddy."

"Feels like I was in a Deathmatch with a gorilla, and it was just one attack." Randy admitted as the mutant helped him sit down. "Thanks." He expressed his gratitude.

Joe took his seat and pulled out his notepad. Seth stood beside his friend. The detective began. "Mr. Sermon, can you describe what happened the night of the attack?"

Randy nodded. "I was unlucky that night, Detective West, in more ways than one. It was Christmas Eve, and my boss asked me to work the one shift none of the others could. I had an hour of my shift left, thankfully."

"And that's when you were attacked?" Seth inquired.

"I think so, yeah." Randy answered unsurely, his head hurting from the events from Christmas. "I heard the front door open twice. I thought it was some cat opening the door again and again. First time I looked up, no one was there. The second time… I saw this… Other Venom."

Seth's eyes expanded. "Other Venom?"

"Yeah, you know that white Venom that fought OG Venom fought against some time before Christmas." Randy explained.

"Anti-Venom." Joe said.

"Yeah, that's the one!" Randy exclaimed, winching in pain because he jumped. "That's the guy that attacked me on Christmas Eve. He just stood in front of me and demanded my computer."

"Your computer?" Joe asked, his pen noting down all the information he's receiving. Randy nodded rapidly. "You know why he wanted your computer?"

"No idea, Detective." Randy showed the bag that he brought along. "But this is what he did to it after he was done."

Grabbing the bag for the witness, Seth opened it and saw that his computer had been smashed into pieces. Must have been Anti-Venom's way of hiding his tracks. "Randy, you know why he wanted your computer?"

Randy shook his head. "No idea, man. I stuttered once; big guy swung me into the fridge. Broke my arm from that on top of a one-hit KO." He held his broken arm in the sling.

"At least you're alive." Joe said.

"Trust me, I'm thanking my lucky stars myself." Randy admitted. "Would have liked it more if he hadn't smashed my PC, though."

"We know." Joe nodded. He took out his card and gave it to the witness. "Thanks for coming in. If you remember anything important, give me a call." He nodded his agreement. The detective looked to the side, making eye contact with Officer Michaelson. "James, mind escorting Mr. Sermon here down to his car?"

"Course not. Come with me, Mr. Sermon." The officer said, helping the young man up and led him to the elevators.

Joe turned in his chair, looking at the elemental that stood beside him. "You got any idea why Anti-Venom wanted to surf the Internet?"

"Probably check his Tinder account, you never who's into the entire long-tongue-thing." Seth quipped. Joe shivered at that mental image. "Anti-Venom must be regretting his choice now, with him stalking a teenage boy's internet browser. His browser history must have scarred him."

"Seth… Let me ask again: You got any idea why Anti-Venom surfed the Internet on a teenager's computer?" The detective asked seriously.

"No idea, I can't imagine why he'd want that." Seth smirked, holding up the bag. "But maybe the tech wiz of S.T.A.R. Labs can work his magic and get some information from what remains of this."

"You gonna bring it to Cisco?" Joe asked.

"You got work for Cisco?" Caitlin asked, chiming into the conversation as she entered the area. "Bring it to him fast, he's looking for an excuse to get away from H.R."

"What, did Cisco tell him to pay for his own coffee now or something?" Seth joked.

"No, it's about his S.T.A.R. Labs Museum idea." Caitlin said, both Joe and Seth giving her confused looks which she shook off. "I'll tell you all about it later. But Joe, didn't you have another case that you'd like me and Seth to help you with?"

"I do." Joe nodded, reaching for the second file folder that Seth has. He opened it and pulled out an image, placing it on the table. "Check this one out."

Together Caitlin and Seth saw the image, seeing that it was an MRI scan of a human brain. And not just any human brain, it was that of a heavy drug addict. Caitlin narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "This person's…"

"Been chasing the dragon too many times?" Seth quipped, though was just as shocked as his mate at the MRI scan before them.

"Yeah." Caitlin muttered, picking up the image and holding it in her hand. "The basal ganglia, the area for pleasure and motivation, it's practically burnt out. It's unbelievably damaged."

"Same goes for the extended amygdala…" Seth pointed at the image. "It's practically lit up like a wildfire. It's like this person's been on drugs the entire day, or even a week."

"We thought the same." Joe admitted, most of the medical terms they utilized went over his head.

""Thought?"" Caitlin noted.

"This person's brain?" Joe tapped the brain scan. "Her name is Kayla Turner, a 20-year old young woman who's a known drug addict in Central City. She's been brought in more times than I can count. She had been snorting so much cocaine at one point, it was snowing out of her nostrils when she was brought into a car. This is how her brain looked last time we brought her in."

""Looked?"" Seth noted.

Without saying a word, Joe reached into the folder again and pulled out another image of a brain scan. "Same person, same brain, but unbelievable." Once again, the doctors examined the image, their eyes widened in shock as a result. "She's completely clean… After one night."

"One night got her clean?" Seth asked skeptically, unsure if he could believe his best friend's words or not. "How is that possible? There needs to be treatments for this, medicine and months of rehab to get someone this clean. One day is impossible."

"Spoke to her before… and Kayla admits to her being saved from a mugger… By your sister, Seth." Joe declared.

Caitlin tilted her head. "Liv's here?"

"No. Venom's sister." Joe clarified. Seth clenched his fists. "Apparently, Scream saved her, ate the mugger's intestines and his head, and even got her clean somehow?"

"Is that possible, Seth?" Caitlin asked him.

"Klyntars can heal their hosts, but that's in exchange for them sharing a body." Seth stroked his chin in thought. "But healing someone other than the host… That's not an ability I've heard of symbiotes having. Carnage, the original Venom, my own, and those of our daughters… They don't have that ability."

"And if Scream's a clone of my symbiote, then why would Scream have an ability that my Venom doesn't have?" Seth muttered his great confusion. "Joe, what else do you remember from Christmas Eve, when you and the SWAT team entered Mercury Labs? Eliza must have done something other than break the class with the Scream symbiote."

Recalling the events of that night, forgoing the bloodshed of his comrades-in-arms, Joe snapped his fingers when remembering something else. "Eliza put something in her mouth before she broke the glass. Something like a vial."

"Whatever was in that vial must have given Scream healing powers." Seth deduced.

Caitlin took the folders in her hands. "Joe, send everything you have on Kayla. Statements, medical files, everything. Me and Seth will work on her case at home while Cisco works on whatever's in the bag." She declared.

"Sounds like a plan. I will. Call me if anything shows up." Joe accepted, the two doctors giving their nods of confirmation and agreement.

X

(Snow-Fury Residence)

"You've never really heard of symbiote healing powers like this before, Seth?" Caitlin asked as she overlooked the files again for the third time. After a quick trip to S.T.A.R. Labs to deliver Cisco the PC remains, she and Seth returned to their new home and are now seated beside each other on the sofa.

"No." Seth answered. "But it must have been whatever was in the small vial that she swallowed as well. But I have no idea what it could be, though." He leant against the back of the sofa, rubbing his eyes. "But for the life of me, I can't figure out what she could have mixed the Scream Symbiote with to get those powers." A thought crossed his mind. "What if the girl's a meta?"

"You think that's the case?" Seth shrugged unsurely at the question. "Maybe." Caitlin dropped the files, leaning against the sofa with her mate beside him. Staring up at the ceiling, she laughed to herself.

Hearing and seeing her laugh out of the blue, Seth inquired. "What is it?"

Caitlin turned her head, facing him with her chestnut brown eyes. "Our first case in our new Home Sweet Home."

Seth smiled, turning to face her with his blue eyes. "Is it as special as you hoped?"

"Not exactly, lot bloodier than I wanted." Caitlin sheepishly confessed, gesturing to the image on the table of the bloodied alleyway. "But it's still nice to do this." She said, trailing a hand up and down his bare arm.

"Yeah, but hopefully in the future we can reduce the number of bloody images I have to bring home from work." Seth admitted, his fingers touching her thigh, making circles on her soft skin. "And get more photos of our beautiful family." He added, looking at the framed photos of their family that are either on the walls or the shelves.

"Yeah." Caitlin leant closer to him, he responded with the same and leant closer. "I'm happy we did this, moving into a house."

"I do get good ideas every now and then." Seth chuckled.

"Funny you should say that…" Caitlin showed the good idea she had in mind, leaning further ahead and placed her lips over his. Seth tilted his head, deepening the kiss and pulled her closer with a hand on the back of her head. His fingers gently stroked her long brown hair as he focused his attention on her.

The two of them stayed locked together by their lips for several moments, but to them it went on forever. The two of them embrace one another through this act alone, sharing a deep and passionate kiss in their new home.

It wasn't their first, and certainly wouldn't be their last kiss, not in their new home sweet home.

Their moment in heaven was interrupted by the sound of Seth's phone ringing. With a reluctant sigh, he pulled away from Caitlin and gave his mobile cellphone an annoyed look. He picked up the phone, checked the screen and saw it was Joe calling him.

Accepting the call, he placed it to his ear. "Joe, it's me."

"Good. Got some news. Dr. McGee just called." Joe started.

"Ah, yeah? What did she have to say?" Seth wondered.

Joe continued. "She said her schedule had been cleared up and she was free for a little chat in an hour. You available?"

"Wait a second." Seth covered the speaker when he pressed it to his chest, turning to meet Caitlin's eyes. "Joe's got a meeting with Christina McGee; you need me in the next hour or so?"

"No, get going and help Joe." Caitlin assured him.

Smiling gratefully, Seth put the phone back to his ear. "I'm available, see you at Mercury." He hung up and stood up. "Guess Mercury Labs is the next destination." He stated with a yawn. "I'll be back as quickly as possible."

"Take your time, I'll make dinner and wait for the girls." Caitlin stood up, sharing a kiss with him.

Seth smiled at that and walked towards the door, exiting his house with a wave to his beloved mate.

X

(Mercury Labs)

Standing in front of Mercury Labs, Joe and Seth found the state of the facility unbelievable, as though it wasn't the facility they were used to seeing. The entrance and the ground surrounding it are closed off with yellow police tape.

Seth and Joe went under the yellow tape, entering the premise of the facility. The detective sighed in disbelief at the destruction around them, taking a few moments to take in dried blood of the officers that he once fought with.

"Can't believe it's still this messy." Seth noted at the state of the entrance. "Thought it'd have been cleaned up by now, Christmas' been some time now."

"Captain Singh wanted the entire facility closed off, public and employees included." Joe announced, he looked around, the two of them standing in the lobby and took in the interior. Much like the ground outside the entrance, there is much dried blood on the floor. "Think Dr. McGee decided against cleaning up the place for a while as well."

"That is correct, Detective West." Christina McGee got Seth and Joe's attention. She walked towards them with a heavy expression on her face, her exhaustion showing itself as she had dark circles under her eyes. "I've declined offers from our usual partners to clean up the facility whilst CCPD does their work."

"Are you doing okay, Dr. McGee?" Seth asked her, concerned about the facility CEO.

With a sigh, she answered. "To be blunt, Dr. Fury, I've had my fair share of bitter days. But those of late trump those quite easily."

"Sorry for what happened to you and your facility, Dr. McGee." Joe told her, extending his apologies.

"Likewise, Detective West, you lost many colleagues and friends on Christmas. You have my condolences." Christina said. Before either of the men could say anything else, she started. "Thank you for coming today. I was hoping to hand off some of the projects that Ms. Harmon worked on here to you."

"You got them all?" Joe asked, him and Seth following her to an empty receptionist's desk.

Christina answered. "Most of them, there were several ones Eliza brought home which haven't been recovered yet." She reached over the counter, pulling up a stack of folders. "These…" To Seth's surprise and Joe's dismay, she pulled out a second and third stack of project folders. "Are the projects she worked on here by herself."

Seth raised an eyebrow. "There's more where she worked with others?"

"Exceedingly more, yes." Christina bluntly said. "Eliza was very dedicated and determined at her work, never wavering or hesitating to work multiple projects. Most of which she worked with Joan Celia, her close friend and coworker."

"Has she been to work lately? Or come to the facility?" Joe asked.

"She has, frankly, but those times were for handing in her resignation, which I managed to talk her out of." Christina answered, shocking the two. "She feels responsible for what happened with Eliza, a close friend of hers… Someone she loves turned into a villain before her eyes, murdering people in this very building."

"She couldn't have known about this." Seth said confidently. "I was there, remember, Dr. McGee."

"I remember indeed, Dr. Fury." Christina said. "Thanks again for helping save my facility, it means the world to me as its owner. But I don't know what else to say to Joan or my other employees."

"Keep them from resigning and tell them that CCPD is working on the case." Joe told her. "And we're gonna find Harmon and put her behind bars."

"Thank you, Detective." Christina showed a small smile. "But you also have to talk to Joan, correct?" Joe nodded. "Please be gentle with her, she's been through much as is." Joe nodded his assurance. "Then please, call me if you require my assistance." She told them.

"Of course." Joe said. Christina bid them both farewell and walked away. The detective turned to the elemental. "What do you think?"

"Think it's time for me to patrol the city and find either Taskmaster and the Sinister Seven or Scream, or both, ideally." Seth clenched his fists. "They've been gone too long out here, too free."

"You swing, I'll drive then." Joe turned a grim look to the stacks of folders. "Which stack do you wanna take?"

X

Inside the jewelry store, the eye-patch wearing Jared Morillo stood in front of the display case with expensive jewelry and pulled the trigger of his high-tech advanced rifle. The high-tech weapon chiming and trilling as the eight spots on the barrel shone brightly red one by one. The nozzle shined a similar red color.

Seeing that, the bound store staff members covered their faces just in time as the robber's advanced rifle released a sonic blast from the nuzzle. In an instant, the display cage's glass completely shattered, allowing free access to all the expensive jewelry within.

Jared yanked the bag out of the staff member's hands. Returning to the shattered display box, he stuffed the diamonds and jewels in the bag.

"You pay for those?"

Jared lifted his head, snapping around and saw Venom standing there. Tendrils spouted from his hand, wrapping around the bag and the bound staff members, getting them out of the way.

WHOOSH

The robber was too distracted by the mutant's presence, allowing Barry an opening for him to come and snatch the store diamonds out of his hands. With a sigh, he told the eyepatch wearing robber. "See, I'm living with someone now. So, I can't have criminals constantly interrupting our alone time."

"Does he literally think anyone, including the bad guys, are gonna care about his private life?" Venom quipped.

"Gotta amuse himself I guess." Venom said.

Glancing at the speedster, Jared said. "Flash." He looked over his shoulder, seeing the elemental. "Venom, too."

The moment Barry saw that robber's face, his mind was instantly flooded with the memories of that news announcement from the future. He could even recall the announcer's words when speaking of the robber. "Morillo was found guilty of grand theft and aggravated assault after he was caught by both Venom and Flash…"

"Flash!"

Seth's demonic, urgent voice snapped the metahuman out of his thoughts, but it was too late, and he was sent flying by Jared's sonic blast from his high-tech weapon. Barry flew over the table. The robber turned around, aiming his rifle at Seth who held up his sword, showing the blunt side.

"I know you're tough, Venom. But I know your weakness." Jared admitted, adjusting his rifle and setting it to max. Pulling the trigger, he released another powerful sonic blast. Due to the short distance between them, Seth was unable to avoid it, resulting in him being sent flying through the glass behind him.

Venom came to a stop, sticking his hand into the asphalt as he was shot out of the jewelry store. "Sound attacks?" He scoffed. "Fucking tech, keeps evolving every day and still ends up in the bad guys' hands."

His ears perked up at the sound of a revving engine. Looking up, Seth saw the robber drive out of the entrance on a motorcycle. The robber came to a stop, looking at him with his one eye and showed a smirk. "Try and catch me, Venom."

Putting on a show, the robber spun around with his motorcycle and left a black circular mark. Seth stood back on his feet, craning his neck. "Confidence ain't gonna get you anywhere, pal."

