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.

19. Chapter 19: Fragmented

Hey you all wonderful readers!

Here again with another bedtime story for you all!

I'm back from Malaysia and back at writing again. Once again, I appreciate all the great reviews and messages you've all sent me, and I'm grateful for them.

Also, in this chapter, there's some anime-influence included. See if you can find it ;)

Now to answer some reviews:

hunter41963801: Thanks for the idea, I like it, my friend. Glad you enjoyed the chapter too, buddy. I'll try and live up to your expectations.

guest: glad to hear buddy, I have some plans set for S04, sure you will enjoy them. And thanks, it means a lot that there are people who enjoy the stories I come up with in these trying times. Nice to know your artwork's going well.

And now…

Without further ado…

ENJOY!

Chapter 19: Fragmented

With a heavy sigh coming out of her mouth, Mrs. Alva Chang tapped the counter she's manning tiresomely. The Chinese woman's popular boutique is close to the local high schools, elementary schools and universities.

Whether it was daytime or nighttime the store would be brimming with the young minds that'll one day dominate the future of Central City and the rest of the world.

Alva had to chuckle at that thought, laughing at the thought of those familiar kids one day becoming CEOs of their own companies and taking the world by storm.

But with the recent attack on the local high school, all three educational institutions have been closed down for the time being. Each of them have received word that a student from the high school had been kidnapped and had been asked to send students home and keep them there until further notice.

The news that a student had been kidnapped hit her hard. Alva was familiar with many of the students from the various schools, having greeted and gotten to know several of the ones from the high school.

With another sigh, she stood up from her chair and took a stroll through her shelves. It was one of the many things she repeatedly did to take her mind off things. Alva came to a stop, seeing that the crackers section wasn't properly stocked.

Returning to her counter, she entered the storage room in the back through the door there. Standing before the darkened shelves in her dark storage room, she reached for the switch to turn on the lights.

SHATTER

But her attention turned back to the entrance she used to enter the storage room when the sound of glass shattering echoed its way into her area. She immediately reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone in case of an emergency. But her curiosity got the best of her, and she slowly inched back towards the entrance.

A strange but sudden sense of fear mixed in with the curiosity, but she didn't let that stop her at all. Exiting the storage room, she widened her eyes when seeing that her glass doors had been shattered completely. She crouched down to stay out of view, hiding behind her counter and picked up her aluminum bat that she kept in case of emergency.

Thinking the time was appropriate for it to be used, she clutched it tightly. She flinched when hearing rustling near the shelves…

But what stood out the most was the strange sound of… Panting?

It sounded like an animal was panting inside of her boutique. Panting out of starvation, trying everything in its path up to find food…

Alva slowly turned around…

And a malicious pair of white eyes stared at her…

ROAR

X

(Snow-Fury Residence)

Forgoing the stairs' purpose, the elemental jumped off the first floor and landed at the end of the stairway. He cracked his neck, feeling sore from the awful sleep he's had. Course, plagued with guilt tends to make it harder for anyone to sleep.

With Joe hating him and understandably blaming him for keeping vital and important information about Iris' death from him, Seth found it hard to do what he normally does. The truth was out in the open now, but what he lost hit him hard…

He lost one of his best friends…

"Joe made his decision Seth. Just like you made yours all that time ago." His "other" stated.

"Not many times I regret my decision, honestly." Seth replied. "But this one really bites and I hate myself for it. I knew there'd be distance between me and Joe now, but this time… It really hurts."

"Deal with it." Venom bluntly said. "We made our choice Seth. We knew the consequences of keeping this secret. Joe would hate us, despise the team itself, but would harbor an enormous amount of hate towards us."

"You're right." Seth admitted, knowing that his logic was correct. "Best thing we can do now…"

"…Do better and keep Iris safe while we protect our family." Venom followed up.

"Dad?" Seth turned his head and saw Ruby entering the house through the front door. She was wearing a black hoodie and military-green pants. She pulled off her hoodie and looked at him. "What are you doing up?"

"Could ask you the same. It's early." Seth said, seeing that it was only around 8:00 AM. "With the schools closed off for now, I figured you'd sleep in like your sisters."

"Still got the habit of waking up in time for school, I guess." Ruby answered, pulling out her headphones. "Why are you up already? You look like you've barely slept." She noticed the dark circles on his face.

"Gee, thanks, kid. Tell me what you really think next." Seth quipped. Ruby didn't react to the joke, facing her father with a passive but expectant look. "Things aren't easy right now, honey."

"With Uncle Joe and all." She said, knowing the source of her father's pain. "Don't worry, Dad. I'm sure he'll come back."

"If he doesn't, I'd understand it completely. It was something important." Seth sighed. "As a father, I can understand it."

"So, if the shoe was on the other foot and Uncle Joe kept information about my possible death from you, you'd hate him?" Ruby wondered of her father.

"Definitely." Seth answered steadfastly. "Possible or not, the death of a child is not something a parent gets over easily. And I know, just the thought of Iris' death being a possibility, it would've spurred him into action. He would've fought tooth and nail to prevent his daughter's death."

"He would've died to protect her." Ruby realized.

"Only a parent would understand." Seth stated.

Ruby tilted her head. "So, you would do the same for us?"

"If it meant fighting for your survival, so you three would be able to live… Yes, I would. I'd gladly put my life on the line for you three and surrender it in a heartbeat. You three are among the most important people in my life." Seth assured his daughter.

"Thanks, Dad… I guess." Ruby chuckled awkwardly.

"Well, you're welcome…. I guess." He threw back her own words. "I have to go to work, got a couple of crime scenes. One of them is actually close to your high school."

"Wait, really?" Ruby questioned with widened eyes. "Where?"

Pulling out his phone, Seth checked the address. "Chang's Boutique."

Ruby's eyes widened once more. "I know that place. It's really popular, Mrs. Chang gives discounts to students."

"Good place to meet students, then." Seth referred to the location.

"Dad." Ruby got his attention again. "Mind if I come along for this? I know Mrs. Chang and she's a nice person. Want to check on her."

"Well, considering her place is a crime scene now, a friendly face wouldn't hurt." Seth smiled after pocketing his phone. He walked towards his daughter and ruffled her hair, making her widen her eyes even more. "Plus, a little father-daughter time wouldn't hurt now and then."

Ruby scoffed at her father's words. "We do that everywhere, Dad." She knocked his hand off her head. "Let's go then." She said before moving out the door.

Seth followed up quickly. "You eaten yet, kid?"

X

Having been by CC Jitters with her father, Ruby, while going to the crime scene with Seth, dug into her vanilla frosted pop tart with blueberry filling. She laughed to herself as some of the gooey contents spilled out, almost falling out of the dessert.

"Never have I ever eaten pop tarts for breakfast." Ruby admitted with a mouthful of pastry.

"Call it an old Fury tradition, Rubs." Seth quipped, eating his own vanilla frosting pop tart but with blackberry filling. "Your grandfather started this with me and your Aunt when we were kids."

"For troubling days?" Ruby wondered.

Seth shrugged. "At first, I thought so, yes. But we later learnt it was just his way of spending some quality family time with us."

"Is this why you decided to share the tradition with me? Continue the good old stuff from the old days." She teased her father.

The mutant narrowed his eyes, an eyebrow twitching in response. "Still not that old, kid." Seth nudged his daughter's elbow. Looking up ahead, he saw a number of police barricades close to them. "Finish eating, we're close."

Ruby saw the same. She practically inhaled her pop tart in one mouthful. Seth did the same, devouring his pastry immediately. The two sped up their pace and reached the crime scene. Both father and daughter expanded their eyes in disbelief at the sight.

The entire entrance of the popular store had been torn off, leaving nothing but jagged and broken brick spikes where the doors were supposed to be. Officers were looking around inside of the store, combing every surface for evidence that'll help their investigation into the crime that took place. A number of CSI scientists examined the area as well, including one Barry Allen.

Close by where the entrance was supposed to be is an ambulance, in the back of it is Mrs. Alva Chang being checked on by a paramedic. The store owner had her head bandaged, the paramedic checking her eye movement with a flashlight.

"That's Mrs. Chang?" Seth questioned his daughter who nodded her confirmation. "Go to her. See what's going on. I'll talk with Allen."

The gravity manipulator accepted the instructions and went to the ambulance. As soon as she did, the paramedic left, and Alva turned to face the person closing in on her. "Ruby?" She asked, her vision hurting a bit from the damage to her head as well as blurring.

"Hey take it easy, Mrs. Chang." Ruby told her when the shop owner tried to stand up. She returned to her seat in the back of the ambulance. "You look like you've been through the wringer, Mrs. Chang."

"What, you thought you were the only one giving out beatings around here?" She referred to Ruby's well-known history of going overboard in P.E. classes and bruising her classmates. She hissed in pain, another painful throbbing in her head. "But this time I was on the receiving end, though."

Ruby looked at the layers of bandage wrapped around her head. "Want me to have my dad to look at it? He's a doctor and he's here."

"Thanks, but the paramedics already did their rounds on me. I'm good as can be." The shop owner assured the young woman. "But what brings you over here?"

"Came with my father, wanted to see how you were doing." Ruby answered.

With a heavy sigh, Alva turned to the store. "My work is turned into a mess right now, that hurts more than anything." She gave another sigh of regret and pain. "Can't believe my place was attacked by this monster."

"Monster?" Ruby questioned.

X

Carefully maneuvering his way through the officers, detectives and other CSI scientists, Seth made his way towards Barry who was crouching down and looking over the immense footprints made in the floor tiles.

"Another pair of big feet." Seth sighed at that sight.

Barry looked at the mutant. "Big Foot paid a late-night visit."

"Doubt he wanted Sneakers." Seth quipped.

Standing back up, Barry faced the elemental. "Joe told me about your visit to Tannhauser. You found the same footprints there."

"I don't think it's Anti-Venom this time." Seth admitted. Barry looked shocked. "Things don't seem like it…" He trailed off, looking at the floor and saw something peculiar.

The speedster followed the direction of his eyes and saw them pointing downwards at the floor, focusing on an object on the ground.

He crouched down to further examine it, and as he did so Ruby came towards them. "Guys."

"Got anything from Mrs. Chang?" Seth asked his child.

"Yeah… You're not gonna like this." Ruby admitted.

"Let me guess, Anti-Venom?" Seth asked, picking up the object and putting it in his hands.

"Nope." Ruby shook her head.

"What? Is it Riot then?" Barry asked, having heard about Joey Rose's involvement.

Looking over his shoulder, Seth faced his daughter as she confessed. "It's neither of them." Her response got wide eyes from the speedster but none from her father. "It wasn't a white one or a blue one that did this. It was another one. An orange one."

"Seriously? An orange symbiote now." Barry questioned. "What's next? We're gonna face a pink symbiote?"

"Don't jinx it. We might get a visit from the Pink Panther otherwise." Seth quipped. "But I think this is another one from Eliza's work."

"What do you mean? How, Dad?" Ruby asked him.

Seth, with a pair of tweezers, raised a chocolate bar up for her and Barry to see. The candy bar completely flattened, melted chocolate leaking out of one of the torn edges. "Ruby, what do Klyntars eat?"

Thinking back to what she learnt about symbiotes and the sustenance they require, she answered. "They feed on their hosts' adrenaline which is released into their bloodstream. Usually happens during fight-or-flight situations or similar ones. But they also feed on phenethylamine, a chemical compound found in the… Human brain, right?"

"Inside of the neurotransmitter that is in the brain." Seth clarified.

"But also in chocolate." Ruby continued.

"Precisely." Seth stood back up on his feet, turning on his feet to face both Barry and his daughter. "So, the question I'm getting at… Why is there a ton of untouched chocolate lying around here and why, thankfully, Mrs. Chang still has her head?"

Ruby and Barry had to agree with the elemental. Most who'd meet a symbiote-bearer would lose their head in more ways than one despite the result always being the same. And not just that, the same with the chocolate supply. A great deal of it remained untouched here in this boutique, but not a single one of the bars were touched.

"Then that raises this question." Barry got the symbiote-bearers' attention. He gestured to the torn and jagged shelves in front of him. "From the looks of this something massive tore them to pieces."

"Like a hand with claws?" Seth rather stated than asked. The damage looked similar to what he'd be able to do if he were to swing one of his arms as Venom. "But what exactly did he take?"

"Licorice pipes." Ruby answered with a disgusted groan. "A friend from school practically devours them on a daily basis."

"So, our new symbiote titan got a sweet touch for licorice?" Seth had to admit, that was a new one for him. "That's… Peculiar."

"What's the verdict, Seth?" Barry questioned the mutant.

Seth faced him. "Let's take this back to the team, see if we can get some footage from the cameras on the street."

X

(CCPD)

With a heavy sigh, Joe West slumped down in his chair at his desk. He leant back against the back of his chair, staring straight up at the ceiling over his head. The latest crime scene had him worried on so many different levels.

He went to the second location with Julian, the two of them almost gasping at the sight of the awful place that was torn to pieces by what looked like the remnants of a sight of a natural disaster. His concerns were only magnified when he saw layers of frost at the place, meaning that whatever happened to that place…

Rajeet Kumar was part of it.

"What've you done this time, Rajeet?" Joe asked himself under his breath.

"Detective West?" Joe straightened back up, sitting properly in his chair to face the woman who stood before him. It was a Caucasian woman around his own age with blonde hair, eyes with the same color as the skies over their heads. Her body's clad in a dark-blue pantsuit, a red handbag under her left arm.

"Yes." Joe confirmed, standing up and shaking hands with the woman. As he shook hands with her, he felt her hand tremble and her eyes were not much different and shaking.

The woman retracted her shaking hand after the exchange. "I'm Mary Grey. The receptionist told me to come to you."

"Of course." Joe remembered seeing her a few times in the lobby lately. And hearing her last name, he knew it was because of her son that's been missing since the attack on the local high school. "I have a feeling I know why you're here, Mrs. Grey." He gestured to the opposite seat, the woman accepting it and took a seat. Doing the same with his chair, he started. "It's about Griffin, am I correct?"

Mary nodded her head, gulping to herself in discomfort. "Yes. I was wondering, has there been any progress in finding my son's whereabouts?"

"Unfortunately, no leads have come up yet, Mrs. Grey." Joe watched her expression morph into a crestfallen one. "Mrs. Grey, I assure you we're doing all we can to find your son."

"I believe that Detective." Marry said back. "But my son is gone… I don't know what to do. But please, there's gotta be something I can do. Please, anything I can do to help find my son. What if I file a missing person's report?"

"We've already done that on your behalf, Mrs. Grey." Joe assured her. "The police officers that spoke to you previously arranged that for you. Your information and the picture you provided was more than enough." He saw tears stinging her eyes. Reaching into his drawers, he pulled out a box of tissues and put it on the desk. "Here you go." He handed her a few tissues.

"Thank you." She sniffed, wiping off the tears.

"We've already got men out looking for him. We're gonna find your son, Mrs. Grey." The detective promised him. "Is there anyone we can call to get you home? Friends… Siblings… A husband?"

"No!" She recoiled at that last statement, shooting back up to her feet. "It's fine, detective. I'll be okay, waiting by the phone to get the good news." She turned around without saying a word to the detective.

"Mrs. Grey?!" Joe called out to her, but she had already swiftly passed through the closing elevators and made her way out of the precinct.

It wasn't the first time he's had a distressed family member of a missing person come to him for answers or clues or advice on how to help the search progress faster. And while not unusual, this was the first time he was left bewildered by a family member's reaction to the mention of a spouse…

But what neither the mother nor the detective knew… Was that the poor boy has already fallen into the clutches of Eliza Harmon…

X

(Speed Lab)

"WOOHOO!"

Barry and Iris chuckled as they looked from the platform, the couple stood within the Speed Lab and watched Wally easily phase through the wooden barricade that he struggled to phase through previously.

Having discovered his ability to phase, Wally showed no signs of stopping and practically began to phase through anything in his path. But first and foremost he set his sights on the double-reinforced quebracho that knocked him to the ground countless times.

And right now, he phased through it for the fifth time in a row and came out the other side with a loud cheer that echoed throughout the entire Speed Lab.

"Oh yeah! Man, that's what I'm talking about!" Wally shouted, hopping up and down cheerfully.

Stepping down the stairs of the platform, Barry clapped his hands. "Another nice job at phasing, Wally. Not bad."

Wally snapped around, facing his mentor after pulling off his cowl. ""Not bad?" Are you kidding me? It was spectacular, man. I can finally phase with ease."

"Yeah, it's good." Barry admitted. With this skill in his arsenal now, Wally was one step closer to becoming the ideal speedster to save Iris from Savitar's sword. "We're doing good now."

"Yeah." Wally agreed. "Gonna take a few more laps." Without waiting for his mentor's response, the younger speedster already sped onto the tracks.

Once again, the senior speedster chuckled. "Never a moment to waste with that one." He told Iris. But turning to face her, Barry saw the saddened expression on her face. "What's wrong, babe?"

Iris, with a heavy sigh, looked at her boyfriend. "I'm just… I don't know what to do about my dad." She ran her hands down her face. "I mean, you saw his reaction to what we kept from him."

"Honestly, I'm more worried about what's gonna happen with him and Seth now." Barry admitted. "I mean, that hit… Think it's the first time I've seen Joe go off like that on a friend." He remembered the way Joe went off on Harry Wells after his attempt to steal his speed, which, if Matt hadn't intervened the way he did, could have hurt Iris.

But the way he was blinded by rage after hearing of Seth keeping the secret of Iris' possible death made that one situation seem bleak by comparison. It was one of the few times he's ever seen Joe be consumed by pure red-hot rage and let his fists do the talking…

However, to see him direct that blind rage to someone he considered a close friend…

It was unlike anything he's ever seen.

Having the same thoughts as her boyfriend, Iris said. "I really hope they can patch things up."

Barry agreed with a nod.

X

(The Cortex)

"Another symbiote!" Cisco exclaimed in a manner that put a megaphone to shame, the other team members forced to cover their ears.

Once he was assured that the viber had finished his exclamation, the mutant removed his hands from his ears and sighed in relief. "Yes, another symbiote user. One that's orange this time."

Cisco hung his head. "What kind of madness keeps coming our way exactly?"

Ruby, from the railing, chuckled. "Little too late to complain about the job now, don't you think, Cisco?"

Wally smirked. "Another symbiote or not, we're gonna nail their ass and put them behind bars."

Reap chortled at the speedster's enthusiasm. "One new trick up his sleeve and he thinks he's on top of the world?" She did a mock spit-take in her host's head, an action that made Ruby twitch her eyes in annoyance. "Pathetic."

"Think I was the same when I got you, Reap." Ruby admitted.

"Of course, I'm awesome. You should be." Reap boasted.

"But what's really surprising me…" Caitlin used the computers, zooming in on the location of the boutique on the virtual map of the school. "I'm really worried about the short distance between the school and the shop."

"Still, I don't get why anyone would attack that place." Frankie noted. "Mrs. Chang is seriously one of the nicest people in the city. I don't know why anyone would hurt her."

"She's not that nice." Evelyn objected with a pout. "She keeps telling me to empty my pockets before I leave the store."

Throwing her sister a dry look, Ruby reminded her. "That's cause you keep stuffing your pockets with tater tots and Mrs. Chang knows it." Evelyn's pout widened.

Caitlin looked at her mate. "You and Ruby were gone in the morning. Where were you?"

"Woke up early cause of a crime scene, Ruby went with me when she heard of the location. We picked up some breakfast on the way." Seth answered.

"Little father-daughter bonding?" Caitlin wondered.

"Guess so." Seth smiled. While it was great that he can spend time with his daughters out in the city as heroes, being able to enjoy quality time with them outside of their hero lives was much more meaningful for them all. It showed that they had sides to their lives that weren't entirely composed of their hero personas.

"Guys." Walking into the Cortex was Joe West, the detective garnering the others' attention as he entered. Seth and Caitlin were the first to see his distressed expression, the others followed shortly. "You hear about the same situation?"

H.R. pitched in, announcing his answer with a beat of his drumsticks.

"Four crime scenes, no victims." He declared… Totally off-base.

"Not even close to the mark." Cisco sternly told him.

Iris told her father. "Two crime scenes, one was at the boutique near the schools and universities and the other one was some other place in the city. Both of them looked like a hurricane passed through them."

"Exactly." Joe nodded. "From what I've heard, we're dealing with a symbiote attack at the boutique, and a new one at that from witness statements."

Frankie jumped in. "What about the other place? Sounded like it was hit pretty hard too."

"Understatement, honestly. But whatever happened there involved Rajeet. We found fragments of ice there." Joe shot a dry, emotionless look at Seth. "Seth wasn't there, that leaves Kumar then."

"Great, we got symbiote attacks all over the city." Cisco admitted in dismay. "What happened to those days when we just had robbers attacking our stores?"

"We've leveled up. City and us." Evelyn quipped.

"Cisco." The detective got the viber's attention. "Think those satellites of yours can help me out with another case?"

"Sure. What is it?" Cisco agreed as he moved toward the main console.

"Griffin Grey." Joe started. Ruby and Seth snapped their heads in the detective's direction, shock written on their faces. "It's the student from the local high school that was kidnapped after Rajeet's attack. His mother paid a visit to the precinct, I was hoping we could use the satellites here to find clues or something."

"But how'd we start?" Wally jumped in.

"Search for temperature fluctuations." Barry announced. "Anywhere the temperature drops is where Kumar's gonna be. Find him, we can get the answer out of him."

Iris faced her father. "Dad, think it's a good idea with you on the case? Rajeet might be gunning for you still."

"If he still does, I won't run or hide." Joe adamantly said.

"While the idea of searching for cold temperatures is a good one, I have another lead I wanna run down." Seth moved towards the skylight.

Caitlin turned to her mate. "What is it, babe?"

"Griffin Grey." Seth turned around, facing his mate. "In Flashpoint, Griffin Grey worked at the same clinic as you and Eliza did as an intern."

"He was my intern?" Caitlin asked in surprise. From what her daughters have said about the young man, Griffin majored in science and chemistry with a passion for the subjects. "Was he any good?"

"From what I've seen, yeah." Seth nodded.

Ruby raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smirk. "Dad, you seem weirdly comfortable with admitting to stalking your girlfriend's Flashpoint version."

Barry chuckle. "Yeah, kind of eerie."

Seth shot the speedster a cold glare. "Says the one who stalked his girlfriend everywhere. Not to mention, she didn't know you existed until you stole her purse. At work, at Jitters… Want me to continue?" Barry gulped, shaking his head rapidly. "Yeah, watch what you say next time, Allen. Try and drag me down, I'll kick you into the hole myself without mercy, jackass."

Having said what he needed to say, the elemental jumped off the ground and through the skylight.

"He really gotta have the last word." Ruby noted. Following her father's example, she walks to the skylight herself till she stands under it. "Mom, I'm gonna go myself."

"Where, honey?" Caitlin asked her child.

"Gonna check up on a classmate of mine, she's pretty close with Griffin. I wanna see how she's doing." Ruby quickly clad her entire body in symbiote mass before leaping off the ground as Genysis.

"We'll search at our own ends, see if we can find some clues." Joe told the team of heroes who nodded their agreement.

X

Exhaling her frustration and slight tiredness, a young African American woman pushed a poster up against the bark of a tree on the road. With her brown eyes focused solely on the poster, she made sure her left hand was holding it up whilst her right hand pulled the trigger of her staple gun. The tool in her hand ejected the staples, and the small metal fasteners attached the poster onto the bark.

The young woman's wearing a pair of blue jogging pants and a green hoodie over her torso, concealing the black T-Shirt she's holding within. Using the sleeve of her right arm, she wiped off the sweat beading down her forehead.

She stepped back and looked at the missing poster of her 18-year old boyfriend. She put a lot of effort into finding the right photo, showing off his trademark smile. All her efforts were poured into constructing this poster.

"Just come back, Griffin." She muttered under her breath, her free hand clutching the bag around her arm. Inside of the bag are even more missing posters she's made.

If she had to, she was gonna fill up the entire street with posters of her boyfriend.

A figure closed in on her from behind, stopping by a tree and leant against it. "Still going at it?" The young woman snapped around, coming face to face with her friend from high school. Ruby smiled at her friend. "You always find a way to bring new meaning to the word "Determination," Patience." Leaning off the tree, she walked over to her.

Patience Turner intercepted her high school friend, the two of them sharing a hug. "Well, you know me, Rubs, once I get something on my mind, I just get rolling." She quipped when releasing the hug.

"Tell me about it, Ms. Volleyball Star." Ruby quipped back.

Patience Turner's a close friend of Ruby's in high school, a trait that thankfully remains despite the timeline resetting after Barry regretted the creation of Flashpoint. In school Patience's a volleyball player that's participated in multiple school competitions with her team. Many in school have declared that she was the sole reason for why the team returned home with massive trophies.

The two of them met through their mutual admiration and joy of sports. Occasionally the martial arts club and the volleyball club would have their practices at the same time. With that happening, the two immediately saw each other at work.

Granted, Patience was reluctant to watch Ruby tear down the bigger boys immediately, especially as most of them would either be crying by the end of practice or contemplating retiring from their extracurricular activity…

It was mostly the former rather than the latter…

Ruby peered into her friend's bag, seeing the numerous posters. "You looking for Griffin?"

"Yeah." Patience nodded. "With school still closed, I wanna try and find Griffin. I just… I just really don't understand why he was kidnapped by that… Ice Venom guy."

"Ice Venom?" Ruby questioned. "You mean Lasher?"

"Yeah, right. Forgot that's his name." Patience remembered. "I mean, why'd anyone wanna kidnap my boyfriend? He's a normal, good guy."

"Except for his strange ability to live without drinking water." Ruby quipped, recalling the times that the guy was somehow able to go an entire day without drinking even a drop of water. "No offense, your boy is a freak."

"Like you're one to talk." Patience crossed her arms, smirking as she countered. "Last time your boy was here, he managed to stuff down three large pepperoni pizzas on his own." She empathized. "Trust me, your boy's a freak."

"Huh." Ruby admitted. "You hear about the attack on Mrs. Chang's store getting attacked?"

Patience grimaced at the words. "Yeah, another thing that confuses me as hell. Why'd anyone attack her boutique? Bunch of awful things keep happening in this city, more awful than normal."

"Think awful is the new normal." Ruby quipped. "… You want some help with those posters?"

"Awfully nice of you… What's the catch?" Patience asked suspiciously.

A vein popped on Ruby's forehead. "What, I can't be nice or what?"

"No, you can. But it's just unusual." Patience teased her friend…

The friend who was contemplating whether or not to smack her friend silly.

X

Exiting the sliding doors of the supermarket, Joan Celia walked out with both hands clutched around the grocery bags. Having spent much time inside of her apartment without reason to leave it, she forgot to restock her fridge and get other essentials.

And trust her, her apartment needed the other essentials.

"I'm gonna be knee-deep in cleaning the entire week." She sighed to herself.

"No lab work for the scientist this week?" Joan looked up and saw Seth in front of her. "Need a hand with those?" He asked with a nod to the bags in her hands.

"Uh, yeah, sure." She accepted the help sheepishly, handing him one of her grocery bags. "I'm guessing you're not here to help me with my shopping bags like a gentleman, are you?"

"She shoots, she scores." Seth joked, walking beside the Mercury Labs scientist. "I'm here related to the attack on the high school a while back."

Joan grimaced at that news returning to her mind. "Oh yeah, heard a student got kidnapped. Hope he's okay."

"Yeah. Thing is, we have reason to believe that Eliza Harmon is the mastermind behind the attack and the kidnapping." Seth revealed to her shock….

Or it should have, but there was no trace of shock on her face.

"You don't seem too shocked by this." Seth noted.

Flatly, Joan explained. "Eliza counseled Rajeet Kumar, taking advantage of Mercury Labs' attempt to return to the good side of the city. The same guy she broke out of Iron Heights after she herself became some kind of monster like Venom. She made Rajeet into the same kind of freak, along with Joey Rose…. And those two are responsible for attacking Central City High. Honestly, I feel like Eliza's got her fingers in every bad stink in this damn city. I don't know what'll surprise me now."

"Looks like you don't care much for your old colleague anymore. Or for your city, actually." Seth noted, knowing full well that with other people it'd border on crossing any and all lines of questioning.

"Eliza was more than a friend and a colleague to me, Seth. She's… A lot more." Joan admitted, the mutant and his "other" feeling her complete honesty. "Must sound like I have a screw loose but I still… I still can't help but care about her." She came to a stop. "I lie awake at night, wondering if she's hurt. I can't eat, thinking if she's eating something other than human… I even think and wonder if she still remembers me and our good times together. Or if those even meant anything to her."

Seth was utterly shocked, but kept his expressions schooled and devoid of the shock from within. Ever since his meeting with Joan after Eliza's villain debut as Scream, he had a feeling there was more to their relationship than being friends and colleagues. But he assumed that her feelings for Eliza would have evaporated the moment she witnessed her colleague's heinous acts of violence.

As though a scolding hot rock of Eliza's intense gore was hit with a splash of water of Joan's intense pure feelings for her colleague… Anyone else wouldn't be shocked if her feelings were overwhelmed by the gore and evaporated.

But somehow her feelings remained strong as ever, not falling to the heat of Eliza's gore…

"Admirable and it shows the strength of her heart…" Venom stated impressively.

"Confusing to others, but to me…. I can't help but respect her for it." Seth admitted with a smile.

Seeing the smile on the consultant's face, Joan asked. "You're here for more than just hearing me spill my guts and more, aren't you? What is it, Dr. Fury?"

"It's about the kidnapped student from Central City High." He stated.

Joan blinked in confusion. "I understand that there was a connection between Rajeet and Mercury Labs when Riot showed up, but other than knowing it's a male student that was kidnapped by him I don't know anything else."

"Longshot, but a name might be able to fill in some blanks." Seth started. "Griffin Grey."

The moment the name left his mouth Joan's eyes snapped wide up and threatened to pop out of her head in a cartoonish manner. "Did you say Griffin Grey?"

"Yes." Seth told the scientist.

"There is a connection, but I don't get why he'd be a target on the basis of that alone." Joan stated unsurely. "He's a delivery boy for Jitters, working part-time, I think. I've seen him come by Mercury Labs a few times, giving coffee. He's a sweet kid. Heard Dr. McGee mentioning that she got a job application from him a while back."

"My daughters go to the same school as him, same year." Seth replied. "They did mention that the kid has a passion for science…. But you have any idea as to why he was a target?"

"Honestly, even if you did ask me that few dozens of times more, I wouldn't be able to answer it no matter what." Joan admitted. "I have absolutely no idea why that poor kid was targeted. I really don't."

"Guess that's for us to figure out." Seth told himself…

Without realizing it himself, the elemental admitting to doing his job...

X

In a frantic, Samantha Grey got out of her car and entered the darkened times that comes with nightfall. She looked at her house. Usually, she'd return from another graveyard shift and find her son by the front doors. But…

Now that he was in the clutches of a villain like Riot, her son wasn't there to welcome her home. Every time she remembered that her son wasn't at home or at school, -a new knife drove into her heart.

But no matter how much abuse her heart suffered right now, she had to hold out hope of seeing her baby boy again. She put her faith in the police department's hands, the officers and detectives promised her that they'd do everything possible to find her son again.

But it wouldn't be all she'd be doing, she promised herself and her son. From tomorrow onwards, she'd follow the example her boy's girlfriend is setting and begin hanging up posters up all around the city streets.

With that in mind, she made a beeline for her front door, about to rush through the doors even if they flew off the hinges and sprint towards her computer and printer-

EXPLOSION

However, a massive explosion from the other side of the door was what tore the doors off the hinges. Samantha barely had a moment to see the doors before they slammed into her at the same time. Not even a groan of pain could be heard due to the roaring flames that remained after the explosion tore through half of the house.

Samantha landed on the ground; a number of splinters had found their way embedded in her skin. Embers were dancing over the surface of her clothes, burning away at the fabric and releasing smoke that's rising up into the air.

Her eyes opened, doing all she could to fight the losing battle of preventing herself from losing consciousness. But even parting her eyelids caused an unbelievable amount of pain to wash over the woman immediately, hitting her with the force of a tidal wave.

But despite the mountain-sized pain coming in waves, she managed to hold her eyes open and kept them open as her ears perked up when hearing wooden planks break like twigs. It wasn't one or two, it was a number of planks that broke.

Through blurry eyes she managed to look at the figure that appeared to walk towards her, able to make out the physique of the being. It was a towering being wearing what appeared to be orange skin, which appeared to move and ripple in a manner that flesh should be unable to. She blamed that on her consciousness fading away.

"Who… Who are you?" She managed to ask before she couldn't fight back anymore and she lost consciousness.

But before she finally closed her eyes saw the orange being lean down to her head…

The last thing she saw was its ominous white eyes… and…

Heard its final words…

"….Ho….me…?"

X

The following morning news of the Grey house set ablaze and destroyed immediately came over the entire city. When the police officers came to the scene, they had already seen that it was surrounded by numerous members of the neighborhood.