As lightning and wind sparks and gathers around his entire body, Venom lashes out both of his arms. Each outstretched hand grabbed onto the rooftop edges of two opposite buildings close to him. Stepping backwards, he then pulled back his arms, launching himself in the direction of the robber.

Using his side mirror, Jared was unsurprised when seeing the demonic elemental shoot after him. But he expected this and was prepared for a prolonged battle with him. Which is why he didn't even flinch when Venom was right behind him, raising a hand and turning into adamantium before curling his fingers into a fist.

But to Seth and Venom's confusion, the robber took out his high-tech weapon again and aimed it away from the elemental. Swinging down his fist, the elemental's confusion came to an end when the trigger of the rifle was pulled and unleashed a short but powerful sound blast.

Seth groaned at the sound but continued his downward swing. But Seth realized what the sound blast was for, as it shot Jared out of the way, forcing the adamantium fist to slam and embed into the ground. Showing off superior motorcycle skills, Jared spun the motorcycle around and carefully took aim at the mutant again. Pulling the trigger again, he released another close-range powerful sound blast.

Jared failed to notice the mutant pulling out his crystal sword, using it to block the incoming sonic attack.

Venom lowering his sword, giving the robber a snarl. "Nice try."

"Guess repeating the same trick won't work on you." Jared muttered to himself while turning to the dial, setting the output to the maximum and highest level.

Seeing that, Seth stuck his sword in the ground and clenched his fingers. "You seem to know a lot about us. How?"

Leaning down while on his motorcycle, Jared placed the nuzzle against the ground. "Is it a crime to prepare yourself against the biggest obstacles in your path? A little research never hurts, after all." He placed a finger on the trigger.

Clenching his hands into fists, Seth lowered himself to a knee. "Doesn't seem like research to us. How'd you prepare against us?"

"Who knows? It's pointless. After all, you're gonna be dead after this." Jared admitted.

The robber pulled the trigger of his high-tech rifle, which released a quick chiming and trilling sound as it charged in an instant. The advanced weapon then released a powerful sonic wave through the ground, the force of which pushed Jared back.

Snarling loudly, Seth thrust both of his arms into the ground and split them into dozens of tendrils under the asphalt. Lightning, fire and black flames cloaked his pitch-black tendrils, traveling through the ground with incredible speed.

The element-cloaked tendrils met the sonic wave, clashing against one another in a violent collision. Their meeting resulted in a clash that tore open the ground, pushing up dirt and asphalt at the same time. Flames, both red and black, melted pieces of rock. The lightning and sound blast together sent the melting rock pieces flying in various directions.

Worst of all, the meeting between the two attacks caused a thick smokescreen to form between the robber and the elemental.

Seeing the smoke hinder his field of vision, Seth expanded his "other's" senses to locate the wielder of the strange high-tech weapon. His eyes widened in shock when feeling his opponent's missing presence. Yanking up his tendrils from the ground, tearing up the asphalt even more than before, he used the momentum to release powerful air and blew the smoke away.

Much to his annoyance, Seth saw that the robber had gotten away….

Or rather, he saw Jared Morillo had gotten away.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

In the medbay of the facility…

"OW!"

Seth screamed at the top of his lungs as his girlfriend pinched and pulled on his ear as though Caitlin was scolding an immature brat. Their daughters flinched and backed away at the sight of their mother mercilessly yanking their father's ear. They were sure they could see the flesh tear, which made them shiver and cover their mouths in disgust.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Seth chanted apologetically, hoping his girlfriend would show mercy.

"You better be, yeah." Caitlin said, letting go of his ear and allowing him to fall down in a chair. "Last time you're doing that."

"Yes ma'am." Seth nodded.

Iris looked between Seth and Caitlin with questioning eyes. "I'm guessing Caitlin scolding you isn't because of the property damage?"

Caitlin shook her head. "Oh, not at all. I expected that would happen, or worse. But Seth was supposed to tell us if he's going out. Instead of telling us, in the middle of dinner, he jumps out of the second floor window without a single word."

"I promise not to do that anymore. I'll supervise the girls when they do their homework." Seth assured his mate. His daughters stuck out their tongues at that, not liking how they're being punished for their father jumping into action without saying a word.

"Barry, time for your checkup." Caitlin told him, the speedster responding with a weak nod. She checked his pulse after he took a seat on the table. "Seth, are you sure you're okay after those sound blasts?"

"Hurt like a son of a gun, but still standing, though." Seth admitted with a groan. "But that guy was seriously good with that thing. Probably, a close-range sniper with military experience or something."

"Let's hope not, otherwise he's even more dangerous with a rifle." Caitlin added.

As he chuckles happily, Cisco smiled widely and ecstatically. "That gun. I've never seen anything like that in my life. I want a gun like that."

Seth chuckled. "We'll snatch it from this dude next time we meet." He promised the viber. Turning around, he glanced at the speedster. "But what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Barry nervously asked.

"Your telemetry readings dropped precipitously." Caitlin followed up.

"I don't know. But it caught me off-guard." Barry sheepishly answered.

Caitlin's phone chimed, she looked at it. Seth chuckled. "Don't tell me the eyepatch scared you? Thought my dad would have gotten you guys used to it."

"That one time scared the hell out of me." Barry admitted.

"But are you sure you're okay?" Seth asked suspiciously, interlocking his fingers. "You looked a bit out of it when you saw that guy. You've seen him before?"

"No." Barry lightly and weakly shook his head. The answer didn't lower the suspicion on the mutant's face.

Caitlin took her phone. "I've gotta run an errand. I'll be right back."

Ruby turned to her mother. "Can I come along?" Her mother nodded her head and the two of them walked out of the medbay.

Iris stated, summing everything up. "Okay. So, we're up against a guy with a futuristic rifle that steals jewelry and looks like a pirate and rides a motorcycle."

"A very modern pirate." Frankie chuckled.

H.R., speaking in a pirate-like voice, said. "A pirate, right. Then, we shall call this scurvy lad by the name of Plunder. Plunder, agreed?"

Barry's eyes lifted up at that name, remembering that this was the same name that the announcer in the future called Jared Morillo. He didn't like that everything happening now is lining up with everything bound to happen in the future, leading to the future where Iris's heart gets penetrated by Savitar.

Cisco faced the Earth-19 native. "Okay, aren't you supposed to be working on, like, your museum or something?"

"Aren't you supposed to be helping me, Francisco, with my hologram." Harrison countered.

"Um, that's not my problem." Cisco said back.

H.R. waved him over, using his normal voice. "Yeah, I just wanna show you something."

Slowly and sheepishly stepping closer to him, Cisco commented. "Why do I feel like I'm walking into a trap?"

"Anyway, I'm gonna get CCPD to monitor all the jewelry stores in the city." Joe said. "This guy must be pretty full of himself knowing he escaped the Flash and clashed head-on with Venom. So, ten to one, he'll be back."

"All right." Barry accepted, getting up from the chair.

"He's had help." Seth noted.

"What do you mean, Dad?" Evelyn asked.

Seth faced her. "This… Plunder knew how to fight me, using sound blasts to take me on. He said he did his research, but it was too fishy. He had help, that's for sure. I can only think of one person who helped me like this."

Frankie knew her father's thoughts, understanding them immediately. "Eliza Harmon." She sneered out the name.

"Bingo." Seth nodded. "Other than our family, our team here in S.T.A.R. Labs, she is the only one who knows about Klyntars and their weaknesses."

"What about… That Iron Octopus dude?" Wally suggested.

Seth raised a confusing eyebrow, not sure who he's talking about. Evelyn snapped her fingers, realizing who he's talking about. "You mean Octavius, Dr. Octopus, right?"

"Yeah." Wally nodded. "Think he might have given him the info?"

"Possibly, but unlikely, Eliza's got the lay of the land with her being a native and all, and since she's been working carefully to get her Scream Symbiote." Seth argued. "But I think we need to look more into this."

The ferrokinetic faced her father. "Want me and Evie to go on patrol, check things out in the city?"

Nodding his agreement, Seth added. "I'll come with you guys when Ruby's done with Caitlin's assignment, we'll go together. Extra eyes and all that." His daughters nodded.

Wally chimed in. "And when Plunder shows up again, we'll be ready for him, though. Right, Barry?"

"No, not we, Wally. This… You're still training." Barry countered, putting a damper on the other speedster's enthusiasm.

Wally countered with his response. "Have you seen my times in the Speed Lab lately? I'm almost as fast as you."

"He's got a point, Barr. Wally's speed has been improving at a good pace." Seth pitched in.

"Seth… Wally… This isn't about speed." Barry stated. "This is more about gaining knowledge and experience. And Seth, you just told us that this guy was prepared to fight you."

"I'm not invincible, Barry. I'm a normal guy with powers just like you and Wally, my daughters included." Seth countered. "If Wally thinks he's ready, let's give the little bird a push and see if he's ready to fly."

"Or we end up pushing him out too soon and he goes splat on a rock." Barry grimly countered, surprising the elemental. Seth didn't expect the speedster to be the guy with the grim humor and attitude, which was usually his job. "Please just trust me on this, all right?"

Wally reluctantly accepted his mentor's words, walking away to leave his family and Seth alone. Scratching his head, Joe admitted. "Look, I am as overprotective a father as you can get, but I gotta be honest, Barr, I'm… I agreed with Wally." He told his other speedster son.

Continuously plagued by the image of his girlfriend killed by Savitar, Barry said. "I don't know, Joe. Let's just see what else we can find on this guy before we let Wally loose."

Evelyn looked to Joe. "You okay with that, Uncle Joe?"

"… Okay." Joe reluctantly accepted, walking closer to the speedster. "Well, remember the best way to teach somebody something is to throw them in the deep end. That's how I taught you how to swim."

"That was…" Barry glanced at him. "I'm still mad about that."

"You can swim now, can't you?" Joe asked with a guilt-free conscience.

Barry nodded.

Seth looked to his daughters. "Come on, girls. We got patrol to do." He told them, leading them out of the medbay.

X

(CCPD)

"Is it true that you actually had a nightmare of Carnage attacking the city, Mom?"

That question from Ruby caught Caitlin off-guard, making her shoot her a shocked look. "You know about that? How? That was way before Seth had adopted Frankie."

"Dad told me a while back, been meaning to ask you about it." Ruby answered as the two came to a stop on the second floor plan, looking down on the lobby with her mother. "How was it?"

"Terrifying, and I was in the building that caused the particle accelerator explosion." Caitlin chortled to herself. "It was before Frankie had been adopted, sometime before Christmas two years ago. I woke up in the middle of the night, screaming my head off after being chased by Carnage."

"Dad mentioned you hadn't seen him before then, but somehow… You got a perfect image of what that psychopath looked like." Ruby chuckled. "You sure you didn't have powers yourself back then, Mom?"

"I'm confident I didn't, honey." Caitlin admitted, stroking her daughter's bleached blonde hair. "But… Somehow, I got that image, but I didn't tell your father about it until we actually saw Cletus Kasady himself in S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Must have been some visit." Ruby muttered. "Still think it's weird that Carnage's face showed up in your dreams like that, Mom. Must have meant something."

Caitlin shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe." Turning her head to face her daughter's eyes, she said. "You didn't have to come with me, Rubs. Your dad told us he's gonna go out on a patrol with your sisters, you could have gone with them."

"Dad's got backup, you don't. Not much of a choice." Ruby made her feelings clear.

"Ah, you don't trust Julian." Caitlin realized.

Ruby sighed. "Look, I know he was Savitar's puppet, but we don't know if he's completely out of it or not. I'm right to be suspicious. Plus, he's a douche."

"Feel like that's the main strong point." Caitlin chortled. "But I wanted to check on him before, and he called me back now. Let's see what he has to say." Caitlin led her daughter to the CSI Lab.

Inwardly Caitlin still remembered that horrifying nightmare where Carnage played the main role. It was a scarring memory that had been burned into her brain. She'd never forget the feeling of her running away in fear of her life, running through a blood-soaked version of Central City. Though it was a memory, she could remember the feeling of her feet trenching through the bloody ground, splattering all over her skin and the asphalt. She remembered the blood raining over in a downpour, drenching her in the crimson liquid of life.

More than anything, she remembered the feeling of the absolute terror and horror of being hunted by that monster, like she was some poor prey that had the misfortune to be the target of the sick hunter in red that is Cletus Kasady.

Dream or not… Nightmare or not… She would never forget that horrible dream.

She and Ruby reached the entrance to the CSI Lab. The two walked in, just in time to see Julian close his cabinet with chemicals. The metahuman expert widened his eyes at the presence of Caitlin's daughter, he only expected the mother.

"Got your text." Caitlin stated.

"Hi, both of you. Come, take a seat." Julian directed them to his table. "I know I was rude yesterday."

Ruby narrowed her eyes threateningly. "You were rude to my mother?"

"Yeah, he was a world-class jerk." Caitlin added with a chuckle.

"Yeah, there is a reason." Julian said, taking a seat in his chair.

Caitlin crossed her arms and sniped. "Because you are a world-class jerk?" Ruby chuckled and laughed to herself.

With a sigh, Julian said. "Fair enough." Leaning back in his chair, he confessed. "Listen, I've been trying really hard not to think about my alter ego, about what he did. And seeing you…" He stared at Caitlin. "It just brought it all back."

Caitlin took a seat in a chair, Ruby pulled up another one as her mother told the metahuman expert. "Look, what Alchemy did was not your fault."

"You were Savitar's puppet, Albert." Ruby added, hoping her words would ease his guilt.

"Yeah." Julian scoffed at their words. Opening up his folders, he said. "Tell that to Dave Frieman to Ben Edwards, Jorge Gonzales." Neither Caitlin nor Ruby recognized the names, so Julian elaborated. "These men were part of the CCPD Task Force that Savitar murdered. I should have died, not them." He faced Ruby. "Wish your father had cracked my skull open back then, put me out of misery."

"At that point, he might have thought the same." Ruby added.

Caitlin nudged her shoulder. Turning back to Julian, she said. "Julian, what you're feeling, it's completely normal. It's called survivor's guilt. But it wasn't your fault, okay? You're a victim, too. I…" She struggled to bring out the words of her own crimes. "I tortured people, nearly killed my best friends and I might have even killed the love of my life."

She continued. "I didn't ask for these powers, just like you didn't ask to be used by Savitar."

"Yes, but Dr. Snow, from what I've gathered, you've acted solely out of your desire to save your daughters." Julian pointed to one of the daughters. "Granted, it did hurt people and nearly killed important people in your life, but your goal was admirable and something any parent would do."

"Perhaps." Caitlin nodded, holding her daughter's hand.

"I just don't know how to move forward." Julian said with a heavy exhale.

A flash of inspiration hit Caitlin as she said. "Why don't you come join us at S.T.A.R. Labs?" Ruby gave her mother a sideways glance, wondering where that idea came from. "You can help Team Flash fight metahumans and other threats we're dealing with."

"Being serious?" Julian asked. Ruby wondered the same, her sideways glance still directed at her mother.

"Yeah." She told them both, having seen the wide-eyed look from her daughter. "The entire team, they'd be thrilled to have you. Seth and I would be thrilled to have you onboard."

"Guess it wouldn't hurt to have extra brainiacs on the team." Ruby reasoned, mostly to herself. "We got threats bigger than metas now. More brainpower will help us in this fight."

Closing the files of the murdered officers, Julian said. "I'll give it some thought. Thanks for coming."

The two got up from their chairs and walked out of the CSI Lab.

X

(Saints and Sinners)

The sound of horribly loud rock music filled the insides of the Saint and Sinners bar. The robber from last night, Jared Morillo sat and waited patiently for his partner who had yet to come. With a sigh of frustration due to the long wait, he returned his attention to the plate of uneaten French fries he had ordered.

Another sigh, he began picking up fry by fry, eating them slowly as he dipped them in the ketchup.

"Hope you didn't forget the salt."