Men threatening to vomit out of earth-shattering nerves. Women holding back their tears as best as possible. Kids hugging their parents' legs to look away from the horrific scene. Each of them facing the other side of the police tape, facing the house that's been torn to pieces…

Or rather half of it have been torn to pieces, the other side remaining untouched with the exception of a few oddly shaped holes.

Agonizingly slowly Seth took in every piece of damaged wood. He even saw the blood on a few blades of grass, still fresh and dripping down on the soil they're rooted to. Hands clenched at the sight, knowing full well it was the blood of Samantha Grey.

Ruby had her eyes on the same grass blades as her father, disgust and self-hate enshrouding her every cell and her entire being. Disgust at the thought of anyone hurting someone so innocent and kind. Self-hate from not being here to prevent this.

Turning her head, something in the upper level caught her attention.

"Hey." Barry got Seth's attention. "Seth, come here."

"What is it?" He asked the CSI scientist.

"Doesn't seem like there was an accelerant used for the fire." Barry gestured to their charred surroundings. "Just like what Julian said about the first crime scene from yesterday."

"Means this was caused by an attacker that didn't require an accelerant." Seth clenched his fists. "This happened because of an elemental symbiote."

"And looks like we've met the fire one." Barry added.

"Hey." The heroes looked up and saw Joe walking towards them. "Checked the house, and the damage is pretty obvious at first glance."

Barry, following the detective's thoughts, elaborated. "Only one half of the house was devastated which is still surprising."

"And it doesn't make any sense." Seth stated, crouching down and picked up a piece of charred wood. "The house's made of wood and bricks, the flames should've spread faster than a wildfire. But it's shocking that not only a section of the house was burnt to pieces but even some of the brick stones melted."

"Partially melted." Julian corrected the elemental.

"Partially melted…" Seth accepted the metahuman expert's words and glanced at the house. "But still the rest of the house's not touched by the flames."

"It's weird, yeah." Joe stated.

"No." Seth dejected. "It's worse, it's dangerous." Confused looks from Barry, Julian and Joe were pointing in his direction. "To reach temperatures high enough to melt brick stones means one thing. This attacker can concentrate their flames. The flames that mowed down the house were white-hot. Honestly, Mrs. Grey was lucky to just get away with a concussion and bruises after what happened."

Joe narrowed his eyes. "You're saying those flames could've killed Mrs. Grey?"

Julian pitched in. "To melt a rock, it'd take temperatures between 600 and 1.300 degrees Celsius. It takes about 182 to destroy human skin."

"She really is lucky…" Joe admitted his agreement. She wouldn't have survived an immense blaze that could reduce bricks to charcoal.

"There wasn't one attacker." Ruby's words made the others snap their heads in her direction.

Seeing her eyes were peering up at the building, Seth followed her eyesight. His eyes widened when he planted his eyes on the same as his child.

"What do you mean, Rubs?" The detective questioned.

The gravity manipulator nodded to the second floor of the building, directing the others to see what she's seeing. They obliged and saw three oddly-shaped holes on the wall of the upper floor. "Someone attacked the building as well from this side, but…. I think they were not aiming at the building."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked her.

Ruby saw her father walk closer to the building. She smiled, realizing that he had figured out what she meant.

"Look at the holes." The mutant said, pointing to the holes. "The trajectory of them, something was shooting at the wall from the ground."

"And judging from the way the holes are, something big was shot at something just as big which could move really well." Ruby added, gesturing to the wall. "The attacker was being followed and attacked."

"And whatever chased our pyromancer appears to wield powers of the opposite element." Julian got their attention when he walked over to the wall. Using a swat, he ran it along the wooden surface to get a sample. Holding up the swap for the others to see, they could see a transparent liquid dripping off it. "I don't believe any of us to conduct an analysis of this."

"Water." Seth stated the thoughts that they all have in their heads.

Ruby looked to her father. "You think the Greys' house became ground zero for some kind of battle between a fire and water user?"

"Wouldn't explain the damage though." The speedster said. "Seth, you said it yourself, fire would have spread in the blink of an eye. But…" He gestured to the rest of the house. "I'm still shocked by the lack of wildfire."

"Yeah, that's not the only thing questionable." Ruby admitted, taking in the holes that are still wet. "If we had a turf war with a fire and a water user, the damage would've spread to the other houses. Not to mention the fire would've done more than just sear the grass."

"Ruby's right." Julian agreed. "Something's not right about this."

"Ruby!"

Ruby, as well as her father and the others, turned their heads towards the police barricades. They saw a young woman on the other side of the police barricades, leaning over them and waving her hand frantically to get the gravity manipulator's attention.

"Patience?" Ruby said, moving towards her friend.

Barry walked over to the elemental. "That a friend of Ruby's?"

"Her friend, Patience… Turner." Seth recalled his daughter's friend. "Yeah. Patience Turner. Ruby's friend from school. I've seen her with Rubs a few times, but except for knowing she's a sports freak like my kid, she's still a stranger."

"Sports freak… At least she's not a freak like Ruby." Barry quipped.

But that quip didn't sit well with the mutant who immediately retaliated with an adamantium elbow thrusting into the speedster's ribs. If he didn't know better, Barry was sure that a javelin was rammed into his guts.

X

"What are you doing here, Patience?" Ruby asked her friend when she reached the barricade.

Patience, momentarily distracted from Seth's nonchalant and not-at-all subtle strike to his colleague which caused him to fall to his knees, blinked rapidly before taking heed of her friend. "What am I doing here? What are you doing there?" She gestured to the side of the police barricade she's occupying. "Also, did your Dad just assault his co-worker?"

Glancing over her shoulder, Ruby saw her father glare at the speedster. "Oh yeah, he did." She casually admitted, turning her attention back to her high school friend. "Nothing to worry about." Patience finally saw the family resemblance. "But what are you doing here?"

"I live nearby and this is Griffin's house." She answered. "I heard the sirens blaring all day, came running when I saw Mrs. Grey being loaded into an ambulance. What are you doing there?"

"My dad's a consultant, he pulled a few strings and got me permission to join the investigation." The gravity manipulator answered.

Patience, looking over her friend's shoulder to make sure her father and the rest weren't within hearing distance, turned to face her. "Do they know what happened here? Is Mrs. Grey okay?"

"Investigation is still ongoing." Ruby answered regretfully, hating how she couldn't give better information than that. "And Mrs. Grey is okay, but got a nasty concussion and some bruises. Considering the damage that was left here, she was really lucky."

"Kinda weird though…" Patience got her friend's attention again.

"What do you mean?"

Gaping her mouth in realization, she clarified. "Right, you've never been to Griffin's before, so you don't know of course." Ruby shot her friend a confused look again. "The side of the house that's been reduced to cinders is his mother's bedroom."

"Really?" She asked, throwing a glance at the house to assess the house once more. "You're right."

"I mean, I know the other side is damaged, but the side of Mrs. Grey's bedroom is completely pulverized. And that's surprising, seriously." Patience admitted.

"Yeah… It is." Ruby narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Rubs." Seth got his daughter and her friend's attention. "Think you can get home on your own? I have to go to the hospital to check on Mrs. Grey with Joe."

"Yeah, sure." Ruby nodded. "Want me to come along? She might calm down with a friendly face nearby."

Patience snickered at that. "Friendly might not be what I'd say about you, Rubs."

"Come again." Ruby growled at her friend.

Seth chuckled, seeing a vein pop on her forehead. "Sounds like you have a good friend, Rubs. Pleasure to meet you, Patience."

"You too, Dr. Fury." Patience greeted back. "And I know I'm asking a lot, but can I come as well? I know Mrs. Grey and I'm worried about her."

"Unfortunately, neither of you can talk to her." Seth revealed the bad news, both girls facing him with crestfallen looks. "We heard back from the officers at the hospital, Mrs. Grey is still unconscious. We're going to examine the wounds on her as well as discuss treatment with the local doctors."

"Damn it. First Griffin, now his Mom…" Patience muttered under her breath.

But both Seth and Ruby heard her words, despite her trying to be as discreet as possible. "I promise you, Patience, we're doing all we can to find the culprit behind this attack and any clue leading to Griffin's location."

"I hope so, Dr. Fury. I really do." Patience said before bidding her farewells to the two Fury members and walked away.

When she was sure that she was out of hearing range and seeing that the other civilians had dispersed as well, Ruby turned to her father. "Dad, Patience told me something weird." Seth gave his daughter full attention.

X

An annoyed flick of her tongue against the roof of her mouth echoed briefly as Eliza watched the crime scene from on top of the tall building that is on the other side of the street. From her elevated position, she could clearly see the familiar forms of Seth and Barry on the scene, meaning that the heroes are on the case.

Though it was merely annoyance, not fear.

"You feel no fear of them intervening?" Her "other" questioned, intrigued by the thoughts her host is forming in her mind.

"It's bound to happen." Eliza smiled. "If the kingdom's under enemy fire, the knights that guard it take up their arms and ride towards the eye of the storm."

"So some humans will try and prevent further destruction by eliminating the originator of it? Fascinating." Scream admitted in intrigue.

"Want me to tell you how some humans thrive on adversity, living off the thrill of combat and the feeling of slaying a dragon?" Eliza chuckled.

"…But the reptile species of this planet do not evolve into draconian beasts, albeit it's a trait that movies tend to display."

"They don't, and yeah, movies tend to ruin science and biology in exaggerated ways that make me wanna vomit." Eliza agreed.

"Sounds like dinner and a movie ain't the way to your heart." The icy cold voice of Rajeet joked from behind her as he walked up to her side.

Eliza passively said. "What makes you think I had one to begin with?"

Chucklingly the ice-user turned his face to the direction of the crime scene. "What a mess that guy made here."

"No kidding, don't get why he did it though." Eliza admitted.

Rajeet narrowed his eyes on two certain individuals at b the crime scene. "So they're the ones…"

"What do you mean?" Eliza faced him.

"Don't try and lie, Ellie. You know what I'm talking about." He told her. "The one in the trenchcoat and the scientist with gloves on, they're Venom and Flash."

Raising an eye in surprise, Eliza admitted. "Didn't expect you to figure out their identities like that."

"I fought them both, remember. I saw that coat guy before when he took that spear I threw at Joe. Something didn't sit right about that attack. Not to mention, the second he disappears, Venom shows his mug. And something about the CSI's face reminds me of Flash." Rajeet smiled. "Don't believe in coincidences, you know."

"Not bad." The lightning-symbiote bearer admitted. "But just so we're on the same page, you're not to attack them like this. You can try it all you want against them as Venom and Flash, but not like this."

"The thought never crossed my mind." He assured her, the response shocking her. "Besides, I got a score to settle with Magenta. Whoever's under the mask, I'll find out and drive an ice blade through her heart." Rajeet quickly formed an ice blade in his hand, twirling the icicle around playfully.

Eliza schooled her expression, making sure not to display any anger or rage among the negative emotions she felt boiling from within after hearing his words. Exhaling she turned her gaze back to the crime scene. "Don't do something stupid that'll bring unwanted attention."

"If I were, I'm sure you'd stop me with that little device on your arm." Rajeet said knowingly.

Showing a wide smirk, Eliza raised her left arm and pulled up the sleeve. She revealed a device that was equipped to her forearm with red straps. The device's screen shows their current location on a map. It was the same device that she had Dr. Octavius construct for her, counting on his superior intelligence to construct a device according to her needs.

"Why didn't you use it this time?" Rajeet questioned.

"Technical difficulties." She vaguely said.

"Didn't think the great Dr. O would make something that bad." Rajeet quipped. He looked around in search. "Speaking of, what happened to your sharpshooter?"

"That one… Runs her own show." Eliza sighed in annoyance.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"So we're nowhere with this case?"

No one on the team wanted to admit it but they all had to agree to the Scarlet Speedster's words. The speedsters traveled through the entire city like crazy to try and find the culprit behind the destruction at the Greys' house. The symbiote bearers of the Snow-Fury family joined the search as well, scouring places that even the speedsters found difficult to traverse. The other members on the team did what they could with their resources, using the satellites to scan the city and also hacking into cameras in the city to see what the civilians were seeing.

But despite everything the team did on their various ends, they failed to yield any useful results that'd lead them closer to the culprit. While conducting a search for the one responsible for the destruction, they also conducted a search for Griffin Grey to the best of their abilities to ease the mind of the worried mother who's admitted to the local hospital.

However, like their initial goal, they failed to get any helpful results.

Evelyn slumped down in her chair, exhausted from the extensive search. "Great. We stink at searching on so many levels."

Ruby bit her fingernail in frustration. "Damnit." She said under her breath.

Frankie noted her sister's expression, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "She must really be pissed about this."

"Well, it was the house of her friend's boyfriend. No wonder she's pissed off." Magenta told her host. "But gotta admit, it's surprising she's this pissed."

Turning around, Ruby faced Cisco. "Cisco, can't you vibe the attacker if you touched Mrs. Grey?"

The viber shivered at the phrasing. "Really easy to misinterpret that, Rubs. But I heard she's under surveillance, not to mention she's still unconscious from what Seth told us."

"Yeah, she is." Seth told his child as well. "But it's a good idea, a single vibe might give us some more insight on the matter, possibly the identity of our culprit."

"Uncle Joe." Ruby got the detective's attention. "What if you pulled some strings and told the guards to piss off so we could do our thing?"

"Captain's orders, can't do anything sweetie." Joe told his niece who scoffed at the response.

Wally chuckled. "Rubs, calm down. We're gonna get the psycho behind this. Whoever did this to the Grey's house, we're gonna find them and put them in the Pipeline. We're gonna nail this, like we always do." He clapped his hands and moved towards the exit. "Gonna take a few spins in the Speed Lab. Later guys!"

Moving out of the Cortex, Wally rounded the corner and moved towards the training facility within the facility. Once out of earshot, Ruby rubbed her eyes with a heavy sigh. "That guy riding his high like this, he's bound to crash and burn."

Caitlin and Seth shared a look, having heard her words.

Walking towards the spot under the skylight, the gravity manipulator said. "I'm gonna check on Patience's, see if she needs a hand with more flyers."

"Okay, honey." Caitlin told her daughter. Giving her mother a nod of acceptance, Ruby jumped through the skylight. "Is Ruby okay?"

"Something's off about her, has been ever since she heard that Griffin was kidnapped." Seth admitted his agreement. He turned to his other daughters. "Keep an eye on her for us, kiddos?"

"Always." Evelyn easily and calmly said, shadowporting out of her chair instantly.

"Yeah, yeah. Snow-Fury activity." Frankie quipped, jumping onto the back of a chair before leaping off it and jumped over the main console. With a cry of joy, she mimicked her sister's actions and jumped out of the skylight.

Caitlin chuckled to herself. "We really gotta figure out a better activity for our daughters instead of spying on each other."

"You think so? It's what my Dad did for me and Liv." Seth flinched at the memories of when his sister kept spying on him and used her powers on his mind, torturing with annoying images of Teletubbies. "On second thought, yeah, we gotta figure out a better activity for them."

"Thank you." Caitlin said with a triumphant smile.

Barry turned to the others again. "You guys got any ideas what we should do?"

"Keep up recon." Seth stated. "And, I'm gonna take another look at the places that've been torn so far."

"Why's that?" H.R. questioned, twirling his drumsticks.

"Cops were swarming the places before, making it goddamn hard to scout every inch of them." Seth said, moving towards the skylight. "Gonna take another snoop at them while the cops are not there anymore."

"I'm gonna look into the Grey's family on my end." Caitlin told her mate.

"Thanks, babe. Call me when you find something?" Caitlin nodded her agreement and her mate winked his gratitude. He jumped out of the skylight entering the open air just as his daughters did mere moments ago.

"Be careful out there." Caitlin said out-loud to both her daughters and her mate.

X

Like time always does, a layer of darkness had come over the city and slowly covered it in a sheen of shadows. With this dark cover and the lack of both civilians and police, Seth was able to freely explore the ruined boutique store.

But he made sure not to leave any footprints or fingerprints by covering his appendages with symbiote mass.

Seth crouched down, using a clawed hand to brush glass shards away from the ground. He narrowed his eyes on the big footprint on the floor. The cops saw it before, as did he and Joe. "What the heck do we do with this one?"

"We work. Fight like we always do." His "other" told him.

"Guess you're right. We fight." Seth stood back up on his feet, walking ahead and let his claws graze over the shelves of untouched but damaged products. "We fight so others don't have to experience things like this again. So, they don't face off against a dangerous force of nature that could take their life. That's our job."

With a sigh escaping his mouth, Seth spoke aloud… Or rather he called out to his other comrade.

"Barry, come on, I know you're there. Come on out instead of creeping like that."