Looking up from his meal, Jared looked surprised to see Eliza Harmon take a seat opposite of him in the booth. She looked different from what she was wearing as a scientist. Now she's wearing a red and white shirt under a pitch-black leather jacket. Her legs are covered in a pair of dark-grey pants. Her hair had been done, now hanging off her left shoulder with slightly golden highlights in it.

"You look different." Jared noted, looking at her skeptically.

Eliza smirked. "Needed a makeover. Why, want another one to go with the eye?" She callously pointed to the eyepatch.

"Thanks, but I'll pass." He answered. "You're late."

"Can't be the first time a girl's stood you up." Eliza countered.

"Do I look like a joke?" Jared growled.

"That a trick question?" Eliza countered. Seeing his hands clench, the Klyntar-host smiled widely. She loved that she could spike anger in him so easily. "So, you know why I called?"

"Guess it's to tear my head off, couldn't kill Venom nor Flash after all." Jared said without a fear of death.

"Good guess, but no. Not in the mood for snacks, anyway." Eliza quipped. "Also, I never told you to kill Venom or Flash, just that you should be prepared for them both."

"You know I lost against him." He deduced.

Eliza picked up one of his fries. "Just like I know you warned Venom of your research on him. Gutsy, didn't think gunslingers had that in them." She chuckled.

"What do you want now?" Jared asked impatiently.

Dipping the fry in the ketchup, Eliza ate it in one bite. "Stay away from the three kids that run with Venom. That's all, you can use the Flashes and Venom as target practice as much as you like."

"Flashes?" Jared raised an eyebrow. "Oh right, there's a new one too, the yellow speedster. Shouldn't be too hard to pluck a little weed like him."

"Yeah, just make sure that's the case." Eliza placed a hand on the table. Jared's one eye was on it, and it widened instantly when seeing that it was no ordinary human hand on the wooden surface, it was a demonically yellow-red hand with long white claws that looked more like talons than anything. "Cause if you touch a hair on those kids' heads…"

She dug her claws into the wooden surface, leaving deep scratch marks. "It's the last time you and I will work together, and this time…" She leant forward, an ominously yellow and reddish mass slithering over her eyes. "You're gonna lose more than an eye."

Jared, while showing an emotionless expression, nodded his head and agreed to her terms.

Eliza showed a fake sweet smile and got up from her seat. She walked away and left the robber alone.

Reaching the exit, Eliza raised a hand and then her "other" asked. "Why did you warn him like that?"

"What do you mean?" Eliza asked, stepping out of the Saint and Sinners bar and into the open air.

"Don't play dumb, it's unfitting for you." Scream started. "Why order him not to go after Magenta and her siblings?"

"Morillo will die if that happens, they're stronger than him after all." Eliza smiled. "Besides, I got another gift in store for my darling nieces." She came to a stop, a few feet away from the entrance to the bar. With another smirk on her face, she looked to the side. "You could have joined me for a drink if you were here."

"Don't think you'd make a good drinking buddy." Taskmaster said, stepping out the shadows of the alleyway he had stayed within. He had long since unsheathed his sword and held it tightly in his hand. "Thought the plan was to give those symbiotes to me, not make them your own."

"Only made one of them my own. Besides, Scream likes me best, you know." Eliza quipped, twirling her hair around with a finger and showed some of the strands being enveloped by the symbiote. "And you're welcome to try and take the other symbiotes back by force, sure… If you want them in their current state."

"What do you mean?" Taskmaster lowered his sword, slightly intrigued by her words.

Showing a wider smile when seeing the mercenary get hooked. "The bond between me and Scream is a perfect bond, we've achieved symbiosis. But there's no guarantee that the same will happen to you, Tasky. So, why not just have others deal with the bad symbiosis, wither and die… Then you'll get them after we tinker with them a bit more, making sure they're ready for you and you alone."

"So, you want guinea pigs for the others to dry out?" Taskmaster asked. Eliza smiled. "You're crazier than I thought."

"I'm an enigma, I have multitudes of sides. But I'm sure you're not just here to scold me, are you Tasky?" Eliza asked.

Taskmaster inched closer to her. "Octavius wanted me to bring you to him."

"Alrighty." She accepted, walking towards him.

But she came to a stop when the mercenary raised his sword again to her face, which never waved despite the photogenic sword close to her head. Making eye contact, Taskmaster stated. "Let's be clear about something Harmon: You try anything funny; I end you. In a heartbeat."

Eliza knew that was true. Despite her being the host to an elemental symbiote, Taskmaster still had the advantage of having mimicked the fighting styles of multiple heroes and villains alike. It'd be quite a battle between the two of them…

And one that won't be pretty.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Inside of his workshop, Cisco was working on the malfunctioning hologram projector while H.R. was busying himself with his coffee brewery.

As he was picking the projector apart with his screwdriver, Cisco asked Harrison. "Tell me why I'm in here fixing your hologram."

H.R. faced his back. "Well, I'm just so persuasive. As a matter of fact…" He began stirring the beverages before him. "My partner on my Earth, Randolf, used to say, "Why, H.R., you could convince a cowboy to buy dirt in a sand storm." Cappuccino." Though it sounded like an offer, he had already placed one beside the viber.

Cisco glanced at the beverage before turning to Harrison himself. "Didn't you just have one of those?"

"Oh yeah." H.R. happily nodded before taking a few sips from his own cup.

Lowering his screwdriver, Cisco stood up. "Look, I gotta order more parts for this thing."

"Yeah, no, go ahead. Price is no object." H.R. told him.

Cisco walked towards the exit, where Barry's head stuck out from the side and he asked the viber. "Hey, how's it going?"

"You know, S.T.A.R. Labs Museum, the gift that keeps on giving. So…" Cisco walked out of his workshop.

"Okay." Barry understood.

H.R. held out a cup of cappuccino. "Barry, cappuccino." He offered the speedster.

"Hi. I'm good. I'm sorry." Barry pointed to his own mug with coffee.

"Okay. All right." Harrison accepted. "You know I'll double down." He admitted with both cups of coffee beverages in his hands.

"Yeah, no. Sure." Barry nodded.

Harrison smiled as he began pouring both drinks into one cup. "Is Dr. Furyous still out on patrol with the kids?"

"Yeah, he is. For him, every day is "Bring-Your-Kids-To-Work" day." Barry joked. "I just actually wanted to ask you something about your scientific, romance novels."

"My novels? Yeah. Sure, please. Have a seat." Harrison rapidly said, gesturing to the seat. "Yeah, ask anything you want. Any questions. Yeah."

"All right, cool." Barry took his seat. Lowering his cup and placing it on the desk, he started. "Um, I was just wondering if you've ever written about time travel." That question made Harrison smile. "More specifically, traveling to the future."

"No, my bestseller, "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be," that was…" He chuckled when remembering his bestseller. He took a seat, explaining his book as he did so. "It was all about this guy who's actively trying to prevent his own murder. Won the Nebula Award. It was well-received."

"Wow." Barry said. "Um, so this character, your character, was he able to change his future?" He hoped that was the case, then he'd be able to change the future he and Iris are rolling towards. Before Harrison could continue, Barry added. "More specifically, if he allowed certain events to occur naturally, was he only cementing the very timeline that resulted in a horrible event later?"

"There were two schools of thought." H.R. started. "One faction, one group of fans, they believe that the future is ever-changing. You know, it's not fixed. And so, you could make of the future anything you wish." Barry nodded his understanding, leaning towards that idea. "Another group of fans vehemently disagreed with it. They said, "No, no, no. The future is fixed, and you can't change it, no matter how hard you try.""

Barry hummed at that, not liking the second faction much. Turning his attention back to the scientist himself, he asked. "Where do you come down on a fixed or ever-changing future?"

Voicing his own opinion, Harrison answered. "Well, I think that a man often meets his destiny on the very road he takes to avoid it."

"Meaning…" Barry trailed off, hoping the Earth-19 man would catch on.

H.R. did. "Meaning… The future is fixed."

"Yeah." Barry accepted with a heavy heart.

"Hey." The two turned to the entrance, seeing Seth walk in with a groan. "Hope you enjoyed your little break, Barry, cause we could use your help out there."

"Need a hand with patrol?" Barry asked.

"Nope, a pair of speedy feet. And since you've grounded Wally, we could use you out there. You can cover the whole city in a heartbeat, unlike me and my kids." Seth stated.

Harrison faced him. "So, the three Snow-Fury daughters are busying themselves with patrol… Hmmm."

"What's going on in that head of yours, H.R.?" Seth wondered.

"Oh nothing, but I am sure your daughters will appreciate a nice cup of coffee when they return." Harrison admitted, getting up from his chair.

"That… Might not be so bad for them. Thanks for- And he's gone." Seth stopped mid-thank, seeing that Harrison had already left the workshop without him knowing. "The way he moves so slow and without being noticed, we're sure he's not a meta?"

"He'd be the first Wells we know of then." Barry chuckled.

Gesturing to the speedster's and Harrison's seats, Seth asked. "I interrupt something between you two or something?"

"Nah, man, just a talk…" Barry trailed off, turning to face the elemental with a heavy look. "Can I ask you something, Seth?"

"Shoot." Seth turned and faced the speedster.

"When you diagnosed yourself with Carnage's poison, you thought you were gonna die without any alternative outcome, right?" Barry slowly asked.

"Yup, thought it was gonna be the end of me. Honestly, I thought it was gonna be the end destination of my life." Seth admitted.

"You mean… Like that was your future? Your unchangeable future." Barry commented.

"You speedsters love making it all about time and stuff." Seth chortled. "But yeah, that's one way to interpret it."

"So, you just accepted that future? That you'd just die without any hope of surviving it." Barry continued.

"In the beginning, I did, yeah." Seth answered with a nod. "Back then, I honestly thought I had one foot in the grave, so to speak, with Carnage's poison inside of me. But then I met Caitlin, Frankie, Joe, Iris, Cisco… You…" Barry smiled. "Back then, for the first time in a while, I finally saw a ladder in that grave I was walking into. And when I took those first steps up that damn thing, it was like I saw a hand reaching out for me."

"A hand?" Barry asked, having a feeling as to who that hand belongs to.

Seth looked at his own hand, the palm facing him. "Caitlin's hand. She was waiting for me. It's pretty hard to fall into despair and hopelessness when you think the outcome's obvious, grim and nothing but negative. But try hard enough, show your guts and fight the hardest fight, you're able to overcome even the grimiest situation. Or future, as you speedsters like to."

"So, you don't think the future's fixed?" Barry asked for clarification.

"I don't think the future's fixed, Barry. No." Seth clarified. "My future's my future, and mine to decide." Crossing his arms, he said. "My turn: What's with the future questions?"

"Oh, no. It's nothing." Barry answered sheepishly, shaking his head. "Just common scientific curiosity."

Hearing those words and feeling his "other" telling him it was anything but that, Seth narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "He's not gonna budge…? That's surprising." Parts of him expected him to come out with the horrifying news of the even more terrible future that lies in store for Iris. He thought Barry would bring the entire team onboard for this, all of them working together to prevent his girlfriend's demise.

But knowing that was the case himself, and that it involved his best friend's daughter, Seth opened his mouth. "Does this have anything-"

"Yo, there's a robbery at the Payson Hotel. Seth, the girls are trying to catch up to him right now." Cisco's voice through the speakers cut their conversation short.

"To be continued?" Barry inquired of the mutant.

"To be continued." Seth stood up.

X

In a rush up the staircase, Jared had to lower his head to avoid an incoming arrow that came flying. Raising his head again, he glanced at the arrow that was embedded in the wall to his side. The robber ran up the rest of the stairs, and tackled the rooftop door open with his entire body.

Taking a few steps forward, he let go of his bag with stolen goods before looking around, seeing that the rooftop has a helipad and a guy trying to direct an airborne helicopter as it slowly ascended into the sky again. Taking a look at the entrance, Jared raised his gun and adjusted the ammunition to sound.

"Can't kill you, but figure blocking you will suffice." Jared reasoned to himself as he pulled the trigger, releasing a powerful concussive blast that completely smashed the rooftop entrance to pieces. The entrance crumbled to pieces, blocking off the heroes' advances.

Grabbing his bag again, Jared rushed towards the guy directing the helicopter. "Hey." He got his attention, pointing his high-tech rifle at the man as it charged. "Bring that chopper back." The robber ordered him.

"Leave him alone." Jared snapped his head around, surprised to see Eclipse standing there with an arrow aimed at him. "You really think you could get rid of me that easy?"

"Heard burying your problems usually works." Plunder countered, his firearm charged and aimed at the young hero. "Guess I'll be a bit more thorough this time around."

"You suck at counting, you know." Evelyn stated. Plunder raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"She means us!" Genysis shouted, rushing up from the side of the hotel building and towards the robber from the side. She clenched her hand on her blade, gravitational force wrapping around it.

With his rifle set to fire concussive sound blasts, Plunder took advantage of it. With the rifled trained on Evelyn, he pulled the trigger and the immense soundwave shot Jared backwards while the blast flew towards Eclipse.

Evelyn shadowported, dodging the attack. Ruby's attack failed as Plunder got out of her attack range.

Jared scoffed when he finally slid to a stop. "You kids are worse than pests."

"Got that right." Magenta declared, appearing in front of Jared and lashed out a fist. Using the side of his rifle, he blocked the attack, but it pushed him back slightly. Plunder changed the setting on his weapon, turning it back to the girl and pulled the trigger.

"Look out!" Frankie heard her "other" exclaim. Before the host could move, tendrils shot out of her back and pulled her away from the direction of the rifle just when it projected a laser beam. Her sisters avoided the energy beam, jumping to the sides.

Frankie came to a stop. "Thank you, Magenta." She told her partner.

"Don't get cocky and too hotheaded, Frankie." Magenta urged her host. "Your old man warned you: This guy knows how to use that rifle like an expert, long-range and close-range are his areas of expertise."

"Got it." Frankie clenched both of her fists, morphing them both into maces with spikes. "Guy's tough."

"Worth it, let's take him down now." Genysis exclaimed with a battle-thirsty look.

"Careful, and stick with close-range attacks." Magenta told her sister.

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

Tapping her foot on the surface Frankie reminded them. "Hotel under us, filled with people." She turned her attention back to Plunder. "Venom said he could tear up the ground with his gun alone. Imagine what he could do up here."

"Rather not." Evelyn said, her bow slithering back into her arm. In her left hand, she formed a hardened symbiote mass into a handle before ejecting a sharp blade from it. "Close-range it is."

"And make sure that thing isn't pointed at the ground." Ruby followed up. Her long tongue from her collar wrapped around her left arm, encircling her fist like a gauntlet. The symbiotic snake-like tongue ensnared around her arm hardened.

"Done chattering?" Jared stated, once again charging the rifle. "If so, take this!" He pulled his trigger, unleashing another laser beam at them.

Evelyn lashed out her serpentine wings, two of them splitting open at the ends to reveal mouths. Spheres of light formed in them before releasing two beams of light. One of her beams met Jared's laser, clashing against one another in a bright flash of light akin to a flashbang. The immense light forced everyone on the rooftop to cover their eyes.

But her other light beam continued its path, flying through the bright flash and towards the robber. Jared avoided the attack, rolling on the ground. Getting back on a knee, he adjusted the setting again before taking aim at the archer.

Evelyn smirked behind her mask. "Math's not your strong suit, huh?" She deduced mockingly.

Those confused Plunder, but it was short-lived when seeing the number of heroes on the other side of him. Only Evelyn stood there, not the others. An eerie thought entered the robber's mind, directing his eyes to the ground around him where he saw two shadows hovering around him.

Jared jumped backwards, avoiding the other two sisters as they brought down a mace and a Chakram blade. The rooftop cracked from the combined force of the sisters' attack, sending debris shooting up in various directions.

"Damn brats!" Jared shouted, taking aim at both Magenta and Genysis. But Eclipse shadowported in front of him, lashing out with her sword and pushed him further back.

She landed on the ground again. "Can't handle us or what?"

Plunder looked up again. "Screw it. Whatever the hell she said, I'll put you three girls in the ground here and now."

""She said"? Who are you talking about?" Evelyn asked.