"Creeping? That's not the word I'd use, honestly." Barry said, stepping out from outside the entrance and facing the mutant. The metahuman was clad in his Flash suit, walking over to his friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Told you, wanted to give this place another lookover to see if we're missing anything." Seth reminded the speedster, examining his surroundings thoroughly. "But it looks like we're not gonna get anything from this place now."

"I mean, what are you doing here alone?" Barry corrected his question.

Seth walked up to the speedster's side. "You mean, why am I not with Joe right now." Barry rubbed the back of his neck unsurely, mentally scolding himself for being such an open book. "You wear your thoughts and feelings on your face, Allen. Good thing, I'm not grading you. You'd not like it."

"I may wear my feelings, but you sure know how to hide yours." Barry countered smugly. But his smug look faded as he added. "But can't blame me for checking on you, man. Especially with what happened between you and Joe."

"Like I said before, Barr, that was my decision to agree to it. I'm dealing with the consequences." Seth walked towards the large hole where the exit once stood. "Joe has every right to hate me. I kept this from him."

"You know, I can talk to him. Maybe get him to change his mind on the matter." Barry offered.

"No thanks. It's his decision to hate me and I accept it fully. The death of a child… Possible or not… Any parent would move mountains and heaven itself if they could prevent their child's death…" Seth confessed, speaking from personal experience and Joe as well. "But I think I'm gonna go and check on my kids, see if they're doing any good on their end."

"Thought they were just going to watch Rubs and make sure she's not getting in trouble." Barry questioned.

"Yeah, and trouble is like weed here. Pluck one out, more shows up the next day." Seth countered.

X

Anyone would think that Ruby Fury would be used to stakeouts by now, but despite having done multiple stakeouts already she still found them boring and didn't like them. But she knew better than anyone that even the things one does not like have to be done.

And despite what logic would tell her, her instincts told her to keep an eye on her high school friend. She looked from on top of the tall building on the other side of the street. As she sat on the rooftop ledge, she watched as a black SUV drove into the driveway.

Ruby recognized the black SUV, knowing it was Patience's pride and joy, the very car she bought herself with her own money which she got from working countless hours at Big Belly Burger. "Should we do the same?" Ruby wondered out loud, thinking if she should get a car herself.

Hearing a scoff, the symbiote stated. "Think you can get any better than me, then you're crazy, dummy."

Twitching an eyebrow, Ruby countered. "Oh yeah, I'll get a means of transport that doesn't talk about all the time."

"I'll eat your liver at some point."

"Try it, no chocolate for a month… Oh shit, I'm Dad now." Ruby groaned in realization and in embarrassment. With another sigh, she let out. "Took you long enough, you two." She looked over her shoulder and was unsurprised to see Magenta land on the same rooftop as her. A plume of shadows burst into appearance, Eclipse jumping out of it.

"You waited for us? Aw, how sweet sis." Frankie quipped.

"Yeah, that's unusual." Evelyn admitted without a care in the world.

"Evie, I will drop a trash can over you one of these days." Ruby threatened in rage.

"If you can find me." The shadow and light metahuman shadowported to the ledge, taking a seat beside her sister. "So anything happen with our target?" She nodded to Patience who stepped out of her vehicle.

"No, she just got home. Been hanging up flyers all over the city by now." Ruby admitted. "She's determined to find Griffin."

"But with Griffin taken by Eliza and her cohorts, she can't keep doing this." Frankie stated. "From school, she's not afraid of anything and there is no line she won't cross. She's pretty fearless."

Realizing her sister's point, the gravity manipulator said. "You think she'll get into trouble, or at least wander into its territory."

"I do, yeah. I don't want to see our friend get into a situation she can't get out of, honestly." Frankie said. "Sorry for following you, by the way."

"Dad told you to, didn't he?" Ruby saw right through her sisters. She got her answer when they didn't reply back. "He's worried about me, I know that. But still, he didn't have to bother you two with this."

"Well, we're family, only bothering us is what's going on with you, dummy." Evelyn said, nudging her sister's shoulder. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No." Ruby immediately said.

Before her sisters could pry into the matter further, the gravity manipulator jumped to her feet instantly, wearing wide eyes and a tensed expression.

"Wow!" Magenta backflipped, avoiding her suddenly serpent-like tongue that struck out randomly. "Careful where you swing that thing, Rubs!"

"Hey, hey!" Eclipse shadowported out of the way, avoiding the lashings. "What's wrong?"

"S-Sorry! It's my head. Feels like it's splitting open! GAH!" She groaned in pain, clutching her head. But under her mask, her eyes widened to new limits and her pupils constricted in response to her headache. "Someone… Something's near us. Close to us!"

"What do you mean?!" Evelyn asked her sister who collapsed and fell to her knees, her hands remained on her head. "Rubs!"

EXPLOSION

The concern they had for their sister was blown away by the immense gust of air that came from the explosion in front of them. They turned to face the direction of it and saw the origin of the explosion coming from Patience's SUV. It was blown up, sending pieces in various directions.

"Fuck!" Genysis let out.

X

Hearing the immense explosion outside of her house, Patience Turner rushed outside in a heartbeat and looked in the direction of the driveway. Her heart shattered into a million pieces when seeing her car burst into pieces, each one scattered across the lawn and burning brightly.

She worked hard to get that SUV and seeing it in pieces left her in dismay…

Enough for her to not notice the humongous figure standing behind her.

But when the figure spoke, she finally took notice.

"…Patience…"

Hearing her name come out as a hiss and a growl, Patience froze in her place. She gulped, her eyes drifting downwards to the ground. A colossal shadow loomed over her; her own shadow drowned out by the bigger one.

Shakingly, she turned her head around, taking her first glance at the monstrous figure behind her. Her eyes expand to their utmost limits when seeing a pair of demonic white eyes. The high schooler fell down, looking up in surprise and fear as she also took in the physique of the monster. A massive monster-like physique that appeared akin to Venom's.

But it's bulging and inhumanely big form was clad in an orange moving liquid mass. Long jagged black veins were spread across its entire body. A maw filled with rows of fangs sharp enough to make a shark paralyze in fear.

Along with the flame-shaped eyes and the rows of fangs, Patience froze in fear, not able to move a muscle under that demonic gaze. It was like her body was glued to the individual blades of grass under her body, the blades holding more power over her.

"What… What the hell?" Patience mustered up the strength to finally crawl backwards.

But with each inch she took backwards, the menacing orange monster stepped toward her. It panted heavily, breathing just as chaotically, as though it was hard to take in air itself.

GUNSHOT

But a round of scattershot on the back of its head, allowed him a chance to breathe again. Patience instinctively covered her ears at the sound of the trigger being pulled, but turned her eyes towards the direction of where it came from.

A new wave of horror came over her when Patience saw that her father James Turner was the man who pulled the trigger of his shotgun. He reloaded it, taking aim on the monster's head once more.

"Stay the hell away from my daughter, you monster!" He shouted, rushing off the doorstep and went towards his child. While running towards her, he pulled his trigger again and released another blast of bullets at the monster's head, the bullets bouncing off its demonic head.

"Dad, get away!" Patience shouted.

The monster snapped its white eyes to the man, coming face to face with the human man. James gulped at the monster himself, shocked by his ability to stand on his feet in front of this colossal amber beast. "Stay away from my daughter!"

The words he shouted at the monster actually had an effect on it, making it step back in fear. Maybe it was the firearm in his arms, but it even covered its head with its hands. James felt assured by that, turning to his daughter. "Patience, can you stand? Come to me, quickly."

Whether he would have reacted or not, the big beast didn't get a chance to do so when an invisible gravity force enveloped his form. Feeling the invisible force restraining his movements, the amber colossal turned his head around.

Only for it to be met with a number of shining arrows that flew at him. The arrows pierced into the side of its neck. "Stay away from them." Eclipse ordered the symbiote, taking another arrow at him.

But the massive beast, with brute force, tore through the gravity restraints with a mighty warcry. This time he acted and rushed towards the girl with rage, charging her like a maniac animal. But before it could come close to her, Magenta appeared and slammed her fist into the side of its face.

The orange symbiote beast was knocked back, but remained standing. He directed a snarl towards both heroes. "Hey." He looked upwards and saw a form spiraling before delivering an axe kick to his head. The strike to the head, hurled it down and into the asphalt. The force of the gravity-enhanced kick caused the ground to crack from the blow.

Ruby jumped backwards and landed on her feet beside her sisters. "Are they okay?" She asked, referring to the Turners.

"Looks fine." Frankie states.

"Eclipse, you stay by their side, make sure nothing happens to the Turners." Ruby retrieved her Chakram Blade. "Magenta and I will take care of him."

"Got it." The metahuman nodded her head.

The ferrokinetic's eyes shine with magenta colors and purple lightning sparks across her entire body. "Let's do this."

Genysis was about to say something, but something in the back of her mind told her to do something else:

It told her to act.

Like something else was piercing into her head, like a stabbing sensation directly into her mind. She gritted her teeth in pain. Both her sisters watched the fangs around her rim of her hood shake. "What is this awful feeling?"

"Feels like…" Reap mentally widened her eyes. "Look out!"

Ruby felt her "other" take control of her left arm, swinging it around and towards a direction behind her. Letting it happen, and taking over from there, Ruby flexed her hand and released a gravity blast in that direction. It collided with whatever was coming…

SPLASH

What shocked the three symbiote heroes and the Turners was the sound of splashing water. Granted, the three heroes were more shocked by the spray of water falling over them.

Frankie in confusion, rubbed her thumb and middle finger together to examine it. "It's really just water. But from where?"

Ruby looked in the direction from where the water came from, her sisters followed the direction of her eyes. Three sets of eyes placed themselves on the small figure on top of a nearby building.

"Someone's up there." Evelyn noted. "Sorry, guys, I'll take care of that one."

"Go." Ruby said. "You can take care of that one, Frankie and I will stick with our plan and destroy that guy."

Eclipse nodded, shadowporting off the ground and towards the sniper with water bullets.

"You okay?" Magenta questioned her sister. "You looked out of it just before."

"Fine, whatever happened is over now." She assured her sister. "But we still have that one to deal with." She sent a glare to the amber symbiote beast who remained in his spot, twitching his head strangely.

"Try to keep up, Sis." Magenta challenged her sister before changing him.

The orange symbiote beast swung his hand like a hammer for the girl. Magenta avoided it, jumping into the air. She clenched her fingers and forced lamps to break into pieces and orbit around her. Swinging it downwards in the other symbiote's direction, she hurled the sharp pieces of metal at him.

Raising its huge arm in front of its face, the other symbiote bearer shielded its head. But it's shield did nothing to protect him from Magenta's next powerful strike with her spiked mace. Despite the heavy strike to its arm and head, it bears with the pain and grabs the ferrokinetic by her stomach.

"Seriously, your breath stinks." She coughs when the orange symbiote snarls in her face. "For real, who got a charcoal breath?" She coughs as the symbiote beast snarls again, this time showing its maw where a bright orange blame bursts into existence.

Before the beast could release its flames on her sister, Ruby appeared under its maw and delivered an open palm strike to its underjaw, forcing its mouth shut. "She said your breath stinks, so keep your damn mouth shut." Jumping up, the gravity manipulator delivered a series of kicks to his stomach and chest, each strike enforced and strengthened with the powers of gravity.

After a series of blows to his body, the orange symbiote beast released Frankie who sighed her relief. "Thanks!" She shouts to her sister and delivers a strike with her spiked mace. Her sister joined her, the two of them delivering a combined strike to the massive creature's chest.

The combined blow from the sisters sent the enemy symbiote rolling across the asphalt. As it continued to skip across the hard surface, Magenta forced various pieces of metal to amass to her. Genysis clenched her hand, concentrating gravity around her body.

Frankie thrusted out her hand, launching the numerous metal pieces towards the symbiote foe. Ruby followed up quickly, hurling out a wave of gravity energy in the same direction and increased the speed of the pieces, making them travel through the air with a speed only known of fighter jets to possess.

The enemy symbiote was unable to dodge the spears that came flying at the speed of light, piercing into its symbiotic flesh. Additionally, the force of the metal pushed it back a few feet.

With this, the two sisters clad in symbiote mass started their brawl with the menacing orange symbiote fiend.

X

Under the star-covered night sky, the figure continued looking down on the fight breaking out between Magenta and Genysis and the orange symbiote. But while the figure may be looking down at them, appearing to watch the brawl with undivided attention, her focus wasn't anywhere close to them.

Her focus turned to the one that disappeared from the fight, and she felt her presence again when she reappeared behind her on the same rooftop.

"View that good?" Eclipse asked with an arrow pointed at her.

The metahuman saw the figure's hands clench, as though the sound of her voice gritted her ears. Finally, the figure turned around, revealing itself under the rising moon's light. It was a female that stood there, the same height as Evelyn. But that was where the similarities between them ended.

It was a young woman for sure, but her skin was covered in a moving purple miasma, something that Evelyn was very familiar with herself. White veins were spread over the surface of her purple skin, looking akin to cracks in her flesh. Her eyes were just like other symbiotes, completely white and appearing devoid of emotions whatsoever. She has abyssal black claws, sharper than swords. A ravenously looking mouth with deadly fangs. But on her head, she had lengthy black hair that appeared to dance behind her, eliciting an ominous aura that seemed appropriate to a fierce water demon.

And it felt exactly like that as Evelyn stood in front of the purple symbiote user. Rather than feeling another villain stand in front of her, another enemy…. It felt just like a demon with a raging, surging battle will and a rage that seemed to get bigger and bigger like a tsunami.

On top of that… She felt… familiar?

Her hands clenched around her bow and pulled the arrow further back. "Who are you?" Evelyn demanded, the quips in the back of her mind fading away.

"Does it matter?" She said in a snarl. "Dead people…" She snapped her eyes up. "Dead people don't need any answers!"

Evelyn was shocked as the other symbiote bearer jumped off with the speed of a waterjet, shooting off the rooftop with ease and sharpening her black claws. But the metahuman jumped backwards and avoided the claw strike.

Leaping off the surface and high up into the air, Eclipse took aim with one of her serpentine wings. A mouth opened up, forming a sphere of light within it as the wing took aim on the other symbiote bearer.

But something happened when the serpentine took aim at the other one. Before the energy sphere could explode and release a powerful light beam at her, the entire wing shook strangely and painfully. Evelyn flinched when feeling the sudden pain in her shoulder. But it got worse when the mouth closed up while charging up its light sphere.

Through the gaps of its now-closed mouth, the light concentrated inside of it intensified and it increase when the sphere explo-

EXPLOSION

"ArGH!" Evelyn and her "other" screamed in unison as her entire wing exploded on her shoulder. The intense force of the light explosion shot her out of the air and hurled her into the rooftop surface once more. The force of the explosion that sent her flying was enough to crack the surface she connected with.

Through gritted teeth, Evelyn cursed in pain. "Damn!" She grabbed her shoulder, feeling pain course from it and to the rest of her body. "What was that?"

"You… Losing!"

The bellowing voice made Evelyn snap her head up again, only for her vision to be filled with massive spheres of water hitting her. At first it seemed like only one was coming towards her, but then a couple more hit her and sent her into an air conditioner unit.

The young metahuman wiped off water from her face and looked up in shock.

The other symbiote-bearer has morphed her left arm into a barrel-like appendage. Where at the end of it water is dripping at the nozzle. Strange protrusions in the form of pipes were sticking out from her back, blowing out steam like she was a machine.

"Water…" She noted, watching as water dripped down on the surface of their battlefield. "You're the one who attacked the Griffins' house."

Snarling at the metahuman, she reminded her. "Didn't I already tell you? Dead people don't need any… ANSWERS!" She swung her arm towards the metahuman again, once again taking aim at her and charging up water in her nozzle.

What appeared to be steam emitted out of the pipe-like protrusions on her back as the water began to shoot out of her arm. The water released into a compressed water stream, making it known when it easily cut through a number of steel vents.

Eclipse shadowported out of the way, avoiding the pressurized water beam that tore through the air conditioner unit like it was made of paper. In rage, the water symbiote-user swung her arm around, cutting down various objects in a frenzy.

"COME ON OUT!" She demanded, bellowing into the dark skies over their heads.

In her enraged state, she failed to feel Eclipse's presence when she reappeared behind her and slammed her into the ground. Evelyn used her remaining three wings and her arms and legs to pin down the other symbiote-bearer. She made sure to have a knee pressed down on the rifle-like arm, to keep her from using it.

Applying more pressure with each passing second, the metahuman said. "Who are you? And why did you attack the Griffins' house?"

"Dead people-"

"Yeah, I know. I know." Eclipse shut her up, using her other hand to apply pressure on her head against the hard surface. "You're a broken record. But I have an idea why you attacked the house; You missed."

The water-symbiote's struggles came to a halt, turning one eye up to make eye contact with her. "What?"