"Your problem, not mine!" Jared shouted, lashing out his rifle again and projected a laser beam at her.

Eclipse shadowported, avoiding the beam. Magenta and Genysis jumped into the air, avoiding the beam that came towards them as well.

Sticking to the opposite building's wall, Evelyn said. "Bastard's weapon got so many functions."

"And with them, different ammunition." Frankie followed up. Jared stood back up, panting heavily in exhaustion. "With that thing, he's prepared for any situation."

Ruby scoffed. "Doubt the bastard has even used all of his options yet."

WHOOSH

The heroes' and the robber's attention were directed to the sound of whooshing air, the origin being the Flash who stood in front of the robber.

"Are you girls okay?" The young symbiote hosts turned their heads to the side, seeing their father looking down on them from the ledge of the rooftop. "You're not hurt?"

"We're fine, Dad." Ruby answered for them. "But that guy's still up and at 'em." She nodded to Plunder.

"We'll change that." Seth assured his daughter. "Switch to long-range tactics, Eclipse. Magenta, Genysis, with us." He instructed, they nodded. The moment he hopped off the rooftop, his daughters followed before Evelyn took up a position on the rooftop ledge after a spiral.

Seth landed on the rooftop with his daughters. He snarled at the robber who faced off against the heroes.

Barry took a stance. "You just couldn't resist another heist, huh?"

Scoffing at the speedster's words, Plunder countered. "What's the fun in one and done?"

Venom sneered. "Try avoiding a 15-year jail sentence in Iron Heights. But we're sure they've got a nice cozy prison cell for you. But since you're still on the path of crime…" Ice began covering his claws. "We'll make do, since you're so insistent."

"Oh yeah? Guess again." Jared countered, raising his rifle again and pulled the trigger. This time, shining blue transparent bullets came shooting out the nozzle. The spheres went everywhere, flying towards the four heroes.

Time slowed down for the speedster who turned and twisted his body out of the way. Venom leaped into the air, avoiding the bullets coming for him. Magenta ran to the side, the bullets missing their target as it's moving. Repeating the same action as her sister, Genysis ran away to avoid the energy bullets coming her way.

"Take this!" Venom shouted, forming water in his hand and spreading ice through it. Grabbing the frozen water mass in his hand tightly, he reeled his arm back before hurling the ice ball at the robber. Plunder was unable to dodge the ball, which shattered upon impact with his body, and he was sent flying to the ground.

Plunder was hurled to the ground, the rifle falling out of his reach. "Way too easy." Barry came to a stop, standing in front of the downed robber.

"Guys! Behind you!" Cisco shouted over their communication devices.

Turning their heads around, the heroes watched as the bullets somehow managed to turn around and fly towards them again. "Seriously?" Seth asked when seeing their homing capabilities. He turned his entire body into adamantium, clenching his fists and flexed all of his metallic muscles.

While the speedster ran away to avoid the ones coming for him, Seth leaped backwards in a flip and tore up a piece of the rooftop. "Dodge them!" He told his daughters while continuing to jump backwards. Tearing the rock in his hands in two pieces. With the strength of his adamantium-enhanced arms, he hurled the rock pieces like they were launched like cannonballs.

The rocks met the homing bullets. They embed into the flying rocks, staying stuck in them and falling to the ground. "At least they're not loaded with explosives." Seth sighed in relief. Turning to his daughters, he widened his eyes at their methods for dealing with the bullets.

Frankie slid to a stop, facing the incoming bullets with a determined look. Raising her hand, her eyes shine with a magenta light. Her concentration and focus devoted to the homing bullets, and her ferrokinetic powers responded in kind, stopping the flying projectiles midair. "This is embarrassing." She clenched her fist instantly; the bullets were crushed by the immense invisible force of her metahuman powers.

Ruby stopped herself, giving the flying bullets a glare. "No kidding. Guns or not, we shouldn't be having this much trouble with this asshole!" Crossing her arms over her chest, the gravity manipulator curled her fingers and used invisible gravitational force to stop the bullets' advance. Uncrossing her arms, she forced the bullets down to the ground with tremendous gravity power, the bullets shattering like glass on the ground.

Venom narrowed his eyes in surprise to the level of anger and rage on their faces. It was visible even on their symbiote-clad faces, so clear even a blind man could see it.

"I can't shake these things, Cisco." The Klyntar hosts heard the Scarlet Speedster urgently tell the viber back through the communications devices.

"Shake faster." Cisco vaguely told the speedster.

"What?" Evelyn mouthed behind her mask, making confused eye contact with her family.

"Huh?" Barry was just as confused.

"He means phase." Caitlin clarified.

"Real happy Mom's around more, otherwise none of us would understand Cisco." Ruby admitted. Her sisters and her father nodded their agreement.

WHOOSH

Barry returned to the rooftop, speeding across the helipad and towards a stone block. Vibrating his body with all of his might, the speedster slid towards it as he phased his entire body. He phased through the stone block, stopping on the other side of it. The homing bullets came flying, embedding into the stone and staying there.

He panted and backed away in shock when seeing cracks form on his side of the stone barricade. He looked up, glancing at the downed robber.

"At least the dumbass is down." Ruby walked towards Plunder. "Eclipse, you're still up there?" She turned her head while pressing a finger to her earpiece to contact her sister on the rooftop ledge of the opposite building.

"Just in case, yeah. Never know with this guy." Evelyn stated.

"Gonna grab him now, so you might as well get down from there." Genysis told her sister.

"Wait!" Barry exclaimed, stopping the gravity manipulator from snatching up the robber. She, Magenta and Venom turned their heads, facing the speedster with confusion. "Maybe… We should…"

"We should what?" Frankie inquired of him.

"I mean…" Barry trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, unable to put his reason into words.

But that moment of confusion was dealt to them in the worst way possible. Jared regained his consciousness, looking up from the ground at the conversing heroes. Facing his hand and his rifle, he clenched his fist and a faint blue light emitted from it. Same faint blue light emitted from the rifle. Plunder moved his hand, the high-tech rifle moved in the same direction.

It took aim on Ruby, charging with another round of concussive sound blasts. This time, taking aim at her head.

From her spot on the rooftop ledge, Evelyn saw the rifle moving slightly, which perplexed her as it was out of Plunder's reach and nowhere near his hands. "The hell…?" She raised her bow and arrow.

"I got it, Eves." Evelyn heard a voice tell her through her comms, shocking her.

WHOOSH

A flash of yellow lightning emitted, coming to a halt on the rooftop and revealed itself to be Wally West in his Kid Flash suit. He saw the moving gun. "Guys, watch out!" The other heroes snapped their attention to him, seeing him speed towards the moving weapon.

In the blink of an eye, he forced the robber back on his feet with hands tied and secured the weapon he used.

"Not bad." Seth admitted, liking the younger West sibling's initiative.

"Oh, Wally." But Barry had thoughts regarding Wally's interruption if his words, laced with disappointment and hints of fear, were any indication.

"What's wrong?" Seth asked the speedster but didn't get a single response from him.

"I caught that whole thing, man!" The man from before rushed over, holding his phone in camera mode. "Anything you wanna say to the camera?" He asked all the heroes, mainly the younger heroes.

While the symbiote-clad heroes seemed disinterested in that, Wally was more than up for it. "Oh, for real?" The man nodded excitedly. "Uh, what up, Central City? The name's Kid Flash." He announced with a chuckle.

Now, Kid Flash has officially left his mark and has begun his path as a hero of Central City.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

Wally was led through the entrance into the Cortex by his father who's patting his back proudly. Iris and Caitlin turned around from the console, facing him with proud smiles.

Seeing her little brother after his incredible performance, the reporter said. "Wally, congratulations! That was amazing!"

"Great job, Wally." Caitlin praised him. Her eyes caught sight of her daughters and her mate. "And thanks for saving my daughters."

"Yeah, thanks Walls." Ruby said, knowing full well that the rifle was aimed at her back on the rooftop.

"Kid Flash. Let 'em know!" Cisco praised him, shaking hands with him excitedly. The two shared a hug. "That's how it's done!"

"Impressive initiative there, Wally." Seth gave a slow clap. "Mighty fine work, Kid Flash." He saw a sigh escape Barry's mouth while he's wearing a look of disappointment.

"Thanks." Wally unwrapped his arms from Cisco, turning around to face the rest of the time. "We just deposited Plunder in Iron Heights."

"Yes, you did." Cisco nodded.

"We ever got the real name of our least favorite pirate?" Frankie wondered.

Joe nodded. "His real name is Jared Morillo. Turns out he's wanted for a string of robberies from here to Star City."

Ruby chuckled. "Guess his time on the blue sea came to a speedy end." She joked.

"That's bad, sis." Evelyn quipped, her sister giving her an evil glare.

Barry turned a stern glare at Wally. "Wally, what was that? I mean, you're supposed to be shadowing me."

His sudden scolding confused everyone, especially Wally. "Wait, you're mad at me? I thought-"

"Observe and learn, that's it. That's it!" Barry exclaimed.

"Calm down." Seth told him.

"Whoa! Barr, ease up." Joe agreed. "Wally just saved Ruby's life, possibly the rest of yours too."

"I'm sorry, Wally." Barry shook his head. "But if you can't learn to follow orders, this deal between us, it's over." He moved away.

"Okay, Barry, pull that idiotic head out of your ass then you might actually be able to see that Wally did the right thing." Seth told him.

"Seth, trust me I know what I'm doing here. Wally didn't follow my orders, that's on him, not me." Barry said, turning his back to them.

Wally looked shocked and hurt at the sharp words. Seeing that, Seth reminded him. "Even if you are the leader of this team, Barry, that doesn't mean you can't be wrong, which is what you are right now. Wally did the right thing, and you're too blind to even see it."

Barry glanced at him, but returned his attention away from them.

"Okay, give that moron a talk. If he won't pull his head out of his ass, you yank, rip or tear it out." Venom told his host honestly, seeing no other options than that to straighten the speedster's attitude.

"Agreed." Seth admitted, his "other" is right and that Barry needed to hear this, harsh or not.

"Okay!" H.R. joined the team in the Cortex with a loud exclamation. "Who's ready for… Oh man." He interrupted himself. "Wallace, B.A., S.F., Snow-Fury girls, you're all supposed to be dressed for the museum opening!"

"H.R., we're speedsters. We have time." Wally reminded him.

"Plus, we're Klyntar hosts, we can change clothes in a heartbeat." Evelyn added.

"Nobody likes a braggart." Harrison told the heroes.

"Yeah, but we were actually talking about something important before you showed up. So…" Cisco trailed off sheepishly as he told the Earth-19 native.

"You…" Harrison faced the viber, seeing that he is wearing a really nice suit. "Okay, you clean up well."

"Thank you." Cisco nodded.

"I like the way you dress." Harrison added. "Guys, this is a very, very big deal! For all of us! Come on. Don't be late to the party!" He walked out the Cortex.

"Does he ever leave those drumsticks?" Evelyn asked when seeing the sticks stuck out of his back pocket.

Seth shrugged, walking over to his mate. "Now, Dr. Snow, do you have a date for tonight's event?"

Caitlin tilted her head, biting her lower lip in thought. "I do not, but I do not think…" She pulled on his clothes. "You are dressed for the occasion, Dr. Fury."

"What do you mean?" Seth showed off, his clothes shifting and morphing into a black blazer over a blue shirt and dark-blue jeans. "Don't you think I look dandy?"

"More than dandy." Caitlin admitted, kissing his lips.

"Calm down, you two." Ruby told her parents, now donning a grey top with a black leather jacket and blue pants.

"Come on, Dad, Mom!" Evelyn said, wearing a sparkling red dress that reaches down to her calves.

"Hope the food and drinks are free at least." Frankie said, wearing a purple dress with a red leather jacket over it.

"It better be." Seth joked, hooking his arm around Caitlin's. The two walking with their family through the Cortex exit.

Wally walked out of the Cortex as well. Barry called out to him, but he didn't wanna hear it. Joe saw the wordless interaction between them before walking closer to Barry. "Look, I'm gonna go over to CCPD and fill out this Morillo paperwork." Before walking away, he whispered to the speedster. "Seth's right, you know. Whatever the reasoning you have for ragging on Wally, please get over it."

Barry nodded.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs Museum)

"I kinda regret doing this." Ruby said while sipping on her coffee.

"Honey, be supportive for a bit, this means a lot to H.R." Caitlin said while going over the coffee machines, pouring coffee of various beverages in cups.

Ruby lowered her cup, chuckling to herself. "Might have been more supportive if H.R. didn't demote my Mom."

"Not demoted, honey. Just helping out." Caitlin corrected her daughter.

Evelyn chuckled beside them. "Not like you're complaining about the free coffee, Rubs."

"True… But there is one thing I'm complaining about." Ruby looked dead ahead, her eyes looking at the empty area of the museum where not a single person had entered. It was completely empty except for them and the rest of the team. Iris and Barry were still getting ready, while the others set everything else up.

Wally pours punch into cups. Cisco readied air balloons. Caitlin stood at the coffee machines, readying various beverages with her daughters providing very little support and aid. Seth and Frankie stood by a gift shop, the father giving looks like he was out of place and his daughter checking the eccentric lollipops made to look like the S.T.A.R. Labs logo.

"How much money do you think he poured into this?" Frankie asked, holding a lollipop in her hand.

"A great deal. You heard your Mom, this means a lot to H.R, after all." Seth answered.

"Then it oughta hurt with the current guests." Magenta commented as there wasn't a single customer here.

"No kidding." Frankie agreed, glancing at the owner who's looking around with hopeful eyes and optimism, keeping the flame of hope going that the museum's gonna be filled up. "Dad, you really think people would even come?"

Seth faced his daughter who leant back against a pillar, gesturing to the entire facility. "This place… It caused the entire city a whole lot of pain, some of which have spread to nearby cities. It blew a hole in the sky. You think people are just gonna walk in so easily, even if it's reformed."

"No idea, Frankie." Seth admitted. "Honestly, it's hard to imagine people walking in here at all after all the harm it's brought upon the city, like you said. But… Guess we're just gonna have to be hopeful and hope that people will come here, just to enjoy the countless marvels of science."

"Let's hope that's the case." Frankie agreed. She leant off the pillar, picking up two additional candies. "I'll go to Mom and the others." Seth nodded his head with a smile, his daughter walking off to her mother and sisters.

"Caitlin, where is everybody? Nobody's here." Barry asked the doctor when entering with Iris.

Caitlin faced him with a shrug. "No one showed up." She answered while fixing cacao for Frankie. "Unless you count my daughters taking advantage of my generous and free service."

"Yeah, looks like they've really been hitting the coffee." Iris bemused when seeing them drink coffee, various empty cups on the counter. "Hard."

The doors swung open, alerting H.R. and his eyes snapped in that direction. "Ah, a customer…" He noted when seeing a parent enter with his daughter. "Our first customers! Welcome." She greeted the customers. "Welcome to the grand S.T.A.R. Labs Museum opening. And today, for your ticket price of admission, today only, you also get a free steaming cup of Joe." Caitlin walked over with a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

But the parent noted his words, commenting questioningly. "Ticket price?"

"Yep." Harrison nodded.

"I thought this museum was free." The father said.

Harrison narrowed his eyes. "Oh, did you find us through social media? Cause-"

"Welcome." Everyone snapped their attention to the side, seeing the hologram turn on.

"Olga!" H.R. called out to the new employee. She faced him as he pointed a finger at the hologram of Cisco. "The thing, it's doing the thing." Seeing that, the parent grabbed his daughter and sprinted out of the museum. "Folks! No, wait- Don't- Wait, no. Half price! Half- Quarter-"

"I'll make a new pot of coffee." Caitlin tried as well, but the father and daughter had long since disappeared out of their eyesight.

"Don't bother, babe." Seth said, walking up to her and stroking her back comfortingly.

"No one's coming. This isn't working. I don't know why." Harrison stated his confusion.