"Your target wasn't the household itself; it was that hothead symbiote down there that Genysis and Magenta are fighting. You missed more than a few times because that big guy moved too quickly for you to hit him." Evelyn didn't even have to wait for a response, the silence from the other symbiote bearer was enough for her to get an answer. "Why is he your target? Did Eliza put you to this?"

"Smart…" The other symbiote bearer smiled widely with all teeth showing. "Nice deduction, Evelyn."

"What?" Evelyn's eyes shot wide open. But her vision soon got enveloped by immense clouds of steam hitting her face, coming from the pipes on her foe's back. She jumped off her back and put some distance between them, covering her eyes with an arm. "How do you know my name?"

"Since I know yours and you've been asking for mine… Only fair I give it to you." The water symbiote bearer stood back, snapping her head back to face her. "I'm just raw agony incarnate. That's my name, Agony!" She shouted. "And my agony only gets worse when I see you! Evelyn!"

This time, much like a water demon, Agony leaped forward and swung her claws like a maniacal animal. This time using her right hand to strike Evelyn. But the metahuman jumped backwards and avoided her attack. She latched onto a wall and ran up the side of the building, zigzagging as she avoided the rapidly fired water bullets from Agony.

Using her "other's" senses, she could see that her foe showed little to no care at all about the other buildings as she recklessly and uncaringly put holes all over them. "Dusk, think you can neutralize those bullets?"

Dusk could hear her host's concern and feel her doubt, which she understood completely after what happened before. "I'm sorry that happened before, Evie. I'll make it right. I promise."

"Good. Let's do it!" She shouted in her mind before snapping around to face Agony again. Taking aim with one of her serpentine wings, a mouth opened up and light charged up into a sphere.

Laughing at that technique, Agony taunted her. "You wanna lose more than a wing this time?"

"Quit yammering already!" Eclipse shouted, her wing releasing a number of small light bullets in her foe's direction.

Taking aim with her left arm again, Agony met those condensed light bullets with an array of compressed water bullets. Causing an explosion of light to erupt in front of them and scattering water all over them. The water-symbiote bearer covered her eyes with an arm.

But that allowed an opening which Eclipse took advantage of when she shadowported beside the enemy and delivered a straight jab into her stomach. The force of the strike knocked her off her feet and flew into the adjacent building's wall. "This time you're gonna feel a whole lot more than just agony when I'm done with you."

Pulling herself out of the wall with a snarl, Agony countered menacingly. "You will feel my agony!"

X

On the streets in front of her house, Patience couldn't believe the fighting that had erupted in front of them.

Now she was watching Magenta and Genysis deliver a world of hurt to the gigantic orange symbiote beast, a flurry of strikes raining down on their foe without a moment to spare.

Despite her father repeatedly telling her to go inside and into safety, she couldn't just leave this amazing sight. She knew she had to watch every moment of this otherwise she wouldn't even believe it herself.

The orange symbiote swung its claws in a frenzy, smog emitting from its mouth like it was saliva. But Magenta kept its arms pinned to the ground when she forced a pair of cars to her and had them wrap around his fists and locked them to the ground like cuffs.

With him locked in place, Frankie delivered a swing with a mace to his face, causing him to release more smog. But the orange symbiote got even more enraged, his fangs turning bright-red before dazzling flames ignited around his maw before he went to bite her.

But a gravity blast to his face shut him up and knocked him onto his back. Genysis appeared and after sharing a look with her sister, the two of them ran towards their downed opponent and jumped into the air. The two of them gained momentum with a number of spirals, one gathering up gravity and the other getting metal to assimilate around her right fist before they both dove down and slammed their fists into their foe's chest.

Their combined strike to their downed opponent caused the ground around them to crack and the orange symbiote got embedded into the asphalt.

James Turner grabbed his daughter tightly, wrapping his arms around her when the tremor from the strike reached them and their house. "Patience!" He exclaimed, keeping her tightly in his arms.

But Patience barely reacted to the quake that reached her and her house, her eyes focused on the fight that caused it. She has seen countless fights between heroes and villains throughout her high school year, but that was only via TVs and videos caught on a phone.

Seeing the real thing happening before her eyes was a whole other beast.

Jumping away from their opponent, the two sisters stood their ground after having put distance between them and him. "He's tough." Ruby noted.

"No kidding." Frankie agreed, morphing both her hands into sharp axes. "And you've noticed it too, right?"

"He didn't use a single long-range attack." Ruby followed her sister's train of thought.

After inspecting the damage at the Griffins' house, they knew that it wasn't a close-range physical attack that could've done that. It was something more distant, an attack done from afar and with greater force than what their foe have displayed so far.

From the hole that they made with their foe's body, they saw the orange symbiote beast leap out again and shoot them a seething gaze and had his fists ignited with flames. "St… St… STAY AWAY!" It bellowed out, running towards them and swung both of its arms at the heroes.

"Girls, down!"

Hearing that familiar voice, the two sisters crouched down and watched as a massive crystal blade swung over their heads and intercepted the two blazing claws that came towards them. Sparks went off from the collision and the orange symbiote widened its eyes at the sight.

His two daughters smiled as their father stood behind them and used his sword to block the attacks that came for them. "You kids playing nice?" He joked.

"Never." Ruby shouted, pushing back the villain with a gravity blast.

The three of them watched as the other symbiote was pushed down to a knee. Frankie crossed her axes over one another. "He's tough, Dad. But he hasn't used any of his long-range attacks."

"Is that so…?" Venom muttered his intrigue and surprise, turning his gaze to meet the orange symbiote.

Despite having stood confidently and fearlessly in front of both Magenta and Genysis, the presence of Venom had the orange symbiote showing a whole new array of emotions. The most prominent one of them all is…

… Relief?

"V-V-Venom!" The orange symbiote shouted, voicing his relief which shocked the three symbiote-clad heroes. "Ple-Please!" He stammered. "He-Hel- Help me!" He twitched and stammered the words, his head swinging uncontrollably around.

"What?" Venom lowered his sword.

"Did he just say…" Frankie started.

"Help?" Ruby followed up curiously.

"Please…. HELP ME!" The orange symbiote bellows, shaking the darkened heavens. Then with another burning maw, it took charge and ignited its entire arm, swinging it towards Venom.

But despite that flaming appendage coming towards him, Seth caught the fist with ease and tightened his hold around it. Venom narrowed his eyes, peering into the eyes of the amber symbiote.

The relief his foe showed before had vanished and had been replaced by a fiery wrathful anger. But the way he was twitching his head uncontrollably and grinded his teeth together made it clear to him that whoever is under the symbiote mass…

Is fighting back…

"He- Help-"

WHOOSH

Before the foe could continue his sentence, despite saying all that was needed, a pair of flashing yellow lightning blurs body-slammed into him and knocked him back. Both Flash and Kid Flash came to a stop, watching as the big foe was sent flying across the asphalt.

"Wow, really is an orange symbiote." Barry noted.

"Orange or not, he's gonna be the newest street art in Central City." Wally confidently said, his lightning sparking over his entire form. "He's nothing!"

"No don't!"

WHOOSH

But the elemental's warning fell on deaf ears as the yellow speedster immediately took charge, running towards the kneeling orange symbiote-bearer without hesitation. Kid Flash came up close to him, delivering a series of fast jabs to his face. Wally put a stop to his punching and jumped into a backflip, lashing out with a foot and delivering a kick into the symbiote-bearer's chin, forcing it upwards.

However, despite the numerous kicks and strikes to his head, the symbiote beast remained standing. Lowering its head back, it peered directly into the metahuman's eyes with a sneer. "…age…"

"What?" Kid Flash questioned his confusion.

He didn't say another word out as the orange symbiote-bearer wrapped its right hand around his throat and lifted him off the ground. The yellow speedster struggled in his death-grip, trying to escape its tremendous strength.

The orange symbiote stated again… This time more clearly.

"Phage!"

Phage, having made its name clear, hurled the speedster away from it and towards the other heroes. Flash, speeding ahead, plucked the younger speedster out of the air and had back on his feet. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess." Wally sighed in relief, running his hands over his throat to check for any wounds and finding none. "Thought I was looking into the Grim Reaper's eyes."

"He runs hotter than that!" Venom shouted, pushing the speedsters out of the way and swung his sword forward, meeting Phage's burning fist. This time again, Seth pushes the opposing hand away and pushes the enemy back.

Though that did nothing to stop Phage who reeled a fist back. Flames began to converge to his fist, blazing red explosive flames clad his entire hand. The flames he erupted were so bright and powerful, they appeared to be white-hot, blazing like his hand itself had become a sun.

Seeing the flames amass the way they are around his hand; Seth raises his blade and envelopes it with his abyssal flames. The black flames became one with his crystal blade, completely taking away its colorful surface and replacing it with these dark and powerful flames that leave cinders of anything it touches.

"Speedsters brace yourselves! Girls, you too!"

As if on instinct alone, the two symbiotes jumped towards one another at the same time. One thrust out his infernal hand, the fist that bore the sun itself. The other one swung his abyssal sword, the blade itself bearing blazing darkness. And those two opposing weapons…

They met.

Everyone around them watched as a massive violent explosion of red-hot and pitch-black flames erupted from the clash of weapons. Despite the deadly heat emitting from the blazing conflict, those around the battlefield couldn't help but watch it undivided attention.

And in that blazing hot inferno…

Venom and Phage kept their flames going, neither of them giving an inch despite their opposition. But despite the pressure from his opponent, Seth kept watching his opponent without tearing his eyes away. Even now as he's standing there in front of him, Phage behaved strangely, twitching and swinging his head around as though his mind split between two, unsure of what part to listen to.

"Whether he behaves strangely or not…" His "other" sneered out his words. "Nothing a beating won't solve."

"Only one way to find out really." Seth entertained his partner's words.

Turning his arms and legs into adamantium, Venom enhanced his strength and overwhelmed Phage with one mighty push, forcing the orange symbiote's flaming attack to dissipate. Using his adamantium elbow, he slammed it into his face and pushed him back even more.

Phage turned his attention back to the other elemental, who pierced his sword into the ground and left it there while he menacingly walked towards him with lightning cloaking his fists. "Whoever's under there, we're gonna drag you out and get some answers."

The orange symbiote beast roared and rushed towards him, blazing fists swinging left and right as he took charge.

But despite his opponent's dangerous and erratic approach, Venom remained standing completely unfazed. Especially as two certain symbiote-bearers behind him ran forward as well, leaping over his form and ran towards Phage.

Magenta once again bore her war-axes and Genysis kept a tight grip around her Chakram Blade. The two sisters rushed towards him, each of them avoiding a flaming fist at the same time. Thanks to his colossal size, they both ran up his arms and swung their weapons into his face, delivering a number of cuts to his face.

The pain from his wounds caused him to bellow out in rage, releasing blazing hot flames around his entire head. But even though he had set his own face ablaze to keep it from being touched, neither of the sisters hesitated to attack him.

One had amassed mechanical parts to her left arm, the war axe having dispersed a long time ago and was replaced with a mechanical arm with spikes at the knuckles. The other gathered gravitational force into her right arm, forcing into an invisible gauntlet of a mighty invisible force.

Both of them clenched their teeth before they thrust out their fists, striking his blazing face. The combined force of their strikes put out the flames. But Phage never fell to the ground again, instead he grabbed both of them by their faces and roared in rage. He threw them to the side, into an alleyway and watched as they rolled deeper into it.

Venom appeared the next moment, slamming his lightning-enshrouded fist into his face. "Bastard!" He delivered an uppercut into his chest, once again making the other symbiote cough up bile. While delivering a storm of lightning-wrapped fists into his torso, Seth used tendrils to retrieve his sword.

Delivering another array of uppercuts and hooks to his face and chest, Venom jumped back on all four and used his tendrils to swing his sword into the side of Phage's body. The elemental was the next one to be pushed back when the orange symbiote beast swung his infernal fist once again, having quickly converged flames to his fist and slammed it into his body.

The force of the blazing strike knocked Venom towards the same abandoned alleyway as Genysis and Magenta. But Seth didn't fall to his knees or on his back, he stood his ground and readied his blade and his elements for another long battle. His daughters did the same, readying themselves to support their father.

Phage stood at the end of the alleyway, facing them with a blazing glare.

X

"Phew!" Rajeet whistled in surprise when watching Phage's destructiveness. "He's handling himself better than I thought."

Him and Eliza watched from the rooftop of a tall building, the ice-user sitting on the ledge and his leader remained standing.

"I wouldn't say that." The lightning-user argued, looking down at her device. "He's still erratic, can't control him yet."

"Still?" Rajeet looked over his shoulder. "Figured you were the one controlling him with that joystick of yours there."

"Trust me, if I was, my joystick would've done much more than what's happening now." She stated confidently. "But right now, he's pure animalistic. Acting only on instinct, devastating anything that looks like a threat to him without hesitation."

"That's something." Rajeet looked towards the other side, a number of water bullets splashing into the air in the midst of explosions of light. "What about that one?"

Eliza answered. "She's in full control, don't even have to do anything on my end. But she's acting on her own volition, controlling both her powers and symbiote with ease. I'm honestly surprised she's this good with it."

"Maybe she just had the heart for it from the get-go?" Rajeet mused.

"That or her drive is all she needs to get to where she is now." Eliza noted, with narrowed eyes. "Whatever the case, she's not the one we have to think of." She turned her attention back to the flaming symbiote. "I wonder…" She tapped a few buttons on her gauntlet.

With the mind of an evil and maniacal scientist, she had to wonder what possibility would reveal itself if she did this…

… Awakening the other side of Phage…

X

And the command immediately went to the orange symbiote whose eyes changed colors immediately, turning from white to crimson-red.

His eyes matched Venom's, both he and his daughters turning shocked and concern came over them both.

ROAR

Their concern is magnified when Phage releases a bellowing demonic howl that shakes the very air they're breathing. It even had the two speedsters stuck in place, both of them wanting to move but found it impossible to do so. Like the air that the orange shook made them too scared to even move.

But what happened to the symbiote-bearer's body next was what truly shook them all…

His skin began to ripple, like something was shaking the surface of a body of water. It shook uncontrollably and strangely. But did finally come to a halt, shaking even more strangely. Various areas of his skin rose up, moving up and then opened up….

…Revealing vicious fangs and serpentine tongues…

"What the…" Genysis muttered in shock as she, her sister and her father watched as mouths had taken place and formed all over Phage's body.

Each of the mouths growled, snarled and howled. They moved and acted independently of Phage's mouth.

"Is that even possible?" Magenta asked.

"Eliza, what did you do this time?" Seth had to ask himself.

Phage locked eyes with his foes and opened his mouth. Through his own mouth, he inhaled a massive amount of air. His chest puffed up, swelling from the amount of air he's intaking right now. Much to the others' surprise, the other mouths on his body followed suit; opening up and inhaling massive amounts of air from all around him.

Now it wasn't just his chest getting bigger, now every part of his autonomy was getting bigger as more air was swelling up his body. As his body continued to get bigger, each and every mouth and vein on his body sparked with flames, the fangs turning magma-red from the immense heat.

Seth widened his eyes in horror, realizing Phage's intentions when the wind he had sucked in affected the flames on each mouth… Causing them to burn more brightly and more intensely.

"Girls get-"

Before Seth's warning could reach his daughters' ears Phage opened his mouths, aiming them towards the symbiote family members and expelled the flames and air at the same time.

…

What could only be described as a flame storm was released like a beam and shot towards them. completely enveloping the shocked faces of both Magenta and Genysis…

Venom tightened his hold on his sword.

"GUYS!" Barry screamed, but didn't move away from his spot. He's still stuck to the ground, his forearm covering his face as several pieces of brick and metal shards came flying in their direction. Both he and Wally phased, each piece of them flying through their vibrating bodies and neutralizing any harm and damage. The heatwave is still coming over them and making them flinch despite it.

But they both still watched the destructiveness of Phage's flame storm attack, one with such a wide range and power enough to cover a wide area in front of him. Its power is strong enough to knock down brick walls and melt metal…

He didn't even wanna imagine what that attack could do to anyone that was on the receiving end. But he didn't have to imagine it actually…

Cause right now, Seth and two of his daughters were engulfed by the monstrous blaze.

Patience and her father James watched in absolute terror as that concentrated inferno swallowed up the three heroes that came to their aid. Her father didn't see it, but the immense blaze caused several objects to melt or break off and shoot in random directions.

And because her father didn't see a metal shard and a big piece of brick coming their way, she acted subconsciously and she pushed James out of the way and onto the ground.

PIERCE

"ARGH!" Patience screamed in pain when the metal shard dug into her shoulder. She would've let out another scream of pain but the brick piece shot through the air and hit her in the head. The brick piece was the first one to hit the grass, followed by the unconscious Patience Turner.