Cisco walked over to him. "You see this?" Most of the team have joined him by his side. "Do you see what you've done, H.R.? You've distracted us for months so what, so that you could feel useful? You're not useful. This museum isn't useful."

"Woah, calm down, Cisco." Seth said, thinking those words were crossing the line.

"You know what? That's mean." H.R. admitted.

"Yeah, well, I guess I learned that from your doppelganger." Cisco countered. "And at least he contributed something."

"While also trying to stab us in the back when trying to steal Barry's speed." Ruby reminded casually. Cisco gave her a dry look. Countering with her own dry look, the gravity manipulator stated. "Just saying, not everyone starts out great."

Seeing the doors open behind Harrison, Wally brought it to their attention. "Guys, there's another…" He pointed to the opening doors.

H.R. snapped around. "Hey, welcome to… It's Julius, you guys." He walked away.

"What are you doing here?" Barry asked.

"Don't tell me it's about a case?" Seth hoped. "Or something worse?"

"Neither of which, Dr. Fury." Julian inhaled sharply. "Well, I've given it some thought. And I'd like to accept your invitation."

Barry looked confused. "Invitation for what?"

"Mom?" Ruby faced her mother. "Think you got some explaining to do."

"Yes." Caitlin sheepishly answered.

X

Moving into the facility again, the team stood in the lobby with the elevator. Caitlin explained everything to the team, telling them of the offer she proposed to the metahuman expert.

"Did you ask Julian to join Team S.T.A.R. Labs?" Barry asked.

Sheepishly, she answered. "I know he's an acquired taste, but-"

"Yeah, well, he is Doctor Alchemy, the big bad's little bad, so…" Cisco noted.

Iris added. "Yeah, he gave Wally his powers."

"That I don't mind." Wally pitched in.

"Not to be that girl, but can we really question him?" Frankie asked. Raising a hand, she added. "If you don't remember, I'm a cannibal and have eaten people."

Like her sister, Ruby raised her hand. "I'm an assassin from another universe's Nazi organization, plus have killed people."

Like her sisters, Evelyn raised her hand. "I'm a thief from another universe and steals impulsively."

Seth, glancing at his daughters, while worrying about their examples, said. "Horrifying examples as they may be, my daughters are right. Not to mention, I've killed before. By comparison, Albert would be a pretty good choice then."

"I don't like the fact you practically dissed yourselves." Caitlin admitted to her family, most of them casually shrugged, before facing the team. "Guys, I need his help."

"With what, Mom?" Frankie asked.

"With these." Caitlin shook her wrists, her cuffs rattling as a result. "I'm sorry, guys, but these cuffs, they aren't cutting it." She looked between her teammates, settling her eyes on her mate and their daughters. "Every night when I go to bed, I'm afraid that I'm gonna wake up… Her."

"Killer Frost." Evelyn deduced, saddened by her mother's words. She, her sisters, her father…

Her entire family knew this meant that Caitlin is absolutely terrified of the thought of waking up as Killer Frost, of becoming someone who's not her. Someone who'd leave the frozen bodies of those she touches in her path. Someone who'd hurt anyone with blades of ice without mercy…

She's afraid of becoming a villain.

"She won't change her mind, will she?" Dusk asked her host.

"Doesn't look like it." Evelyn answered with a heavy heart.

"Does Mom even want those powers?" Ruby asked herself.

"If she wants help to deal with the powers, then you got your answer, Rubs." Reap told her host.

"Cait?" Seth got her attention. "Are you sure about this?"

"I am. We've tried everything Seth. Maybe Julian can think of something that we haven't tried yet." Caitlin answered. Her mate seemed to accept her wishes as did their daughters. But the others seemed against it. Seeing that, Caitlin reminded them individually.

Starting with Barry, she said. "Barry, when your Mom was murdered, Joe and Iris, they took you in." She faced Cisco. "Cisco, when Dante died… I slept on your couch to keep you company."

Knowing the trajectory her Mom's going at it, Frankie pitched in. "When we thought Dad died, Uncle Joe came over a lot and brought food and stayed for hours with me while Mom worked at Mercury, making sure I was okay after everything."

Caitlin remembered that awful period. "The things we see, the things that we face… No one can do this alone." Whether it was a hunch or not, Seth had a feeling she is also referring to the long period where he was on Earth-2 while thinking he was dead. Maybe also from time before that, regretting not knowing of his poisoned state. "Trying is the biggest mistake that you can make."

"Valid, good points, Cait. All of them." Seth noted as she listed all of the points.

"Not to mention, he hasn't told anyone of Seth or Barry's secret identities." Caitlin added, the teammates nodding their heads in understanding. "I think we can give him a chance."

The others looked to Barry for answers, for his final decision. But it wasn't him answering. "Tell Julian we'll think about it, okay, Cait?" Seth answered for the speedster. Caitlin gave him an appreciative nod.

"Seth, you sur- ARGH!" Barry was cut off when Seth grabbed him by the back of his neck, literally lifting him off his feet.

"You and me, we're gonna talk. Whine, I kick you. Complain, I break your fucking legs." Seth dragged the speedster into the elevator. "I'll be back in a bit guys." He told the others before punching in the button for the right floor.

"Do you even know how to be gentle?" Barry wondered, trying to get out of Seth's grip but found it nigh-impossible.

"Didn't I just I tell you, "you whine I kick you"?" Seth reminded him as the doors closed.

The team, for a glimpse, saw the elemental raise his foot and turn it into adamantium.

The Scarlet Speedster should have heeded the warning.

X

"The baseMENT?!" Barry shouted in the middle of his words when Seth, true to his words, kicked him out of the elevator with an adamantium foot.

Stepping out of the elevator himself, Seth glanced over his shoulder. "Friday, cut off communication to the basement and make sure the elevator can't reach the basement level until I'm done with Barry. Shutdown the cameras too, make sure Cisco can't hack in if he's trying."

"Sure thing, Boss. What do you want me to tell the Boss Lady and the rest?"

"Scolding, disciplining, or butchering. Choose your pick." Seth told the AI. He looked back at the speedster, who's still weirdly enough holding his rear. "Didn't hit you that hard."

"That was no hit, that was the kick of a very sadistic man. You really don't know your own strength." Barry said. His face paled when the elevator closed behind Seth. "You're not gonna… Like… gulp… Butcher me?"

"Depends on your answer to my question." Barry looked confused, raising an eyebrow. Seth sighed heavily, facing the metahuman with a serious look as he stated his question.

"Why haven't you told Iris about what you saw in the future?" Barry's eyes expanded in shock. "Why haven't you told her about her death in the future?"

"What?! How do you know that?!" Barry shouted, his voice bellowing like the roar of a beast.

"I was there." Seth answered immediately, another wave of confusion came over the speedster. "To be more precise, I think my mind was sent along with you."

"What?" Barry said, still utterly confused.

Seth opened his mouth, starting his explanation.

X

(Flashback)

Though he managed to hold it open with his lightning hooks, Seth could still feel the immensely powerful portal into the Speed Force pull him. Even as he stood as Venom before it, even with his lightning hooks latched onto the rim…

It was as though the Speed Force tried to drag him into it.

But considering his own experience with the multiversal element, Seth wasn't much up for another visit into it. "What's taking that moron so long?!" He screamed in his head, feeling the almost-gravitational force increase.

Glancing downwards, Seth could still see the speedster run under him in the accelerator ring. Pulling back the crystal sword with all of his might, the portal continued to stay and expand.

At this point, Barry was nothing more than a cluster of lightning speeding around and around in a ring. Seeing that, Seth pulled his blade back, prying the swirling portal open even further. "Cisco, when's the optimal speed?" He directed to the viber.

From the Pipeline entrance, Cisco stated. "Thanks for the wait, Seth! Now, Barry!" He shouted into the accelerator ring.

Under the bridge, Barry finally came to a stop and with all of the momentum he had gathered, he hurled the stone box through the air like a cannon. The box spiraled as it passed through the threshold and into the portal.

Seth smiled, thinking that with the box gone he'd be able to let go and enjoy Christmas with his family tonight. But thoughts of enjoying Christmas were instantly overshadowed by confusion.

"What's that?" Venom shouted.

Looking to the portal again, Seth saw the same. The portal sparked, pulsating like a heartbeat. Each pulsating beat forced the lightning hooks off one by one.

When the hook came off… Something strange happened as the portal emitted an even stranger white-ish flash. An immense shockwave was released from the Speed Force portal.

The first one to feel the force of the shockwave was Seth, who felt it connect with his body…

No… It passed through him… and… Took him with it.

"What?" Seth said when seeing his own Klyntar-clad body… fall off the bridge and land on the ground. His sword fell down, embedding into the floor. "What the hell is going on?!" He shouted, looking at his own hands and the rest of his body…

His entire body had become transparent, allowing him to look through his body. It was as though his own consciousness had been forced out of his body. As a scientist he had no idea how he had entered this astral-like state.

"Oh, what now?!" Seth shouted as he felt a bright light exploding in a flash behind him, enveloping him completely and dragging him off.

X

(?)

"Are you kidding me?!" Seth shouted as the same bright white light erupted in the middle of an alleyway, spitting him out like he was chewed-out gum.

But Seth came to realize that his astral-like form had its benefits. When his astral body hit the ground, he didn't feel pain or even the collision. He didn't feel anything as he landed on the ground, his hands and knees passed through the asphalt.

"Is this what phasing is like?" Seth wondered to himself, testing it out as he curiously tapped the ground and his fingers passed right through the hard surface. Transparence and having a non-corporeal form had its benefits. "Freaky." He said as he stood back up in his full height. Taking in his surroundings, he realized he was still in Central City, but he definitely wasn't at S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Oh, Barry, you're here too." Seth realized when seeing the Scarlet Speedster stand up beside him. "How come whenever we deal with this Speed Force stuff, you're in the middle of the shit storm and drag me with you? Seriously, one day you're gonna end up dragging me to Hell or something."

Thinking about his words, he also weighed the alternative of him being the one to drag Barry down.

…That seemed more likely.

Strangely, Barry didn't say anything when he spoke to him. Facing him, Seth told him. "Hey, I'm talking to you." No answer. "Barry!" He stood in front of the speedster, waving his hand in his face. "Are you blin-" He stopped waving his hand as the metahuman looked around, not noticing the mutant's presence.

That was half the reason why Seth stopped calling out to him, as he realized why he couldn't be seen when looking at his transparent hands. "He can't see me." He deduced immediately; his conclusion solidified when Barry literally walked through him. "That was uncomfortable." Seth shivered, holding his stomach as a feeling of nausea hit him hard.

Seth turned around, following the speedster while rubbing his head, wondering why he suddenly turned into a ghost and yanked off somewhere with Barry Allen.

"In other legal news…" Both Barry and Seth heard the voice of a female news reporter. At that moment, they also saw the name of the street they're on.

"Infantino Street?" Seth read the name aloud, not that anyone could hear him. He didn't know of the street, but knew it was a street in Central City.

"…The highly publicized trial of Jared Morillo…" Together with the speedster oblivious to his presence, Seth and Barry walked close to the source of the voice, the two of them laying eyes on a bus stand. "…Aka Plunder, comes to a close." They saw it was a stand with a TV showing live news. The announcer continued her speech with a photo of a pale-skinned man with a black eye patch. He looks like a pirate. "Morillo was found guilty of grand theft and aggravated assault after he was caught by the Flash and Venom robbing the Central City Museum earlier this year."

Seth glanced to the corner of the screen, seeing that the news announcement is… From May… The current month…

But to him and the speedster, this wasn't the month they are from.

"No way… We're in the future?" Seth chuckled, rubbing his head in shock. "Barry's a speedster, but I'm not. Why am I here too?"

He couldn't help but think that the Speed Force has a hand in his game, meddling with his life once more for some reason.

"Don't!"

For some reason, Seth heard Barry's voice, but it sounded like it came from afar. Glancing at him, he saw the speedster was still beside him. Together with him, the elemental faced the direction from where the voice came from.

Together they walked over to the park, where the voice originated and hid behind a tree. Granted Seth didn't have to hide, seeing as no prying eyes would ever lay eyes on an astral form.

Seth's eyes expanded in a heartbeat, but his actual heart came to a stop when seeing the sight….

Barry Allen… A Flash that wasn't the one standing beside him, stood in the park… Pleading…

"Please, don't!" The other Barry pleaded to… Savitar, who's got a hand on Iris, holding her in place. his other unclenched hand was raised as well. "Don't do this!" He continued to plead to the speed god who tightened his grip on Iris who couldn't stop the flood of tears.

"Savitar…?" Seth couldn't believe his eyes. They had just gotten rid of him, they threw the Philosopher's Stone into the Speed Force, a gateway into time and space itself. They should be free of his curse now.

"Why the hell is he still here, holding Iris hostage?!" Seth screamed aloud. He didn't like- No, he hated seeing his best friend's daughter in the hands of that heinous villain.

Flexing his clawed hand, Savitar pointed his triumphant blue shining eyes at the Scarlet Speedster. "Now finally, I am free of you."

Tears keep stinging her eyes as Iris confesses. "Barry, I love you."

The other Flash said with a shaking head. "Hey, no, don't say that, all right? You're gonna be all right. I'm begging you, just…"

"Barry." Iris said with tears falling down.

"You lose, Barry." Savitar announced, clenching his fist, ejecting a long blade from the back of his wrist.

"Fuck! Stop him!" Seth shouted, but no one could hear it. When neither of the speedsters were able to hear him, the mutant jumped out and thrust his hand out, intending to shoot tendrils out.

But… Not a single one came out.

"Venom is part of my body, which I've been yanked out of. Damn it!" Seth berated himself mentally after that realization dawned on him.

"NO!" The other Flash screeched, rushing towards the speed god.

Seth felt the Flash travel through him, rushing towards Savitar faster than a speeding bullet. But though he is considered the fastest man alive, the speed god's powers and speed far exceeds that of a puny speedsters and in a heartbeat…

PIERCE

Savitar plunges the blade through Iris' heart, the blade going all the way through her back and coming out her chest. Seth and the two Barrys saw her life meeting an end at that blade.

Seth couldn't believe his own eyes, seeing his best friend's daughter die in front of his eyes… And he was unable to spare Joe the anguish and despair that comes with the murder of a child.

Pulling his blade out of her chest, Savitar disappeared in a flash of white lightning. Iris fell into Barry's arms as he quickly snatched her before she connected with the ground. His breathing was frantic and heavy, panting in pain and sorrow as blood leaked from the hole in Iris' chest. "Iris, Iris. Hey." He called out to her.

"Is this the future… Or hell?" Seth thought to himself. Much like the Scarlet Speedster he was brought along with, he couldn't believe everything they've seen and heard. But the two of them watched as the other Barry repeated Iris' name to try and a reaction from her, a sign of life that she's not dead.

But there was not a single one… Iris West died at the hands of Savitar.

WHOOSH

Hearing whooshing sounds of gusts of air, Seth snapped around and his eyes were immediately blinded as a bright, blinding flash of lightning erupted from behind Barry. The light enveloped Seth as well…

… as though it was taking him away…

(Flashback End)

X

"I saw the light; I was back in my body and Caitlin was trying to shake me awake." Seth finished off.

Barry chuckled in disbelief. "Your consciousness was yanked out of your body the same moment I was propelled into the future…? That's crazy."

"Crazier than us dealing with a freaking metahuman god of speed?" Seth countered sarcastically. Barry chuckled his agreement. "Back to my original question: Why haven't you told Iris about it?"

"You thought I would?" Barry questioned.

With a shrug, Seth answered. "Honestly, with what you saw back there, figured you'd have told Iris immediately. But guessing the moving-in part put a damper on the big reveal?"

"Not like you're announcing you got a promotion, Seth, it's Iris' future." Barry said. "She died there."

"What are you gonna do about it then?" Seth questioned.

"Why didn't you tell Joe?" The speedster inquired with a serious gaze. "He's your best friend, and you didn't tell him about what might happen to his daughter?"