"Patience!" James shouted, crawling towards his downed daughter and pulled her into his arms.

His exclamation didn't just reach the speedsters' ears, but also Phage's, causing him to cease his attack on the other symbiote-bearers and snapped around to see the sight…

A look of horror and shame came over him, one that was indecipherable to those that saw it.

ROAR

Unleashing a roar of hate, Phage jumped off the ground and towards the roof.

"He's getting away!" Wally went to chase after him.

"No!" Barry stopped his protégé. "Get the Turners to the hospital. Now!" Wally nodded his acceptance and ran towards the family.

Barry wanted to check on his friends.

X

"NO!" Evelyn bellowed out her horror when she saw the tremendous inferno overwhelmingly destroy the alleyway with her family inside.

Agony chuckled to herself, a wide smile forming on her face. "Well, well, that was interesting. Now you will understand…" She raised her rifle-arm again, aiming it at the metahuman's back. "My agony."

With eyes wide of rage and anger, Eclipse snapped her eyes to the water-user and snarled. "SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Light immediately enshrouded her body like a veil wrapping around her. In a flash, she disappeared and reappeared behind the other symbiote-bearer and swung her leg into her side. The force of her attack hurled her off the surface. She was sent hurling into a construction building on the other side of the street.

Eclipse landed on the surface herself and growled her rage. She wanted nothing more than to go over there and make sure she stayed down, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Not without first knowing what had happened to her family.

Looking in the direction of the alleyway, she disappeared in a smog of shadows.

X

But even though both Barry and Evelyn arrived at the spot, they found it too hard to see anything through the massive smoke that had enveloped every inch of the alleyway. "Guys!" Barry screamed.

"Dad? Rubs? Frankie?!" Evelyn used her remaining wings to blow away the smog.

Barry created funnels of wind as he spun his arms around, blowing away the smoke. "Come on, where are you?"

"Barry, Evie. What happened?" Caitlin asked in concern through the communication devices.

"Dad and the others took on that orange symbiote by themselves! He attacked them with some kind of flame beam!" Evelyn shouted. "We're trying to find them now!"

"What? Please, find them!" Caitlin pleaded.

Thankfully, the smoke had been completely blown away by the two metahumans' united efforts and they saw that the entire alleyway had been charred black from the inferno that Phage unleashed on the area. "But wait…" Evelyn stopped looking, examining the area instead.

"Why are you stopping?" Barry asked.

"Barry, think!" Evelyn told him. "That attack right there could've easily turned this entire alley into a pile of ashes and the nearby buildings. Then how come it's just charred right now?"

"You're rig-"

GASP

Forcing herself out of the charred asphalt and melted metal with a sharp intake of air, Magenta pulled herself up into a sitting and gasped. "Holy fuck, I think I just saw my entire life flash before me!" She exclaimed in utter shock and disbelief.

"Frankie!" Evelyn shouted in joy.

"Which part of your life did you see, exactly?" Barry felt like asking, mostly because he had a sneaking suspicion she might just see the parts where she ate people at that moment.

The next one to force herself back up into a sitting, this one pulling herself out of nothing but asphalt and ash, was Genysis. "Okay, I know I complain a lot to begin with, and not to look a gift shark in the mouth, but why the hell are we alive right now?"

"Rubs, you're okay!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"Don't sound too disappointed." Ruby said, getting up to stand on the ground. "But we're alive."

"Somehow, yeah." Frankie shook off the pieces of asphalt on her body.

"Wait, if you're alive… Does that mean Seth's…" Barry trailed off when feeling the ground under his feet shake.

"Bit of a gamble, but it worked somehow." A familiar demonic voice spoke up under his feet.

"Wow!" Barry exclaimed, jumping back a few feet when the ground under him rose up.

From under the charred ground came Venom who shook off pieces of dirt and asphalt from his body. "That wasn't fun. But we survived." Seth chuckled, speaking of the silver lining.

"How are you guys even alive right now?" Barry questioned them.

While Evelyn tackled her sisters into a hug, Seth said. "Later, what happened?"

X

With a growl from her mouth and a twitch of her body, Agony roared and forced herself out of the pile of cement that's covering her body up.

Trying to stand up again, she immediately fell into the cement pile with a hand clutching her right side. She gritted her teeth in pain, holding back the pain from the powerful kick that Eclipse delivered her. While stuck on the ground, she took in the environment of where she had been kicked to…

Seeing it was a construction site, one that was left half-finished. Even the machines had been left there, almost as though they'd been abandoned.

"Damn!" She groaned, the pain still pulsating throughout her body. "Damn… Evelyn… I will get you!"

"Don't bother if you go at it like that again."

Hearing the familiar female voice, Agony snapped her eyes to the side, her eyes locking onto Eliza and Rajeet who were both walking towards her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Agony growled.

Eliza sighed, coming to stand in front of the downed water-user. "Your opponent knows this territory better than you. Plus, you went half-assed into the fight. You're lucky she was worried about her family before she did anything worse than break your ribs."

Agony snarled, shooting up to her feet. "You said I could be powerful enough to kill her with this power!"

"If you can master it." Eliza repeated. "Same speech I told you before I gave you that symbiote."

"Means you're not good enough with it." Rajeet snidely said.

Agony growled, readying a pair of rifles with her arms. But Eliza jumped in. "Enough. You'll get your shot again, Agony. But for now, relax."

But Agony was gonna do anything but relax, she wanted to tear Evelyn into pieces. No matter what.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Thank God, you're all okay!" Caitlin exclaimed, hugging her daughters tightly till they turned blue in the faces. She released them and gave the same treatment to her mate, who hugged her back. "Never scare me like that!" She playfully punched his chest.

"Gonna try my best to not do that." Seth smirked.

Iris looked between them. "But how the hell did you guys survive that? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you all are okay, but that attack would have melted the Daily Planet in seconds."

"Hmmmm!" With one single, loud hum, everyone turned to H.R. Wells who playfully said. "Well, I believe the answer as to why our symbiotic family is still standing lies in our master of elements himself, isn't that right, S.F.?" He directed at Seth.

The mutant chuckled. "I'm beginning to like your nicknames, H.R."

"What's he talking about?" Cisco asked, directing his words to the mutant.

"You know a vortex is, right?" Seth rhetorically asks, twirling a finger around to put an image of one into their heads. "It's a phenomenon known in fluid dynamics where fluid flows in a circular motion around a central axis."

"It also applies to gas where its moving in the same motion around a central poin…" Caitlin trailed off, gaping her mouth in realization. "You used yourself as a central point in the middle of that blazing hell and had the flames converge to you, taking the blunt of the flames."

"Precisely." Seth said. "Course with Phage's reckless attack, I couldn't absorb it through my skin, not without turning myself into a balloon and going… POP." He made a popping sound with his lips. "So instead I used my black flames and-"

"You canceled them out, neutralizing the damage completely." Caitlin added.

"Bingo. But again, with that reckless attack, I couldn't completely get all of the flames, which is why Rubs and Frankie were hit. Bit of a gamble for sure, but I was confident that they could handle it." Seth smiled.

But despite his confidence the two daughters that met the flames gave their father a dry look. "Dad, seriously…" Ruby started. "Love the confidence you have, but…"

"Don't take that kind of gamble with your daughters, would you?" Frankie followed up. "That's dangerous, you know."

Barry chuckled. "Considering all the torture your father put you through, I'm not surprised yo-OW!"

The speedster was interrupted when Seth punched his side with an adamantium fist. "Don't call their training "torture," you soft-hearted wussy speedster. You make me sound like a sadist."

"Pretty sure that's not too far from reality." Barry thought to himself, not daring to utter the words less he was prepared to lay down his life.

Caitlin turned to her daughter, seeing Evelyn holding her right shoulder. "Evie, what happened to your shoulder?"

"Just a little accident when I fought the water-symbiote user, Agony." She replied.

"Really, another villain who came up with their own codename." Cisco groaned, fuming in anger.

"Whatever, it's not that bad, Mom." Evelyn tells her mother.

"I'll be the judge of that, young lady. Come on." Caitlin counters. Not waiting for a reply from her child, she drags her into the medbay for a close examination.

WHOOSH

While they were speaking, Kid Flash arrived and slid to a halt. He took off his cowl, the mutant narrowing his eyes on him. Joe followed up, entering the Cortex as the yellow speedster stated.

"Dropped off the Turners at the hospital."

"What happened to Patience? What did the doctors say?" Ruby asked.

"Mr. Turner's fine and dandy, but Patience's shoulder was pierced by a metal shard, and she was hit in the head by a brick. She's unconscious right now and getting checked on by the doctors." He answered.

"Fucking bastard. Don't care if its Phage or Agony, I'm gonna put them both in the ground!" Ruby growled, slamming her fists together and caused a small gravity wave to emit, shaking the floor. "Dad, mind if I go and check on Patience at the hospital?"

Before her father could answer, Joe jumped in. "Sorry, honey, but that's impossible. The cops are there, and are not letting anyone visit. It's also Mr. Turner's orders."

"Damn it!" She growled, clenching her fists in anger.

Cisco turned to the elemental again. "Seth, why did you call Phage's attack reckless? That attack was immense. Heck, hadn't it been for you, the city would have been down a few buildings and alleys. So why was it reckless?"

"From the attack that, as you mentioned, could've left more than its fair share of buildings to dust, the attack was a combination of fire and wind." Seth answered. "Those two elements together strengthen one another, blowing wind on a campfire will make it blaze that much more powerfully. That's what Phage did when he expelled air from those mouths of his."

"Pretty impressive that such a big fella can have that many mouths on him, and not even string together one coherent sentence." H.R. chuckled. "But I do believe what Seth's aiming towards is a familiar topic that we touched on last time we tangled with one Mr. Kumar."

"What do you mean?" Wally asked.

Ruby pieced it together. "Like Rajeet's case and his ice element, there's no counter element to prevent the negative side-effects of flames in a human body."

"Main difference: Whoever's under there has a shorter timetable than Rajeet did." Seth brings the news to them, shocking the others into silence.

"What do you mean, shorter timetable?" Joe asked, with crossed arms.

"Like I said this guy's got wind and fire inside of him." Seth recited. "Fire deteriorates his bodily functions as he heats up his body. Wind intensifies that entire side-effect, magnifying it even and the heat skyrockets."

"They're gonna melt their insides at this rate." Barry gulped.

"And from the way that guy recklessly fired off that destructive flame storm, if he keeps at it, his internal temperature will reach dangerous levels in no time if he keeps firing off those in succession." Seth added.

"Without a coolant from an internal element like yours, Dad, how'd he take care of it?" Frankie asked.

"Outside help, like getting hosed down with water or a fire extinguisher." Seth said.

"Well, we can't wait for this guy to just turn himself into a pile of ashes." Joe said, walking towards the exit. "I'll mobilize the force, have them be ready with fire shields and whatnot to stop this guy." He finalized before walking out into the hallways.

"Think that'll be enough?" Iris directs to Barry.

"No. I don't." He answers honestly, shaking his head.

"Wally." Seth got the yellow speedster's attention. "Don't interfere like you did back there. Phage was about to say something and you interrupted him. Don't do that, again."

"What do you mean?" Wally stated his confusion.

"Your little interference before cost me the chance to hear out what Phage had to say. He was talkative when he saw me, and he asked for something." Seth replied, his back facing the rest of the team.

"What?" Barry asked.

"Help. Phage asked for help." He replied, shocking them even more with his words.

X

"OW!" Evelyn let out with a sharp intake of air as her mother applied cream to her bruised and lightly burned shoulder.

"Sorry, honey. But don't worry. This here will help heal your wound, even if just a small bit and it'll ease the pain a lot more." Caitlin assured her daughter.

"It's fine, Mom. Do what you gotta do." Evelyn told her mother.

While she was applying medicinal cream to her child's wound, she was examining Evelyn's expression. Despite the fact that both of her sisters and their father were unharmed from a destructive attack, she still wore a defeated expression.

With the two of them in the medbay now, Caitlin decided to get down to business. "Honey, what's on your mind? You've been down in the dumps for a while now, even though your family is safe and sound from Phage's attack. Why do you look like this?"

"It's because of Agony." Evelyn slowly revealed. "Something about her… It made me just hate her. And I wanted to destroy her…."

It was rare for Evelyn to express such thoughts about someone she had just met. What about Agony brought out these awful feelings?

"She did attack your friend's home and attacked his mother… I'm not shocked you feel this way about Agony and whoever is under that mask." Caitlin said, having finished applying the cream to her daughter's shoulder.

"Thanks, Mom." Evelyn saw a symbiote mass swirl around the damaged area, covering it up before retracting and showing that her shoulder's completely healed now. "But that's not all. When my wing exploded, just before it did, I felt something happen to Dusk's mind. It felt like… Conflict. Indecisiveness. Like she didn't know what to do or… Something."

"Again, I'm really sorry." Dusk said apologetically to her host. "It's just when I felt something when I saw that Agony fella. Like… I don't know, really."

"It's okay, Dusk." Evelyn had just as many questions as her "other."

"Honey." Caitlin got her attention, cupping her cheek. "You're not alone in this fight against Eliza and her army here… You got me, your sisters and your father. We're a team. Face a hard opponent, you can always count on us to help you. Remember that?"

"I will, Mom. I promise. But I wanna take care of Agony alone… But I will always remember my team." Evelyn clenched her fists.

She felt a light and darkness come into being inside of her, one that's violently erupting into a blaze unlike anything that a flame could produce. A powerful blaze dancing and spreading as her desire to defeat Agony rose, reaching heights that not even the blue sky could even rival…

She had to be the one to defeat Agony… The same person that knows who she really is…

"Guys!" Cisco got the mother and daughter's attention. "You gotta see this!"

Mother and daughter shared a look before they rushed into the Cortex.

X

When they exited the medbay, the two of them saw that the other members of their team had their eyes pointed at the walls of monitors. Following the same direction, they watched the latest news that the monitors were displaying…

And much like the others, shock took place on their facial expressions.

Silence had claimed the room, but only until the viber had increased the volume, allowing the reporter's voice to spread throughout the Cortex.

"And in our latest news, we'd like warn our viewers of the footage we're about to show as it may bring discomfort to some." The reporter declared before continuing, footage of a building burning showing beside them. "Only a few minutes ago, another building fell from the blaze unleashed by this new threat calling himself Phage."

"Phage attacked a building?" Evelyn directed to the entire group.

"And not just any building." Iris gestured to the news report again.

"And for those that have just tuned in, the building that is still ablaze is one of the CCPD's buildings on the outskirts of the city. Thankfully, no one perished to the scorching flames, but a single member of the police force was in contact with the dangerous flames and is now hospitalized. He is alive and is undergoing surgery now, but that is all the information that's been released at the moment. The officer is Julian Burke."

"He attacked a police station now…?" Seth muttered.

"And he hurt a cop." Barry followed up. "When Joe hears of this, he's gonna be furious."

"I'd say you're thinking too small on that, B.A." Harrison-19 argued.

Iris nodded her head. "H.R.'s right, the moment Dad hears about this is the same time that the entire department hears about it. They're gonna bring down all of their resources on Phage."

"Whoever's under that mask is gonna be hunted down." Cisco stated.

"Friday, you online?" Seth asked out loud, getting the others' attention.

"Would be a pretty bad AI if I wasn't, Boss." The AI quipped.

"Great, for a second I forgot who created you." Seth groaned his annoyance at the reminder of his brother-in-law and his Stark lineage. Shaking off his irritation, he returned to the matter at hand. "Open a map, highlight all the locations that Phage's been spotted at and the ones he's attacked."

"Alright, Boss." The AI announced.

Ruby looked at her father. "Dad, what's wrong? What's the point of getting the locations of all the attacked places?"

"Something about this situation seems… Weird to me." Seth stated.

The AI did its job and revealed a map on the monitors, the map having several highlighted areas on it marked in shining red. Each of them took note of the separate locations…

First place was a boutique owned by Mrs. Chang.

Second place was the Griffins' house, where a section of the household was burnt to ashes and Mary Grey got caught up in the attack.

Third place was the Turners' house where Patience was attacked, where Seth and his daughters faced off against Phage and Eclipse took on Agony.

And now the fourth place was this police station that Phage incinerated, injuring one member of the police force.

"Feels like we're missing something about these locations…" Seth bit his lower lip in deep thought, looking between them on the map.

"What are you thinking?" Caitlin asked.

Seth faced the team. "Cisco, you and H.R. do some research on these locations, look into CCTV or whatever you can hack into. Iris, can you look into the history of them in case there are articles that can give us some insight into them. Barry, you can access past records on the different districts, right?" The speedster nodded. "Look into them and search through each and every one of them. Easy job for a speedster. Friday, until I'm back again, you look into places that're somewhere within the vicinity of them."

"Got it, Boss." The AI nodded.

"Wally-"

"Yeah, I know. Patrol." The yellow speedster cut him off.

"Nope, you stay here and train. Against Phage, you're likely to turn into a charred cartoon character in spandex if you two face off." Seth states. "Girls, rest for a bit. We need you at your best when either of these two shows up again."

"You got something for me to do?" Caitlin wondered.

Pulling up his sleeve on his right arm, Seth said. "You and I are gonna do a little science experiment, actually."

X

Within the medbay, Caitlin watched the blood from Seth's vein flow through the small tube and into the hematology analyzer which she is using. While the machine was already top-notch on the market to begin with, her mate and Matt had modified it before to not just analyze but also modify the collected blood.

The last new feature was what Caitlin was busy with as she pressed a button on the touchpad on the machine, watching as a 3D image of Seth's blood make up was revealed on it and showing the numerous elements that are in his blood.

"Gotta admit, I never expected to use this machine on you, honestly Seth." Caitlin said as she began separating the other elements from his blood sample. "But you never told me why you want to do this. Even though I've got a feeling why you wanted this."

Seth chuckled. "Not surprised you did. Was I that obvious?"

"Unfortunately, Agent Fury, you do let your guard around me." Caitlin quipped with a wink.

"That I do." Seth nodded.

Caitlin smiled and playfully jabbed his arm. She then stated. "You want to extract your blood and remove the other elements, leaving only select ones: ice and water. I'm guessing you want to use it as a component for a concoction that can lower Phage's host's body temperature?"

"You think I'm mad for helping a guy who could have turned me and our kids into ashes?" Seth inquired of her, wanting to know and hear her opinion.

Removing her eyes from the computer, she turned them to her mate. "I think you're concerned about the host. Which is a good thing. But what makes you want to help them, Seth?"

"Phage said "Help." That's something that all the other symbiote hosts haven't done. I don't think it was random, something is going on with the host themselves." Seth said.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm not sure." Seth admitted. "But I think the answer lies in the locations that've been attacked so far."

As they talked with one another, they heard footsteps nearing them and they looked up to the door and saw Ruby entering. One of her hands was holding onto her head and she breathed heavily, but she kept it under control.

"Rubs, you okay?" Caitlin asked, turning her attention away from the screen. Seth faced his daughter too, standing up from the chair. "You look like you're in pain."

"Honestly, it feels like a headache. Been this way since that Agony chick showed up and tried to turn us into Swiss cheese." Ruby breathed a few times, the pain subsiding. "Been having a stabbing pain in my head the entire time since then."

"Try and lie down, honey." Seth told her.

"Dad, sorry, but with my friend in the hospital, her boyfriend in Eliza's hands and these two new symbiote bearers wreaking havoc in our city, I really can't bring myself to close my eyes." Ruby replied. Before either of her parents could barrage her with more questions, she nodded to the machine. "Mom, are you drawing Dad's blood?"

And before either of them could tell her the reason why, realization dawned on the gravity manipulator. "You trying to make an antidote to lower Phage's body temperature by using Dad's blood as a base. Isn't that something really advanced in biochemistry? Or is it even possible to modify blood?"

"Thankfully, your mother is pretty much a genius in the field of impossible." Seth quipped.

"And your father here is pretty much a genius in the field of unorthodox approaches." Caitlin quipped back.

"So I guess with the two of you on the task, we'll get some quick results then." Ruby said. "Dad, if this serum gets fixed in good time, what's the plan then? You just gonna inject it into whoever's under the Phage symbiote? Doubt they'd be up for an injection like that."

"Haven't figured out the "how"- part yet, but part of me does hope I can get through to the host, whoever they are." Seth suggests. "It'd be easier that way for the host to show me their neck, I can inject the serum directly into their vein and into their bloodstream. Making it that much easier."

Ruby crossed her arms. "Considering all that destruction he did, you really think that host needs help? Or want help? That's really hopeful of you, Dad. Kind of surprising."

"Ruby, you saw the same." Seth intertwined his fingers, leaning forward on his chair after retaking his seat. "Before Wally's abrupt and badly timed tackle, Phage asked for help. He told me that. But then something else happened before he used that flame storm attack."

"What?" Caitlin inquired.

"He started behaving strangely, like he wasn't all there…" Seth narrowed his eyes. "Like he wasn't in complete control, actually."

"So what do you want to do then?" Ruby asked her parent.

"Wanna wait for the results on the others' assignments. Maybe we can get some hint as to what's the connection between them and why Phage attacked them. There's nothing about them that seems valuable enough for them to be targeted…" Seth clenched his teeth. "Guess we gotta wait."

"Boss, got some results on my job." Friday started. "Looks like there is a place between the locations, pretty frequented actually."

"What's the name?" Seth looked at the amount of blood Caitlin's taken from him.

"Kingston Boxing. As the name suggests, it's a gym, frequented by boxers, mainly." The AI replies.

"Kingston… Boxing…" Ruby muttered, feeling a strange familiarity at the name.

Taking the needle out of his arm, Seth told the AI. "Thanks, Friday, I'll check it out. Give me any news you might have, okay?"

"Roger." Friday replied.

Caitlin watched the puncture on Seth's arm heal. "Are you going alone?"

"Yeah, there shouldn't be any problems. Just some quick recon, after all." The elemental said. "Plus the girls are exhausted from the fight with Phage and Agony. Best to give them some rest."

"Pretty sure you're not one to talk, Dad." Ruby elbowed him.

"I'm one of a kind, honey." Seth proudly told his daughter. "If you're not planning on relaxing, then help out your mother here with this project, will you?"

Ruby nodded her acceptance as Seth moved towards the door, exiting the lab. She turned to her mother who pulled up a chair beside her. "Time to show me how much biology you've learnt in school."

"Nothing, compared to what you and Dad teaches us at home." Ruby retorted.

X

Smoke was emanating from each and every mouth he had made…

The aftereffects of his latest flamestorm are still having an effect on him…

Causing Phage to trip and fall down in the alleyway. His body melting-hot, enough to char and melt the asphalt that he fell into. His stretched out right arm clawed the ground, digging into the surface with ease like it was a sponge he was piercing his fingers into.

His face struck with pain and conflict, the symbiote-bearer with mouths spitting out sparks of fire from around his entire body, pushed himself up. His face had dented the asphalt, making an imprint of his face.

Rain began to cascade over the entire city, dark clouds replacing the azure blue skies and drenching the people of Central City. Every nook and corner of the city was drenched by the heaven's water.

A puddle of water formed and overflowed in the hole that Phage made when he fell into the ground. In the watery muddy surface, he saw his own reflection and was still bewildered by it.

… No…

Not bewildered… Horrified… By it to no end.

Phage raised his right hand to his face, clawing on the flesh that was on his face but it didn't feel like his own flesh. He groaned in pain when he felt the claws pierce into the skin, indicating that this was his flesh and no one else's…

But he didn't want to believe that…

Suddenly… His head flashed with numerous images… Memories…

Memories… Of that horrific… MAN!

Each mouth on his body growled in rage, releasing flames and fire like spit.

A new desire burned up inside of Phage, making him stand up. His infernal feet melting the ground, charring the surface around his limbs. Like a zombie he moved forward, a desire that was unlike others…

One that could only satiated when he vanquished that man…

"Burn…"

X

Venom came to a halt two streets away from Kingston Boxing, landing on the side of a tall building to look at the place. It was a grey building, one-story with three trash containers near the entrance.

Strangely enough there wasn't anyone stepping into or out of the building, despite the sign on the nearest window saying it's open for business.

Seth decided to take a closer look, jumping from building to building before shooting down into an alleyway on the opposite side of the boxing gym. A second later, he walked out of the alleyway, the symbiote mass retracting into his body as he passed the threshold.

Walking across the street, he lifted his head up in surprise when he saw a car there and a certain detective stepped out of it. Joe West lifted his head up in surprise when he saw the familiar elemental walking towards the same direction as him.

"Seth, what are you doing here?" Joe asked.

"Could've asked you the same, you know." Seth retorted. "Friday says this gym was a spot between all the attacked areas. I don't know if it'll be a target or not, but better to have all bases covered and whatnot."

"Same idea. But I'm not sure why this area would be targeted, honestly, though. It's an ordinary gym." Joe said.

"From the outside, but maybe something inside is worthwhile." Seth said, moving up to the detective. "Want to do this together?"

"… We got a better chance with more heads and eyes on the case." Joe said, hints of reluctance seeping out of his words.

It came as no surprise to Seth that Joe was reluctant to work with him. After everything he did and withheld, the mutant didn't want to hope for a chance to make amends with his old friend. He didn't deserve that…

Not after what he did…

Joe opened the door, watching the mutant walk behind him with a lowered head. But his head raised up again, pointing in the same direction as the detective's when they heard keys rattling. Both of them looked for the origin of the sound, giving them the time to take in the different equipment.

A number of training equipment were around them. A large boxing ring in the middle of the gym, the ropes looking used and ragged from numerous fights that took place on it. Weights were scattered on the floor, close to training mats. Even box gloves were all over the floor, much like the weights and the boxing ring ragged and torn from overuse.

"Not a bad place to train." Seth admits to himself.

"Glad to hear, boy." A man with a gruff voice stated, getting his and the detective's attention. It was a man of African-American heritage, with gray hair on the sides of his head and a bald spot on the top. His body attire consists of a blue tracksuit with an open jacket, revealing his gray T-shirt. He walked out from the other side of the boxing ring and faced the two. "Sorry to tell ya boys, but the gym isn't open for business."

"Your sign says otherwise." The mutant countered with a reminder.

"Forgot to flip it." The man countered.

"Unfortunately, we're not here for training." Joe opened his jacket, showing his badge hanging from his neck. "Detective Joe West, CCPD."

"Seth Fury, civilian consultant, CCPD." Seth introduced himself.

"Stan Kingston." The man introduced himself.

"As in Kingston Boxing? Owner?" Joe questioned with a gesture to the building they're in.

"In the flesh." Stan smirked. "So not to be rude, gentlemen, but what brings you two to my fine establishment? I'm a bit busy with closing this place down for a bit, I gotta help out some regulars."

"We won't take up much of your time, Mr. Kingston." Joe assures him, pulling out his notepad. Stan gave a huff of annoyance, but he nodded his acceptance. "Have you heard about the latest attacks that've happened?"

"Heard and seen them." Stan scoffed, something that Seth took note of. "A friend of mine got hurt in one of those attacks."

"Apologies." Seth replied.

"Thanks." Stan nodded his appreciation.

"But you know that a nearby area was attacked as well, destroyed by the attacker?" Joe inquired.

"Yeah, I did." Stan, for the first time, laughed at that. His act and his following words surprised the CCPD members. "Heard that shitty police district got razed to the ground, and that scumbag Burke got sent to the hospital. Guess someone upstairs is listening to prayers after all."

Joe widened his eyes. "You're saying that about a good officer getting hurt and burned?"

Seth narrowed his eyes, listening to the gym owner's words.

"You got an awful definition of a "good officer" if you think that filthy dirtbag was one, Detective West." Stan sneered. "Trust me, if you knew the things that I knew, you wouldn't be saying that about that sorry excuse of a man. And with that, gentlemen, I think we're done."

Joe's words had obviously left Stan in a bad mood, and it was the same vice-versa as Joe wanted to get out of here as well. Both of them went their separate ways, each one making their way to a separate exit.

But Seth had some thoughts he needed to confirm.

"Mr. Kingston, that friend of yours that got hurt…. Is that by any chance Mrs. Mary Grey?"

Hearing that name, Stan turned around in a snap. Joe doing the same. Both faced the mutant with surprising looks on their faces.

But it was the gym owner who asked first. "How'd you know that name, boy?"

"Yesterday morning, I, along with Detective West here, went to one of the crime scenes. It was the household of my daughter's friend's boyfriend." Seth said. "She told me that was the household belongs to one Mary Grey."

"Mother to Griffin Grey." Stan jumped in. "Yeah, she's my friend. And that attack hurt my friend. I ain't happy about it, and trust me I wasn't happy to begin with."

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"You know that kid I just mentioned?" Both of them nodded. "Well, that kid works here as a cleaner to help out as his single mother. Mary has always been a good woman, works herself to the bone for her and her son. Griffin knows it and he works here, sweeps the floors and cleans the equipment, a job no one else wants, but he does it so he can help his mother. It's his second job to the job he got as Jitters as their delivery boy. The regulars here know him. The moment I heard he was kidnapped, I told them that if they helped searching for the kid, I'd give them one month free of charge. They declined, they were already gonna go and search for the kid."

"That's why you wanna close up now." Seth deduced.

"I'm gonna go out there and find the kid." Stan said. "Know the cops won't do any good."

"Come again?" Joe asked with a sneer, Stan countered with a glare.

"Mr. Kingston." Seth got the attention of the gym owner who scoffed. "You haven't said a single word about Griffin's father. Why is that?"

"That man is better off dead than alive, doesn't deserve to be called a parent. Much less a man." Stan spat out his words.

"What do you mean?" Joe questioned. "Who is it?"

Stan faced the detective. "If you're a detective and if you've been an officer here in the city, you must have heard about Declan Burke."

"Declan?" Joe asked with wide eyes, shocked and disbelieved at the name. Seth schooled his expression, but he was wondering why Joe reacted the way he did to that name. "You're telling me that man has a child and was in a marriage?"

"Divorced a long time ago, both Mary and Griffin dropped his name and took on her maiden name. But that guy had already done his damage, especially with what he did to Griffin." Stan sneered, clenching his keys so tightly that they creaked.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"Well, I guess that's what you are gonna have to look into then, Detective West." With that said, Stan turned towards the office.

"Looks like there's more research waiting for me." Joe announced, turning around and walked towards the exit.

"Doubtful, not with your daughter on the case." Seth countered. "But first…. There's another place I think we should check out first."

"Where?" Joe asked.

X

(CC Hospital)

Mary Grey had tears in her eyes. She was standing outside in the hallway, watching carefully.

It was like time itself had stopped as she watched Patience Turner getting wheeled out on a hospital gurney.

Tears wettened the chest area of her hospital gurney, Mary's heart was already breaking and shattering into pieces when she couldn't find her son anywhere. But now…

As she sees Patience, a girl she knows very well from her son's personal life, his girlfriend, getting wheeled to an operation room with her father running after them, she felt the shattered pieces break into even smaller pieces.

"My God… Patience…" Her voice broke, tears streaming down her face. She cupped her mouth. She wanted to go to her and her father but the throbbing pain in her head and her bandaged bruises are still aching.

"Mrs. Grey?"

A familiar voice made the hospitalized woman turn her head around, facing Detective Joe West and Seth with whom she was unfamiliar.

The mutant walked up to her. "Mrs. Grey, may we escort you to your room?"

"Um… Yes. Please." Mary said gratefully, not realizing that her legs were getting weaker and weaker by the minute. Both Seth and Joe escorted her back into her hospital room. "Thank you." She expressed her gratitude when the consultant helped her back into bed.

"We realize this is not the ideal time to ask you further questions, Mrs. Grey, but we have to for our investigation." Joe explained to the woman.

Mary nodded her understanding. "I realize it's a necessity, Detective West. Don't worry about it."

Pulling the covers over her, Seth added. "To prepare you, these are difficult questions we are about to ask you, Mrs. Grey." Once again, she nodded her understanding.

Joe started off. "Mrs. Grey, when you went to the precinct the other day, you… ran off abruptly when I asked whether or not your husband could come and take you home."

"…You're here to ask him?" She gulped, trembling in her sleep.

"Yes." Seth said. "We… We know he's Declan Burke." He said, but not having much knowledge about this man. "And we're… We're here to ask about the relationship between him and the rest of your family…"

Mary sniffed, crying to herself and looked out the window. "The one good thing that came out of meeting that man… was Griffin. My son." She sniffed and looked back at them. "I was young and reckless back then; I made many mistakes back then. But my son was a welcoming mistake that I loved. Declan was the mistake I'd regret."

She continued. "When I found out I was pregnant, I kept it hidden from him. He found out sometime when Griffin was around 7 years old. He demanded to stay with us. I didn't know what to do, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. But it was getting worse from there. He… drank all the time and was violent many times. I… Griffin…" She cried even more, the memories of the most awful times returning to her mind. "I couldn't do anything."

Joe clenched his pencil, trying to write down her every word but struggled to do so as she heard her words. "I'm really sorry that happened, Mrs. Grey."

"Past can't be changed, no matter how much we want it to, Detective West." Mary said.