Seth glanced at the metahuman with a blank, emotionless look. "You gonna tell Iris or not?"

Barry knew he wasn't gonna answer the question for a reason. "I will." He walked towards the elevator. "Now."

"Good." Seth sighed. "Friday, allow access to the basement and take Barry to Iris' location."

"What about you?" Barry asked as the elevator doors opened up when getting to the basement floor.

"I'm coming, just gonna take the long way… Need to do some thinking." Seth said with a heavy heart and a burdened voice. He walked around, going towards the other exit that led outside.

He truly wanted some time to think for himself.

X

Sitting on the rooftop of the facility of S.T.A.R. Labs, Seth looked up at the wide sky. Numerous thoughts swirling in an ocean in his mind, much like the wide sky covered in bright stars. He couldn't help but think back to the future he was forced to experience. In the beginning he wondered why the Speed Force sent a non-speedster through time itself, but now…

He can only think about what to do now with this new information. It's not every day you get knowledge from the future, of events that have yet to happen.

"What do you think?" Seth asked.

"It's a query for sure." Venom answered his host, Seth running a hand through his hair again. "But considering… Considering…"

Seth finished his partner's thoughts. "Considering what we went through with Bucky being killed. Do you think… Joe will be able to handle that pain?"

"Try and speak your real thoughts, moron." Seth heard his "other" complain. "More than anything you want to tell him outright, hope it will shed some light on the matter and spare Joe the pain of losing a child… Like what we went through. More than anything, you wanna change Iris' future for both her and her father's sake."

With the exception of Caitlin, Venom is the only one able to know his true thoughts as the two of them share the same body. The words that come out of his host's mouth rarely match the inner true thoughts spiraling in his head.

"He's gonna do everything in his power to prevent it from happening…" Seth deduced without much thought. He didn't have to think hard about it. As a father himself, he knew exactly how he'd react if he knew of his daughters' grim futures.

He'd do everything in his power to take down whatever threatens his children's lives, no matter what. No stones would be left unturned, and he'd move Heaven and Earth and tear down Hell to defend their family.

Joe and Seth are the same in that area… Joe would risk everything, even his own life, for Iris and Wally…

"The fuck should we do…?" Seth said…

No matter how much he weighed the options, he kept returning to the same choice.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

"Dad, where've you been?" Evelyn asked when seeing her father enter through the skylight, landing on the floor.

Getting back to his full height, Seth looked up at his daughter on the ceiling. "Just out for some thinking is all."

Caitlin may not have a symbiote capable of detecting the truth, but she does know her mate better than anyone in the entire facility. She could see something was bothering him, something weighing on his mind with greater weight than anything he's had on his shoulders before.

Seeing him that worried and concealing it from everyone on the team, it worried her to no end, and she couldn't stop thinking about it. Even as she walked over to him, she looked at him with indescribable concern.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, gently stroking his face with her fingertips.

Grabbing her hand gently and kissing her fingers, he responded. "Just… Really struggling with something." He admitted. "Don't know what to do with it, honestly. How to deal with it especially. I can only think of one answer to it, but at the same time I can't help but think of the repercussions."

"Want me to weigh in? Two heads are better than one, after all." Caitlin offered her aid.

"Normally, I'd love that… But this one… It needs more than two heads to be honest." Seth admitted with a heavy sigh.

"What's it about?" H.R. asked after hearing their conversation. "Maybe I can lend an ear."

Cisco scoffed at that. "Doubt that'll ease them, H.R."

"He's just offering to help, Cisco." Seth told the viber when seeing the Earth-19 native lower his head. "And unfortunately, Wells, I can't be the one to decide whether others should be brought in or not." He faced the entrance, his eyes looking at Barry and Iris passing the threshold. "Welcome back."

"Hey." Iris said weakly.

"Guys… Um…" Barry hesitated. But steeling his nerves and sharing a nod with Iris again, he continued. "Iris and I, um, we have something we need to tell you."

Using the next few moments, Barry and Iris told them everything, everything about the speedster's accidental visit to the future.

The speedster told them of them entering the Time Vault. Iris had completely forgotten its existence until Barry brought her back into it. Becoming obsessed with the future like Eobard Thawne was, Barry's been visiting the Vault more often lately.

There he showed her the newspaper from the future. He showed Iris the changes to the article that've been made after Flashpoint. One of the changes she found was the new byline, the article now being written by Judy Greer and not Iris West-Allen as it previously said.

The future had changed.

Iris thought it was due to her quitting her job as a reporter, a conclusion that Barry himself hoped for as well. But not everything goes as one hopes, which unfortunately applied to this dire situation.

At that moment, Barry revealed the truth of Iris' future… With his own eyes, he saw Savitar murder her.

And he saw himself… Not fast enough to save her from his blade.

The revelation shocked the reporter to tears, but also confused her at the same time. They had destroyed the Stone, trapped it in the Speed Force, thus preventing Savitar from ever returning. She also revealed that the future Barry saw was also the reason why Barry acted hesitantly when intercepting Plunder. Reasoning to himself that if he weren't to catch him, he'd be able to stop the timeline from cementing and therefore prevent Iris' death.

But Iris was against that completely, he couldn't stop protecting the city to save her life.

Following their explanation, Seth added that he had somehow also been sent to the future, witnessing the same events as Barry. Though the news of it only being his consciousness confused all members on the team.

But the news of Iris' demise at Savitar's hands was the one thing that left them all speechless, making it nigh-impossible for them to accept it.

Caitlin gulped after having swallowed the news. "So, you guys are saying that four months from now, Savitar will…"

"Kill me." Iris finished off the grim sentence.

"Possibly." Barry chimed in.

Caitlin glanced at her mate. "And you saw it too, Seth?"

"Saw it, tried to stop it but it was just my consciousness and no powers." Seth admitted, clenching his hands in rage.

"It's okay, guys. I'm okay, really." Iris told them.

"How are you gonna tell Dad?" Wally asked his sister.

Frankie clenched her fists. "Uncle Joe will lose his mind."

"He will, which is why I'm not telling him." Iris immediately replied, her words made Seth clench his fists.

"Iris, he needs to know." Wally argued.

Gesturing to the new speedster, Harrison stated. "I agree with Wallace. Joe needs to know."

"I agree with them as well." Seth voiced his thoughts without making eye contact with them.

"No." Iris disagreed. "Guys, this news would blind him, okay? We all saw how crazy he went when Wally was in danger. Imagine if he knew that Savitar was trying to kill me. He would go after Savitar himself."

"As he should." Seth stated.

"What?" Iris said in confusion as the mutant turned around to face her and the rest of the team. "Seth, you can't possibly mean that, do you? He can't know about this, otherwise it'll end up getting him killed."

"Iris, I know why you're saying that: you're his daughter, after all." Seth gestured to himself. "But I'm his friend."

Barry chimed. "Then you should know-"

"And like him, I'm a father, too." Seth cut the speedster off with a fierce look and a voice of determination. "And every single cell in me is screaming at me to tell Joe everything about this."

"Why?" Iris asked.

"Cause unlike any of you, I know exactly how it feels to lose a child." Seth reminded the couple, his eyes drained of life. The feeling of loss returning to him like a speeding train. "That pain of failure and feeling of death that comes over one when you lose your one child… Saying it's painful wouldn't do it justice, it's so much worse than that."

"Most of you know what I was like after I lost Bucky, Liv told you all. I was a crazy, suicidal manic who didn't give a rat's ass about my own worthless life back then. All I cared about back then was tearing that disgusting bastard Carnage to so many pieces no regeneration would ever bring him back." Seth knew what he was saying. "Last thing I want is for Joe to turn out like anything I did after Bucky was killed… But I can't keep this from him, as his friend and as a father."

"Seth." Barry got his attention. "You told me two years ago that if you knew of Bucky's fate beforehand you wouldn't have changed anything, cause it'd keep you from this life you have now."

"And I meant every word I said back then." Seth sneered his words.

"Then you know why I don't want him to know this, Seth. Please." Iris begged. "I know you're his friend, which I appreciate. But please… Don't tell him, it'll send him off the rails and he's gonna do something dangerous. Please. I know what I'm asking is unfair, but it's for his own good. It's gonna be hard, but please don't tell him. it's gonna break my Dad." Iris pleaded to him, hoping that Seth would see her way and keep her grim future away from her father.

Seeing the determination in her eyes, the willingness behind them blazing like a fire, Seth couldn't help but lower his guard. With a sigh, he stated. "Fine. I'll keep my mouth shut." Iris smiled. "Besides, this way I can extend my promise to Joe and keep you safe at the same time, Iris. Plus, I'll be using Barry as a meat shield at some point anyway, which might change the future that way."

"What was that about a meat shield?" Barry paled in fear. His fear vanished when seeing Wally strutting away with anger on his face. "Wally." He stopped him, garnering his attention. "The future isn't set. There's still hope."

The fledgling speedster came to a halt, looking conflicted. As the conflict within Wally intensified, H.R. jumped in. "But, guys, the future, it's harder to change than you can imagine." He walked into the middle into the Cortex. "The future wants to happen. The way it was explained to me was, imagine if you had a row of dominos, okay? Now, those dominos are all set up. And the- It's-"

"Here." Cisco gave the Earth-19 native a stack of dominos.

"So convenient." Harrison accepted the dominos. "Yeah, give me them. Barry, if you-" Barry sped ahead, using his superspeed to instantly stack the dominos in a long line on a table. Seeing that, the Earth-19 native walked over to it with the others following him. "So, imagine, okay, a domino. Each domino is a moment in time. One moment in time leads to the next. So as one domino falls, it hits the next, it hits the next, and the next, and the next, and so on, leading to the inevitable conclusion. And that is…" He tipped the dominos, the entire line falling down, empathizing his point. "The future."

"And what happens if we alter certain events?" Barry inquired.

"Well, you could, conceivably, change where you end up." Harry theorized.

"Alter the future itself by pulling different strings." Seth realized.

"Largest web you'd be pulling at, indeed, Dr. Fury." H.R. agreed with the mutant. "But, Barry, if you would-" Barry, knowing what he wanted, sped and stacked the dominos up in a line again. "So, you could change the future. But you have to be very careful about which events…" He removed two domino pieces from the line. "You alter…" He tipped the line again, making the dominos fall, this time the last one not falling. "The future."

"We need to figure out everything that happens leading up to Iris' death." Barry deduced.

"Good thing you weren't the only one there, right, Dad?" Ruby directed to her father.

Smirking at her words, Seth recalled the future he was forced to witness. His eyes when recalling something from the future. "The bus stand."

"I'm sorry. Dad, did you say a bus stand is the solution to our future-altering plans?" Frankie asked with widened eyes.

"Actually, yeah, it is." Seth nodded. "When I was hurled into the future, there was a bus stand, with a news scroll on their TV. If we see it again, that thing could give us some clues."

"And if we need to see it again…" Evelyn looked at Cisco. "Cisco, you got a solution."

"Absolutely. I do." Cisco looked between the mutant and the speedster. "Hang on, McFly. I'm about to vibe you back to the future."

"Wait, me too?" Seth pointed a finger at himself.

X

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

"You're gonna send them both via this, Cisco?" Frankie asked, pointing at the platform with the three chairs.

Glancing over his shoulder from the computers he's working on, Cisco answered. "Oh yeah, I'll be along for the ride."

"And you're gonna be sending my Dad along for the ride?" Frankie continued.

"Yup." Cisco nodded. "You're not okay with that?"

"Not to throw shade on your powers, but considering everything he's been put through, including being thrown through time and space itself." Frankie added skeptically.

"That sounds like a lot of shade, sis." Ruby chuckled from the ceiling.

"Agreed." Cisco admitted. "But don't worry your little head, young ferrokinetic, your old man will be more than alright with this trip into the future."

"For some reason, I doubt that." Frankie admitted.

"Weird."

Hearing her "other's" words, Frankie inquired. "What do you mean? What's weird?"

"Wells hasn't said a single thing the entire time since we came down here. Didn't think that was possible." Magenta admitted.

Frankie turned her head, facing the Earth-19 native. "Wells, are you okay?"

"What? Yes, of course, I'm okay." H.R. answered, but she knew he was lying.

Cisco glanced at him. "Can you pass me the multi-meter, please?"

"Yeah." Harrison picked out a tool, handing it out for the viber.

Seeing it was the wrong one, Cisco repeated. "The multi-meter."

"Yeah." Harrison looked through the chest again, picking out a screwdriver.

"Wells, he wants the multi-meter." Ruby stated, telling him he's got the wrong tool.

"Yeah." He picked out another one that was wrong. "I'm better with the tools of the scribe." He admitted, seeing the dry looks from the other members.

"It's this one, Wells." Ruby pointed a finger at the other tool in his other hand, using her gravity powers to lift it out of his grasp. "That's the right tool."

"What kind of tool is he then?" Reap chuckled.

"Good question." Ruby mentally chuckled.

Taking the levitating tool, Cisco sniped at H.R. "Are you sure your buddy Randolf back home didn't just solve that cryptogram to get rid of you?" He returned to his work.

"Wow, that's harsh, Cisco." Frankie pitched in, not liking the direction his words are heading lately.

"No, he's…" Harrison looked away. "Well, perhaps he did."

Letting go of the ceiling and landing on the floor, Ruby countered. "You know that's not the case, Wells."

"Isn't it though?" His eyes went between Cisco and the Snow-Fury daughters. "I came to this Earth seeking redemption. But I realize now, San Francisco has been right along." He lowered his hands on either side of his body. "Greatness isn't in the cards for me."

"Okay." Cisco said before either of the Snow-Fury daughters could say anything. "So, you failed. So, nobody came to your opening. Don't end it like this. Greatness… takes time." He got his attention. "And you know this."

"Wasn't there someone who used to say, "If a string is in a knot, patience will untie it."" Frankie started.

""Patience can do lots of things. Have you ever tried it?"" Ruby continued.

"My dear ma…" H.R. nodded, giving the three of them thumbs up in gratitude.

"Right." Cisco said.

"So…" Seth entered the Breach Room with Barry, Caitlin, Evelyn and Iris. "Who's ready for a trip into the future?"

"More precisely, we're using my powers to vibe you, me and Barry to the future you two saw." Cisco clarified. "But yeah, we're ready. And you're done whining about this trip?"

"Wasn't whining, I was complaining." Seth corrected the viber, but he still sounded like he was whining. "But yeah, ready."

"Let's go. The machine's souped up and ready to go." Cisco informed them, moving towards the chairs on the platform. "It's gonna be a hell of a vibe. All you have to do is just sit back, relax, or, well, try to relax." He clarified.

"That all?" Seth asked skeptically as he and the speedster each took their seats and the headgears meant for them to wear.

"And, well, both of you concentrate, really focus, on the exact date in the future that you traveled to." Cisco added.

"You got the date, right?" Seth asked the speedster while putting on his headgear.

"May 23rd, 2017." Barry answered with the exact date.

Iris made eye contact with Barry. "Barry, whatever happens, I am right here waiting for you, okay?"

"I know." Barry nodded.

Caitlin took Seth's hand. "Are you okay with this, Seth? You said you tried to stop it in the future."

"True, and I know I can't stop it, it's just a vision after all. But the more eyes on the situation the better." Seth said while holding her hand.

"Know I'm here, I won't go anywhere." Caitlin told him; Seth gave a knowing smile. More than anything he knew she wouldn't walk away no matter what. Walking over to the computer, she faced her mate again. "I love you." She mouthed the words.

Mouthing his own words, he replied. "Love you too." He said back.

"We're ready." Barry said.

"Crank it." Cisco told Caitlin.

Getting nods from the three powered males, Caitlin started the countdown. "Three… Two… One…" She pulled the lever.

In unison, the three of them felt a rush of energy course through their minds, hitting them like a tidal wave. Their heads reeled back…

And flashing lights followed the course of energy coming over them, blinding their closing eyes till….

It worked…

X

….

As soon as the blinding and flashing lights died down, the three of them found themselves in the alleyway of Central City in the future.

…

"Weird." Seth muttered when he was able to stand on the ground.

"What is?" Cisco asked.

"First time I was yanked here, I was just like a ghost, no physical body and couldn't touch or feel anything whatsoever." Seth tapped the ground with his foot. "It's strange being back in the same place, still powerless to do anything but can at least feel things now."

"Not this time, Seth." Barry stated, recalling the powerlessness he felt when not even able to move when seeing Iris be skewered.

"Agreed, we're gonna be useful this time." Seth clenched and cracked his fists.

"What do you guys see?" Iris asked them from the real world.

"An empty street, and the bus stop." Cisco listed off, noting the things that are closest to them.

A breach-like portal opened up, revealing itself in a moment in front of them, spitting out The Flash from the past. "Then we have Barry, the one from Christmas." Seth noted.

"He just came out of the Speed Force." Barry added.

"Kinda thought we'd see Seth from Christmas too." Cisco admitted his thoughts as they walked closer to the bus stop.

With a scoff, Seth replied. "Wouldn't be possible. Like I said, I was practically a ghost. Just my consciousness was here, seeing the same as Barry. Barry himself couldn't see me." They got out of the alleyway, the bus stop coming into their field of vision, and they could hear the words from the news reporter.

"In other legal news, the highly publicized trial of Jared Morillo, aka Plunder…"

"Guys, we're watching the news." Seth called out to the team.

"Find anything interesting other than the report itself?" Evelyn asked them.

They walked around the bus stop, looking at the headlines on the news scroll. "These are the headlines, right?" The viber directed to the other heroes.

"The exact same ones." Seth answered, Barry agreeing with a nod.

"Headlines. Yeah." Harrison said from the real world. "You know what? Call 'em out. I'll write 'em down."

"Smart." Seth admitted.

Barry started. "Music Meister gets six-figure book deal."

Cisco continued. "Luigi's opens after murder."

"Joe West honored at City Hall." Barry continued.

"Good for you, Uncle Joe." Frankie chuckled.

"Killer-" Seth halted his words, seeing the rest of the headline. He clenched his fists at the headline, Cisco and Barry looking at him.

"Seth?" Caitlin called out from the outside. "What does it say?" She wanted to know the headline in its entirety.

Knowing the promise he made to her, he couldn't bring himself to lie to her. Seth inhaled deeply, returning his eyes to the screen. "Killer Frost still at large."

Though he couldn't see her, with his "other's" help he was able to feel the pain, worry and sadness coming over Caitlin, hitting her like an avalanche.

"S.T.A.R. Labs Museum closes." Barry continued regretfully, the words hurting Harrison as they were spoken.

"City still recovering following gorilla attack." Cisco continued.

"DON'T!" They heard the Flash of the future call out.

"Check out what's going on there, I'll see if there's anything more on the headlines." Seth stated. The others nodded, walking away in a stride to see the event unfolding. More headlines came on the news scroll. "Wells, keep that marker ready. More headlines are coming your way."

"Let em rip, Doctor." Harrison quipped.

"Sinister Seven's destruction under restoration." Seth started off, that headline worrying him with thoughts of what kind of damage or destruction Dr. Octavius and his group would bring forth. "Lasher's attack on CCPD forgotten." That name was unfamiliar to the mutant and the rest of the team. "Rhino meeting a sandy defeat." Someone would defeat Rhino, which was a good thing. "Central City High still suffering Riot's attack." Another confusing and unfamiliar name. "Agony and Phage's havoc have spread."

"That's a lot of headlines." Iris noted the number.

"Not done yet, there's two more." Seth said, coming face to face with a couple of peculiar headlines. "Anti-Venom's stains from massacre remains." He said clenching fists, worrying about who's he's slaughtered. "And… Hybrid faces off against Venom's partners."

"Hybrid?" Caitlin asked in confusion. "Your partners? Are they talking about the girls?"

"Unfortunately, that's the only thing that makes sense." Seth clenched his teeth in rage, not liking the way the future's looking. His family would be involved in ways he doesn't wanna imagine and…

Whether or not his role was decided, he'd make sure to tear the script to pieces and fight the future head-on to change it. Burn it, crush it, blast it, absolutely annihilate the grim future itself and make his own path.

A path that leads to a future where he'll stand as his family's shield and pike… Their Lethal Protector…

"Seth!" Cisco got the elemental's attention. "Come over here, quick!" Curious by his exclaim, Seth rushed towards him and the speedster. With both his and Barry's attention, the viber pointed up at the rooftop of a nearby building as the rest of the horrific event continued. "Look, up on the roof."

Up on the rooftop, is H.R. Wells, wielding a high-tech rifle in his hands and taking aim at the speed god who's holding Iris hostage. "H.R. is here." Barry noted in surprise.

"Me? Are you sure?" H.R. asked from the outside.

"Only Wells we know and owns a hat like that." Seth quipped. "But why the heck is he here?"

"What do you guys mean?" Frankie asked.

"He wasn't here before." Barry answered.

"The future's changed since then." Cisco deduced.

"It's like what Wells said, we're pulling at a thread of the biggest, most delicate wed to ever exist. It's changing in response." Seth added.

"You lose, Barry." They heard the speed god say in the vibe.

And as Barry and Seth have already seen, they see Savitar pierce Iris' chest with his metallic blade. They hear the other Flash scream in anguish at the sight of his beloved dying at the hands of the evil speedster. They watched Savitar pull out his blade before speeding away, the Flash rushed to Iris' side and held her in his arms.

"Cisco." Seth snapped his attention to him. "Get us out of here. We've gotten what we need."

Without nodding his head, Cisco agreed and used his powers to bring them out of the vibe with flashing lights coming over them again.

…

X

"Wow!" Seth said, snapping out of the vibe with the others. As the rest of the team pointed their surprised eyes at them, they took off their headgears. "That's a trip we're not gonna repeat again."

Jokes aside, Barry looked at the Earth-19 native. "You had a rifle pointed at Savitar."

"Means, by somehow telling you about Iris' death changed the future." Seth deduced. He stood up as did the others. "What does that say about your theory, Wells?"

"I was wrong, you were right. Your theory is correct." Harrison admitted.

"Bet you don't say that every day?" Evelyn quipped.

Iris chimed in. "Guys, my future isn't the only one that we need to change." She said, directing a glance at Caitlin who smiled at her thoughtful and generous words.

"No, these headlines, though, they tell us what happens in the future." Barry said, facing the transparent blackboard with headlines from the future.

"Where Cait becomes Killer Frost and Iris dies." Seth followed up; his eyes focused on the headline speaking of his girlfriend.

"And our daughters face off against this… "Hybrid."" Caitlin gestured to the headline.

"I'll think about the name." Cisco added.

"Seriously?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever we think about the name, these headlines will serve as our guidelines." Caitlin started. "Means if we can change the headlines, that means we can change the future."

"Challenge accepted." Frankie said as she cracked her neck.

"But…" Caitlin trailed off, biting her lower lip.

Seeing that, Seth looked at her with confusion. "What's wrong, Cait? What's on your mind?"

"There's no mention of either Scream or Eliza in those headlines." Caitlin revealed her thoughts, gesturing to the board. "With as much havoc and damage she caused on Christmas, I'd have imagined her name would have popped up on at least one of the headlines."

Seth narrowed his eyes. "Means she was either taken care of by then or…"

"Or she's excelled in hiding herself." Caitlin finished off. "Considering her strength, she's bound to have caused more damage than we're comfortable with."

"I'll make it my mission to search and capture Eliza." Seth assured his mate. "At the same time, we're gonna figure out what these other headlines mean and what horror show they can bring along."

"We'll help." Ruby declared, speaking for her and sisters.

WHOOSH

A gust of air emitted from the Breach Room entrance, where they saw Wally standing on the platform. "Dad's upstairs. We've been looking for you."

Seeing the look on his face, Seth asked. "Something happen?"

"Plunder escaped." Wally revealed.

X

Returning to the Cortex, the team listened as Joe revealed the events that had unfolded. "Morillo assaulted two guards on his way out of Iron Heights. Any idea where he might strike next?" He asked the viber who took a seat at the console.

"Well, we've got it narrowed down to 35 jewelry stores and 48 hotels in Central City. So…" Cisco trailed off sheepishly.

"He wouldn't just attack those places." Ruby realized.

Wally, following her train of thought, added. "What about banks? Auction houses?"

"Not like that narrows it down either, Wally." Evelyn informed.

"…There is one place…" Venom vaguely told his host.

Seth's eyes widened in realization, recalling the news announcement from the future. He recalled how the news reporter announced that Plunder was caught and apprehended by their team at Central City Museum. "Must be." He mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Joe asked, hearing his muttering.

"He said Central City Museum." Barry answered for him, knowing the same thoughts in the mutant's head as he thought the same. "That's where he is." He said, turning around to face Joe.

Joe shifted his eyes between the two. "Where'd you two get that?"

Barry and Seth shared a confused look, unclear on how to answer that question without breaking their agreement to Iris and telling Joe of her grim future. But the reporter herself had an answer in store, saving the heroes in their time of need. "Um, isn't there a jewelry exhibit there right now?"

"Uh-huh. With diamonds. Big ones. So, it makes sense." Caitlin pitched in.

"So glad Felicia ain't here to hear that. She'd have jumped at the chance at big diamonds." Frankie mused to herself.

"You better not be thinking of inviting that chick over or something. City's gonna down in a heartbeat with her and Evelyn here." Magenta responded.

"Ready to suit up, girls?" Seth asked his daughters who nodded their heads.

Barry walked up to Wally. "You too."

"I don't understand." Wally responded in surprise, given his previous reaction.

"Come here." Barry waved him closer. "I was a dick yesterday, Wally. It wasn't about you." He whispered. "I was scared when you caught Plunder. I didn't know what it meant for Iris' future. You're ready. Far more ready than I was when I started. What do you say?"

Wally shook hands with the Scarlet Speedster, showing his readiness. "I'm in."

X

"Remember our little deal?"

Jared groaned in his motorcycle helmet, the mocking voice of Eliza Harmon coming through his earpiece grating his ears. "Sorry to tell you but those brats were pretty set on putting me down."

"Figured as much." Eliza faked a sniffle on her end of the connection. "I'm so proud of those girls."

Plunder rushed out of the back entrance, entering the warehouse. "Might've appreciated some backup if you knew these punks were gonna give me so much trouble."

"That your way of asking for help? Didn't your Mommy tell you to say "please" when asking for something?" Eliza mocked.

"I need help, that's all you're getting." Jared affirmed.

"Well, whatever. I can't provide you anything though." Her words made the robber halt his tracks. "I got business with some bigger figures to take care of, so you… You're off the hook. Just do whatever a Plunder does to get his gears going. Granted, I don't think it'll work out for you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He sarcastically quipped.

"What can I say… The future looks grim for you, pal. Buh-bye!" She finished off, hanging up on the robber.

"She takes my eye, forces me to do jobs, and just leaves me out to dry like this?!" He sneered to himself while pulling out the earpiece. Enraged by her words and the way he's been treated; he crushed the comms device under his sole.

He made his way to his motorcycle, taking the seat on his vehicle. But as he started it, a sudden gust of wind demanded his attention and he looked up to see Kid Flash standing there. He was not alone as he stood with Eclipse, Magenta and Genysis.

The speedster gave him a mock sad look. "Plunder, my man, where do you think you're going?"

"Right through all of you." Jared countered.

"Hit your head or something? Last time didn't go so well, remember?" Ruby sniped at him.

"Had a noose around my neck, it's off now." Plunder countered, pulling out his high-tech rifle and taking aim at the heroes. "Now I can let loose."

"Sounds like you're mistaking a noose for a leash, pal." Genysis quipped.

"Who exactly put that around your neck exactly?" Eclipse inquired.

"Find out for yourself." He quipped smugly, before opening fire on them. The first shot coming was an energy bullet, one that Wally dodged. The second shot was an array of sound blasts, coming towards the symbiote-bearers.

Evelyn shadowported out of the way, avoiding the sonic round coming her way. Frankie jumped up and stuck to the ceiling, dodging the sonic blast coming after her. Ruby leaped into the air, spiraling out of the way before the sonic bullet could connect with her.

"You're not the only one specializing in long-range combat." Evelyn pulled back a hand, concentrating light into her palm and forming a sphere. She hurled the orb after him.

Plunder started the engine of his motorcycle, driving towards the orb to the heroes' surprise. He pulled the trigger and released a series of energy bullets at the light sphere. The result ended with the orb meeting the bullets head-on and exploded, releasing a powerful light akin to a flashbang.

Everyone was forced to cover their eyes because of the blinding light. This allowed an opening for Jared to use, and he drove past the heroes. "Damn it." Wally sneered.

"He ain't getting away." Ruby morphed her arms into sabers.

"We're gonna get him now." Frankie's eyes flickered with a purple shine. She rushed after him, Genysis followed her.

Venom and Flash appeared. The mutant watched as his daughters ran after Plunder. "Damn kids, impatient as always."

"Aren't all kids like that, Dad?" Evelyn quipped. "Gonna catch up with them. Kid Flash, catch up when you've caught your breath again." She stated before shadowporting after them.

"Hope their confidence rubbed off on you, Kiddie." Seth directed to the fledgling speedster.

"You all right?" Barry inquired.

"I'm good, guys. You take this one." Wally said, out of breath from the action.

"No, Wally, this one has to be you and Seth's kids." Barry countered; Seth turned to him with a curious look.

"Why?" Wally asked.

"If you guys defeat Plunder, the news report we saw in the future said we captured him, it'd be wrong." Venom glanced at the Scarlet Speedster. "You wanna alter the future here and now."

"So that's why you guys sent me out here." Wally realized.

"He sent you out, not us. We're gonna go ahead." Seth told the Scarlet Speedster. Turning around, he rushed away in the direction that his daughter took in their chase after Plunder.

As Seth ran away, Barry looked into Wally's eyes and confessed. "No, that's not why. I sent you out here because you're a hero." Wally returned to his feet, standing up tall. "Iris needs a hero right now, Wally."

As the words sunk in, lightning began to crackle over the speedster's eyes. Feeling the rush of electricity, Wally ran away in a flash, speeding after Plunder with Barry following him.

X

Looking over his shoulder, Plunder's eyes widened at the sight of numerous arrows embedded into the ground after rapidly descending from the sky. More and more of them came after him, getting closer and closer to him and his vehicle.

"Damn rats!" He took aim at the next wave of arrows, releasing a powerful wide-ranged sound blast from the high-tech rifle. The strong soundwave deflected the symbiote-mass hardened projectiles, sending them in various directions.

Genysis saw one of the deflected arrows coming their way. "That gun is annoying." She thrust an open palmed fist out towards them, using her gravitational force to halt them. "Eclipse, can you use them again?"

"Yeah, hand them off here!" Eclipse shouted, continuing to pursue the robber from the rooftop like her sisters. Genysis hurled the arrows in her direction where her sister caught them.

Magenta jumped over their heads, looking ahead of them and saw that Plunder was reaching the end of the alleyway. "His road's coming to an end up ahead. We'll catch him there!"

"Doubt it." Genysis nodded her head at Plunder.

The robber reached the end of the alleyway but used the ramp of a moving truck to jump over a driving car, showcasing expert motorcyclist skills once more.

"Okay that was impressive, to say the least." Eclipse admitted, lowering her arrows. Both of her sisters jumped up to stand on either side of her. Seeing their raised eyes and dry looks, she nodded. "Yeah, not the time to be impressed."

"Got it in one." Ruby placed a hand on her right shoulder.

"Give us a ride, sis." Frankie placed a hand on her left shoulder.

Before Evelyn was about to shadowport them after the robber, they saw that Barry and Wally were speeding after him as well. "Let's go." She declared before the three sisters disappeared in a smog of shadows.

The two speedsters entered an alleyway, following the motorcyclist. Turning around as he drove, having adjusted the rifle, Plunder took aim at a wall in the metahumans' path. Pulling the trigger, he released a powerful energy-like bullet.

Though it came in slow motion for them, the two speedsters were unable to stop themselves from running into the plasma-like energy barricade that ejected following the energy bullet hitting the wall. They ran through it, feeling themselves be slowed down by the image divider.

"Gotcha." Jared muttered, feeling triumphant for now. He readjusted the settings on his rifle, turning it back on the heroes and pulled the trigger again. This time, he fired a different type of bullet. The large golden-plated bullet spiraled through the air, the sides of it opening up and releasing spheres that spread around.

"Those look bad." Wally noted, seeing as one of them exploded.

"Get going!" Genysis shouted, jumping down in front of them. Thrusting out both hands, she forced the spheres to halt, lifting them up in the air. "Move!" She told the speedsters, but didn't have to as they continued running, rushing past her like speeding bullets.

Turning her attention back to the spheres she caught, Ruby clenched her hands into fists and compressed the bullets instantly, causing them to explode away from her. "Cisco, you got some news we could use against this guy or what?"

"I do." Cisco shouted. "Wally, take your next left. The streets meet up in about two miles. If you time it just right, you'll be able to blindside him."

"Got it!" Kid Flash shouted.

"Anyone else feel like we're just backup now?" Through her comms, Ruby directed the question to her sisters as she ran along the building walls. She ran up to her sisters who took a stance on the corner of the rooftop, looking down on the fight. "What's the plan?"

Frankie looked at her sister. "Eclipse, get me down there."

"Got it." Evelyn placed a hand on her shoulder, she used her powers to shadowport them.

A smog of shadows erupted on top of the building near the two streets meeting. "I'll shoot…" Evelyn stopped talking when Frankie raised a hand in front of her, wordlessly telling her to stop.

Eclipse could see her sister's eyes narrowing at the alleyway entrance, the same place where Plunder would be driving through. Magenta pointed her hand in that direction, curling her other fingers except for her index finger. The sound of the motorcycle's revving engine reached their ears.

Within a second, Frankie saw the robber get out of the alleyway. The very moment she saw the rear wheel pass the threshold; she lifted her index finger. Her ferrokinetic powers started, forcing Plunder's vehicle to be flung up and spiral in the air, hurling off its rider in the process. Magenta kept the motorcycle suspended in the air while Wally sped to the robber, tying his hands together behind his back.

"Wow, that was incredible." Evelyn admitted, impressed by her sister's precise use of her powers. The sight of her using her powers so precisely, even lowering the motorcycle to the side, was shocking. "Looks like all that precise training went well." She chuckled.

"It's pointless."

That remark made Evelyn snap her head in her sister's direction. "What was that sis?"

Magenta heard her own words, giving a quick shake of her head. "Nothing. Just talking to myself."

"Okay…" Evelyn trailed off suspiciously. "Anyway, let's get down there!" She told her sister before leaping off the rooftop. Magenta gave a nod before following her sister. Ruby jumped after them. The three of them landed on the ground beside the tied-down robber. "Nice job, Kid Flash."

"Not the only one who thinks so..." Ruby admitted, gesturing to the crowd gathering around them that chants the new speedster's name.

"You hear that?" Barry smirked. "They're saying your name." Wally looked surprised, turning to face the citizens.

"Not the only one they're calling out to." Venom declared as he jumped down, landing beside them. With a wave of his hand, he gestured to the people and children calling out his daughters' names. Few of the uncontrollable kids ran away from their parents to hug the legs of their favorite heroines.

"Aww, hi guys." Frankie said, picking up the two girls hugging her legs while closing her mouth.

"Um, hey." Ruby nervously said, ruffling the head of the child near her.

"This is weird." Evelyn admitted, using her serpentine wings to hug the children around them.

"It's part of the job…" Seth told them.

Both Barry and Wally were shocked to see the demon-looking heroes were so popular with children.

Jared scoffed to himself, garnering the heroes' attention. "Guess I should have asked for more when taking this job."

Hearing those words, Seth forced Plunder back to his feet when grabbing the back of his collar. "Job? Someone ordered you to fight us?"

"If it came to it, yeah." Jared stated.

"Who ordered you?" Venom demanded.

"You ain't getting more out of me." Plunder admitted.

But the words he said were more than enough for the heroes to make their own assumptions.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, The Cortex)

"Today's top story: Jared Morillo, aka, Plunder, is back in police custody after attempting to rob the Central City Museum. Morillo was apprehended by a new speedster who goes by the name "Kid Flash." Our other heroes, Magenta, Eclipse and Genysis joined the fight, protecting people and fighting off Morillo's attempts." The news reporter announced as the announcement continued.

The headline with the words, "Plunder Caught By Kid Flash" reading loud and clear as footage of the robber is put into a police car.

Wally smiled widely at the mention of him in the footage, especially as himself being shown in the footage.

Caitlin was happy for the new speedster to be officially known. Her smile widened when seeing her daughters so popular with children of younger ages. "Our girls are popular nowadays, aren't they?" She directed to her mate who's beside her on a chair.

"Yeah, they are." Seth smiled, but his thoughts were swirling around something else.

"That settles it. I think you're officially Kid Flash now." Barry said after shutting down the TV.

With a shrug, Wally admitted. "Yeah, it's growing on me."

"And this rifle is growing on me." Cisco exclaimed, clutching Plunder's high-tech rifle. "Heat-seeking bullets are just the beginning of what this bad boy can do."

Caitlin narrowed her eyes. "How did you end up with Plunder's rifle?"

"Evie stole it for me." Cisco casually revealed, the news made both Caitlin and Seth's eyes expand. "Right, Eves?" Evelyn smiled from the ceiling that she and her sisters occupied.

"You had my daughter plunder Plunder?" Caitlin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was bored, Mom. Had to do something while Wally was cuffing him." Evelyn quipped.

Seth gave his daughter a dry look. "Not exactly a good reason to steal, honey."

Ruby grinned. "As if Evelyn needs a reason to steal things… or animals." She sniped, her sister giving her a look at those words. Her parents, while they didn't say it, did have to agree with the words as their daughter does tend to steal the neighbors' pets.

"Yeah." Frankie weakly said.

Her words brought her family's attention to her, all of them giving her strange and confused looks.

As their eyes were pointed at the ceiling, Barry turned his attention to the board with headlines from the future. "Thanks to you guys, we changed the future." He said, uncapping a marker and changing the title of the event. "If we can change one of these events, we can change them all. Nothing is set in stone." He said, looking at Iris.

"Yeah…." Seth said.

"Dad." Frankie detached from the ceiling, landing on her feet. "You know what Plunder said. He did all of this on a job, someone hired him."

"I think most of us have a feeling of who that someone is." Seth declared.

Everyone on the team nodded their heads in agreement, following the same train of thought.

But… H.R. looked confused, turning his head left and right for any response. "We do? I mean, we do, of course."

"No, you don't." Ruby said bluntly. "She means that it was either Eliza Harmon or the Sinister Seven ordering Morillo to rob the museum. But I don't see why."

"Think it wasn't the SS, but Eliza being the client this time." Frankie voiced her thoughts. "He kept saying things about having a leash, a collar around his neck… Eliza must have been threatening him this entire time."

"Why?" Iris asked.

"No idea, but it can't be anything good." Seth spoke for his daughter. "We're gonna have to look out for each other more, and also watch out for them both."

"Yeah, but hopefully that doesn't dampen the mood." Barry chuckled. "See you guys tonight?" He asked, referring to the housewarming party he and Iris is hosting at their new loft.

"Sure, we'll be there. We could use some downtime." Seth admitted with a chuckle.

Everyone agreed with a series of nodding heads and voiced their agreements as well. But Frankie was the only one to not say anything. Her facial expression spoke volumes, she was not in a joyous mood now for some reason. Something was bothering her, weighing her down with the weight of the entire world.

X

"You really think they'll need this?" Caitlin asked her mate as she and the rest of her family walked towards the entrance to Iris and Barry's new home.

Seth lifted the gift they decided on: a Fancy Wine-and-Cheese Carousel. "I think we can both agree this is the best gift for anyone who loves to host. And I doubt this is gonna be the last time Barry's gonna host something."

Caitlin weighed the thought of it in her mind as she saw the carousel is able to hold more than six glasses, in the middle it can hold four bottles and still have plenty of room to spare for cheeses and other snacks. Seth even did the thoughtful thing and engraved it with the names of the couple that moved in together.

"It is pretty nice." Caitlin admitted.

"Good, I bought two of these when I went shopping." Seth confessed. "The last one's for us."

"Great choice. Though I do question the girls' choice." Caitlin nodded to the gift that their daughters had bought together.

Ruby laughed at that, holding up the flower scented candle. "It's a great choice, Mom." Though her mother thought it was nice with the candle itself. the label on it did make her question it.

"You're just happy because you won Rock-Paper-Scissor." Evelyn countered; her words made her sister smile widely.

"We should have chosen a different method of reaching an agreement." Frankie voiced her opinion.

"Well… It's a memorable one." Seth admitted out loud.

"I mean, the label's pretty accurate and does make sense." Venom told his host with a chortle.

"It's something to be honest." Seth stated. They came to stand in front of the entrance door. "Let's get this started." He told his family as he knocked on the door.

The door opened up, revealing Iris standing there with a smile. "Hey, guys." She greeted them with a smile.

"Hi!" Caitlin said, giving the reporter a hug as she led them in. "Sorry, we're late." She said when seeing that the others had arrived. She handed Iris the flowers they've bought.

"Don't worry, you're right on time." Iris assured her as she hugged Seth.

"Hopefully, this will make up for our tardiness." Seth quipped as he held up the carousel for her to see.

"Oh my God, that's beautiful. Thank you, guys." Iris said.

Barry walked over to them. "Hey." He greeted them. "Oh, that's nice." He said when seeing the carousel in Iris' arms.

"This is better." Ruby chuckled, holding up the scented candle to him.

"Oh thank-" Barry stopped himself when accepting the candle and reading the label… Out loud.

"Good luck convincing your new neighbors you are normal."

Barry looked up at the parents with confused and shocked eyes. Both gave a shrug, their eyes glancing down at their own daughters who showed hyena-like grins. "Thank you?" The speedster said unsurely.

"You guys got a turtle?" Evelyn saw the turtle in a glass bowl.

"Yeah, kind of. It's H.R.'s housewarming gift." Iris confessed.

Hearing his name, Harrison pitched in. "Yes, it is. On my Earth, we give reptiles. I present… McSnurtle, the turtle. Careful, she bites." He warned Evelyn who began playing and petting the pet turtle.

"She's cute." Evelyn said as she petted the turtle's head, stroking the top of it and the neck.

"Nice place you got." Ruby praised their loft, seeing that it's a two-story loft much like her previous home. It has a small kitchen that's connected to the living room, basically an open-plan.

"You guys gonna stick with McSnurtle?" Seth asked the speedster as he joined his daughter in petting the new pet.

"Maybe, or give it a new name probably. Me and Iris are gonna go over some options." Barry replied.

"Maybe something like Fred-" Cisco trailed off when someone spoke from the entrance.

"Hello, hello." Julian greeted as he peeked through the open door, seeing the other guests that had arrived. Everyone turned to him, greeting him with waves and words. Closing the door behind him, Julian said. "I hope I'm not too late."

"Right on time." Barry assured his colleague.

"You're good, man, we just got here ourselves." Seth told him as he wrapped an arm around Caitlin's waist.

"This is, um, for you." Julian said, handing the bottle of wine to Barry.

"Ah, thank you." Barry accepted the gift. Sharing nods and looks with his teammates, the speedster announced their decision to Julian. "Yeah. So, we all talked it over, and… Welcome to the team."

"You being serious?" Julian asked.

"Yeah." Barry said, shaking hands with the newest member of Team Flash.

"Thank you. Yeah, this is so exciting." Julian admitted excitedly. "I mean, my last team, they were all murdered by Savitar. So…"

His words made the smiles on the others' faces drop in a heartbeat. Julian displayed a new talent in that moment, the ability to put a damper on the mood instantly.

Ruby's next words proved… she has that same ability as well. "Well, we're already on Savitar's bad side, so we're probably not far behind." Caitlin and Seth gave their daughter incredulous looks. "Welcome to the team, fresh meat." She told Julian with a hard slap on his back.

"Looks like we need to work on your small talk skills." Caitlin sheepishly told Julian, her eyes drifting to her daughter. "As well as my daughter's skills."

"Yeah, just wanted to be upfront." Julian nervously said.

Nudging the speedster's shoulder, Seth suggested. "Might be time to put that bottle to good use."

"And that carousel you guys brought us." Barry chuckled, he moved towards the kitchen counter where Joe is pouring a drink.

Julian, Cisco, Seth and Caitlin and their daughters each took a seat at the dinner table. "Frankie." Seth got his daughter's attention, her head lifting up to meet his eyes. "Are you okay? You've been… silent since we came here. Is something on your mind?"

"Nah, nothing, dad. I'm fine. I'm just…" Frankie shook her head. "I'm okay. Just tired, I think."

Caitlin, hearing their conversation, looked at her daughter with concern. "You're not sleeping well, honey?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Maybe it's the school assignments getting to me." Frankie vaguely said, though her parents felt there was something more to it.

"Caitlin." Caitlin turned to Cisco who started. "Seth brought your battery problem with your cuffs to me, and Julian and I have been talking about it." Julian reached into his bag. "We decided we'd invest in an alternate accessory, with some of Seth's design input."

"Oh yeah." Seth said, intrigued by what they're gonna show.

Julian revealed the small box, opening it up for them to see. "Voila." The box revealed there's a snowflake-shaped pendant shining with a bright blue light in the middle of it. "Every time you go outside, solar energy will recharge it."

Caitlin stood up, gazing at the pendant with wide eyes, completely enveloped with gratitude and appreciation. "Guys, this means so much to me. Thank you." She said, taking the box.

"You're welcome." Cisco said.

Surprising Caitlin, Seth took the pendant out of the box. "May I?" She nodded. He unlatched the chain and wrapped it around her neck, connecting the chain once more. "Wow."

"Ta-da!" Caitlin said, posing with the pendant.

"That's pretty." Evelyn said, continuing to pet the turtle.

"Honey, should we be worried about you stealing that turtle?" Caitlin questioned.

"I won't, Mom!" Evelyn whined like a real teenager.

Clinking the glass in his hand with his drumsticks, H.R. got everyone's attention as he stood in the middle of the living room. "Hi, guys. I asked myself to say a few words on this occasion." Everyone walked towards the sofas surrounding him. "A home, you know, more than bricks and mortar, and a turtle…" Some questioned that one. "It's a feeling. It's a feeling of belonging, isn't it? Of love, of course. Of hope for the future. I don't know if I have ever met two people who are more suited to one another than you two." He said, gesturing to the couple that own the loft.

"To Barry and Iris." He finalized, lifting his glass.

"To Barry and Iris." Everyone joined the toast before clinking their glasses together, toasting the couple and their new chapter in life.

But one person didn't do that… Frankie's thoughts were on a different plane, completely somewhere else. Her thoughts only orbiting one thing… and one thing alone.

"I have… To become stronger."

To be continued…

And that's a chapter, peeps!

The future that awaits our team of heroes have multiple milestones, new enemies will show up and bring their own terror and madness. And more importantly, the entire team now knows of the fate that may or may not take Iris West from their lives.

The heroes will fight harder than ever to try and deter that very fate, changing the future with each headline guiding them and their actions.

But though they've defeated and put Plunder behind bars, young Frankie appears to be feeling lesser than normal due struggling with a human like this one. This change of mood, so to speak, affects her state of mind greatly and frustrates her greatly.

Will this change prevent the current dominos from falling and leading to Iris's death?

But keep your eyes peeled as Taskmaster brings Eliza to the Sinister Seven, the group of supervillains who've kept their talons withdrawn for now, awaiting another big plan.

And what Eliza plans to do with the four symbiotes remaining in her possession?

Only time will tell.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!

Once again: Glad to be back again after so long!