Handing her some tissues, Seth asked next. "What happened then?"

"It got too much. I went to the authorities and they couldn't help… Like they wouldn't." She spoke. Joe's eyes falling. "And… I took my son and got away. I changed my last name and Griffin's, and we lived as far away from him as possible. And it's been like that for so long."

"But the damage was already done." Seth deduced.

Mary sniffed. "Yes, unfortunately. There was nothing I could do. But I did all I could for my son, and I really hope it was enough."

"I never met your son in person, but my daughters consider him a close friend." Seth said, getting her attention. "Your boy is bright, smart and a wonderful person with a passion for science. It's a wonderful boy you raised. We will do all we can to find your son, and I will thank him personally for being a good friend to my girls just as I am thanking you for raising such a good person."

"Thank you, Mr. Fury." Mary smiled.

"Anything you think that may help… Please tell us." Joe asked pleadingly. Any information will be able to help them find Griffin Grey.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

The two of them returned from the hospital, and the others gathered around to hear the news that they had. Much like Seth and Joe, the rest of the team was left with utter confusion and disbelief at the name of Henry Burke. However, it was mainly Barry and Iris that gasped in shock and disgust.

Something about this name alone was enough to bring disgust to the others….

But why?

Julian, while visibly disgusted by the name, saw the confusion on the others' faces. "I assume none of you are familiar with Henry Burke?" His words came out as a statement rather than a question.

"You'd be right about that." Seth nodded. "Aside from what we just told you from Mrs. Grey, that's all, and that was more than enough to paint an awful picture."

Caitlin spoke up next. "Who is he?"

Iris answered. "He's a really bad guy."

"What do you mean?" Cisco questioned.

Barry replied. "Henry Declan Burke." Friday brought up the guy's mugshot, showing a Caucasian man with long dirty brown hair around his face and blue eyes. Despite the swollen right eye, he was facing the camera with a dirty smirk, like he wasn't scared of his next destination that followed this photo. "I looked through the records and this guy's got some rap sheet."

"I've heard about this guy so many times at the office, he's been arrested in every district, each of which got this guy's face on their walls." Joe stated. "I mean, it's no surprise he actually gets arrested. Each district's got a jail ready for him."

"What's he been in for?" Evelyn asked, looking at the screens.

Frankie, from the ceiling, looked at the monitors and replied. "Assault, assault with weapon, aggravated assault, assault and battery."

H.R. noted next. "Appears he's also been in for domestic violence and assault."

"He hurt his wife…" Seth clenched his fist so hard that his bones crack under his flesh. Everyone in the room watched as the mutant's eyes turned lifeless and his flesh turned into adamantium. "Mrs. Grey confirmed that when me and Joe spoke to her at the hospital. Wait… Your tasks? What results did they yield?"

"Everyone I looked into is what we're seeing here." Iris nodded to the monitors. "But I did contact some neighbors of the Griffins, they said that they usually heard shouting and fighting from their house many times. Even described some of the sounds like crying."

"Crying…? Fits the bill with this guy's rap sheet and Mary Grey saying she and her son were hurt by this Burke guy." Seth noted. "What else?"

"From what I've heard they would call the cops about the house, but no cops ever arrived on site no matter how many times they called." Iris added.

"You got this from looking into the Griffins?" The reporter nodded her head. "And the district the neighbors called is the one that's practically a pile of ashes now?" Once again, she confirmed the mutant's words with a nod. "Matches up with Mary's words, not receiving help when they needed it."

Barry followed up. "That's not all. I looked through the records of that district, they were still online and there were over a dozen calls from the Griffins' house from 10 years ago. But strangely enough, they weren't logged into the files like others. Normally calls like that are put into files for later references, but no, they weren't."

"H.R. and I looked into the place… And there's no connection between the locations, at least not one that we could find." Cisco declared.

"Well, perhaps not with the parameters we used, San Francisco." H.R. quipped.

"What do you mean, Wells?" Joe asked the Earth-19er.

"Well, Detective Westeros, you see, all of us have been looking into what connections are between the connections, but that was only between our injured young lady, Ms. Mary Gray." He said. "But aren't we missing something else?" The others waited for him to finally announce his words.

"What's the connection between the two men bearing the same name, "Burke?""

Seth blinked. "Burke?"

"You mean…" Joe widened his eyes. "Julian Burke."

"Julian Burke." The AI surprised the entire team. "Police officer for eleven years and brother to Henry Declan Burke."

"Brother? They're siblings?" Joe stated in shock.

"Guess that draws a clearer image of what's been happening here now." Seth got the team's attention once again. "Ms. Grey's husband, or at the very least, father to her son, is Henry Burke. In their household for a long time, they've been dealing with fights and shouting inside of their home. The neighbors took action, calling the nearest police station to the house, where Julian Burke worked and he got the calls. But never forwarded them to files for case processing, like an officer of the law should. He was turning a blind eye to it, despite the neighbors hearing the crying, fighting, shouting, and wanting to put an end to it. Julian probably did it to turn an eye to his brother's behavior, knowing how he is, probably. Which is why Stan Kingston considered him a scumbag back at his gym."

"He's got a grudge on this Burke Officer…" Caitlin deduced.

"But that doesn't make any sense at all, still doesn't explain the connection between the attacked places." Cisco said. "Besides why would Phage be so interested in the Griffins affair?"

"Doubt he's such a do-gooder." Frankie stated.

Evelyn looked over at the console, a metal case was sitting there. "What's that?"

Caitlin put a hand on it. "It's the serum I made from Seth's blood. It'll lower the body temperature if we inject it into Phage's body." She unlocked the case, turned it around for her daughter and opened it for her to see.

But Evelyn's eyes widened in confusion when she saw the contents of the case…

Or lack thereof.

"Mom, it's empty." Evelyn revealed to her parent.

"What?!" Caitlin snapped the case around and looked into it, seeing that it was indeed empty. "But how I definitely did leave a vial and an injection pen in here."

"You did." Friday announced, getting the attention of the entire team. "But your kid beat you to it, Boss Lady."

At those words, everyone pointed their eyes at Evelyn.

"Evie, you stole it?" Frankie directed to her sister.

"No!" Evelyn shook her head.

"Not her, this time. The other one." The AI clarified.

"Ruby?" Caitlin asked. "Friday, when did she take the vial?"

"When she found out who Phage is." Friday casually stated.

"What?!"

A number of shocked exclaims echoed throughout the Cortex.

X

A snarl emitted from his mouth, clouded by the black smoke from the reddish-glowing fangs that he possesses.

His eyes white as snow, but bearing a flaming hot rage behind them, aimed at the house from the alleyway on the other side of the street.

Breathing heavily, smoke came out, clouding his vision and his expression. But he showed no signs of stopping.

The house wasn't much of a house. It was a trailer, dusty and battered on the outsides, just like the insides. A single window was on the side, the curtains drawn but the light from within exposes and shows the silhouette of the man inside. He's chugging down his second, if not his fifth beer of the night.

Phage clawed the brick surface, easily piercing into it with his glowing red flaming fingers. "…H-Henry…" He snarled to himself.

The malice in his voice was blazing like an inferno, unable to be tamed or extinguished by anything whatsoever. It was a hate that fueled that blaze, magnifying it to unbelievable limits. His body struggled to contain it, causing it to light up around him.

His mountainous form illuminated by his own sparking flames… And his hate intensified by the wind that he circled around himself.

"Phage!"

The voice made the flame-symbiote bearer snap his head around, coming face to face with Genysis.

"I'm not here to fight." Ruby Fury put down the object in her hand.

"G-G-Genysis…" He snarled.

"I'm not talking to you, not the symbiote, or whatever is controlling you." Ruby countered. "I'm talking to the host that's under there… Griffin Grey."

The opposing bearer widened his eyes in shock. "Griff-Griffin?"

"Yeah, Griffin Grey. Son of Mary Grey, boyfriend to Patience Turner, nice guy and a much better friend." She says. "At least that's what I've heard. I wanna talk to him. Let him out." She demands.

"Gr-Griff-" Phage struggled to talk, the symbiote-bearer clutching his head in pain as a thousand images of pain and suffering from long ago rushed to the forefront of his mind like a vicious current.

"Come on!" Ruby shouted at him. "I know you, Griffin. You're the guy who volunteers at soup kitchens every weekend. You clean up the equipment of most of the sports teams at school. You even clean the floors and equipment at that gym you go to. You do a load of good things for those you care about and you don't stop doing that. You're someone who won't lose to a battle of control, not to that thing around you."

She didn't know why, but she felt that the symbiote before is completely different from the kind that she and her family carries within their bodies. They don't feel like…

Living…

"Ho… How?" Phage asked, the flames on his body slowly diminishing around his body.

Despite a mask covering her face, Ruby schooled her expressions as to not show any reaction that might give away her identity. "You'd be surprised with how much Google has on people-"

"Liar!" Phage exclaimed, the flames enshrouding his entire form once again. "Who are you?!"

Both Ruby and her "other" knew that if he spoke any louder, they'd risk civilians taking a look and interfering and they might get caught up if a fight broke loose.

"Damnit!" Ruby growled under her breath. She turned her eyes back to the flame-user and the symbiotic flesh around her face disappeared, slithering back inside of her. With her bleached blonde hair out and her own two hazel-green eyes, Ruby watched the other symbiote-bearer's eyes widen in surprise.

"It's me, Ruby Fury, your friend from school. You know, Patience's friend." She started. "Come on, you've got to remember me. Right? Come on, remember when we went on that double date that Patience arranged, the one where I brought Miles along. You two had fun, it was the first time I've ever seen you drink water and… Damn it. Remember the time, I threw you in P.E., you whined a bit for an hour maybe."

"A- A-" Suddenly Phage's head shook and twisted uncontrollably. Then suddenly the symbiote around his face split open and Griffin Grey's face came out. Breathing heavily from exhaustion and pain, the young man looked at her. "A day, also I didn't whine."

"Yeah, you did." Ruby argued.

"Also, it was a mock match, yet you threw me without a care in the world, for the fourth time!" Griffin reminded her with an exclamation.

"Well, glad to see you're back to normal again." Ruby slowly pulls out an injection gun and a vial. "Now to the hard part…" She put the vial in the barrel of her gun.

"W-What's that? A gun?" Griffin asked with fear plastered on his face.

"An injection gun. Remember, my Mom works at S.T.A.R. Labs and she and the team there made this." She tells her friend. "My Dad is sort of an expert on what's going on with you, and he made this serum that will regulate your body temperature."

"R-Regulate my body temperature? Why?" He questioned.

"Dude, you're sweating bullets right now. Your body temperature is elevated like crazy." Ruby announced. "The more you use your flames, the more you're gonna raise the risk of you literally deteriorating your own body's function because of overheating. And that side-effect is worsening because of your wind use, too."

"So how will that help me?" Griffin gulped.

"It will counteract the fire's effect on your body. I don't know the full science of it, I admit that, but trust me, my parents are second to none in this field." Ruby walks closer to her friend. "It will work."

Griffin looked down at his hands, his torso and the rest of his body clad in the same ominous symbiote flesh as his limbs. "Can you… Can it get rid of this?"

"I can't answer that, sorry." She answered to his dismay.

But to her shock, he gulped and turned his neck to the side, showing his neck to the gravity manipulator. "Do it."

"Really? Just like that?" Ruby inquired.

"I trust you. I've met your parents, your mother at least… I trust them. And… You wouldn't expose your identity like this for nothing." Griffin said. "Just… Please, aim right."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about that." Ruby stood up in front of him. "I got it." She raised the gun up to his neck, finding the right vein and pressed the nozzle on it. The touch made him shiver and the flames sparked around his body. "Okay… Countdown from three."

Breathing in sharply, he counted. "Three-"

PIERCE

"OW!" Griffin shouted when he felt the injection gun pierce into his neck, the liquid shooting into his system.

"Yeah, I'm no patient gal." Ruby quipped.

She stepped back and, to her surprise, the orange symbiote mass around her friend's body retracted back into his body. Starting the day as a giant flame-wielding demon, Griffin fell to his hands and knees as a human again.

With a laugh and a smile, he looked down at his own body and saw that it really was his. He was wearing his open green shirt over his black T-shirt and his legs covered in blue jeans. "I'm… I'm me again!" Griffin laughed into an exclamation. He tried to stand up, but immediately backed down. "Wow!"

"Easy! Easy!" Ruby helped him up, moving a piece of asphalt up and out of the ground for him to sit on. "Sit your ass down."

Griffin did that and he sighed. "Yeah. So… This is…" He gestured to the asphalt she pushed out of the ground.

"First… Let's get the gnarly out of the way." With a curl of her fingers, Ruby moved the object she lowered before closer to her.

"What's that?" Griffin asked as she pulled out…

A cooler?

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Ruby found out who Phage was before the rest of us?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, that's the story." The AI answered.

"Friday, give us all the details." Seth demanded. "How did Ruby come to the conclusion?"

The AI took control of the monitors, bringing up reports of different police districts. "These are the reports that CCPD has on Henry Declan Burke. Like we deduced a while back, he's got some rap sheet."

"No kidding, but how was this enough for Ruby to deduce Phage's identity?" Caitlin asked.

"Ruby researched the different locations and found the one commonality between them, and it involved Eliza Harmon's latest victim…"

"Griffin." Barry realized. "Griffin is Phage."

"Yeah." The AI stated.

"Of course." Realization dawned on the elemental. "Griffin was Eliza's last victim, and Ruby told us that Mrs. Chang's Boutique was frequented by lots of students from her school, only reasonably to think that he'd go there as well."

"But that doesn't explain why he would level his own home then?" Wally added.

"I believe I have the answer to that query." Julian announces from the main console. "I looked into Griffin Grey's medical history some time ago, and it appears he's been diagnosed with dissociative repression."

"Dissoci- What?" Joe drew a blank.

Seth pitched in. "Dissociative repression, a psychological defense mechanism. In response to traumatic memories and experiences, the mind unconsciously pushes them out of the human's awareness to avoid the emotional pain or distress. It's where the mind essentially "forgets" traumatic events in order to protect themselves from the full impact of the trauma. It's treatable, sure, but can have short-term and long-term effects on the person if not handled."

"You seem to know a lot about this psychological condition, Seth?" Julian noted with a surprised look.

"I should, I have it myself." Seth shocked the others with his casual statement. "Albert, what else? You think this is the reason behind the other places being attacked."

"It's a pattern common to young men and women, even wounded and scared animals." Julian started. "When in terror of either their situation or other elements, they retreat to areas and places where they are at most calm. It's a common defense trait when in the face of danger, like how children would rush to their parents' side when they are in fear."

"Like when they're scared of the dark at night." Cisco got it.

"But when did he do this?" Evelyn asked, still confused about the conversation.

Piecing together what the others said, Iris stated. "You mean how he went to Mrs. Chang's place first, then his home and his girlfriend's place? He went to the places he considered comfortable, places where he'd feel and be safe again."

"His home, his girlfriend's home and a boutique where he could buy comfort food." Caitlin noted.

Harrison-19 then reminded his teammates. "But why would that explain the attacks he commenced on the three places, the store, his home and his girl's place?"

"Third place was because of me and Ruby agitated him into a fight." Frankie stated.

"And the first place was because he was trying to search for something specific, which is why the shelves were torn to shreds. His huge form in a small store like that, spells "bull in China shop" outright." Seth stated.

"But what about the second place?" Wally asked. "He seriously attacked his own home?"

"I believe I have a theory as to why that was the case." Julian got the team's attention. "With the fact that his attack only targeted the section of his home, the one where his parents' bedroom is located, I think only one conclusion can be found there."

Everyone on the team had the same thoughts as the metahuman expert possesses, but they didn't want to hear it… Nor did anyone wanna accept it.

But Seth knew it had to be said. "Henry Burke did something to his family, and it hurt both Mary and Griffin. Joe and I got Mary's confirmation, we know it happened."

"Precisely, but what he did, I don't have the foggiest idea." Julian nodded his head. "With his rap sheet, it's not farfetched to imagine him doing something to either of them, horrific as it is."

"He hurt them both… That's all we need to know." Seth stated.

"Okay, then what will happen if he can't go to the places he feels most at home?" Joe questioned the team of scientists.

"He will confront his trauma, the source of it." Seth announces.

X

With a pained expression on his face, Griffin somehow managed to chug down the rest of his water bottle. All while Ruby watched as every drop of water left the bottle and went down his throat. Once empty he removed the now-empty bottle from his mouth with a painful groan.

"I can't believe this. For the past thirty minutes I've drunk more water than I have my entire life. And it's still really, really… Disgusting." Griffin dropped the bottle to the ground, joining the seven other water bottles he's already emptied.

"Quit complaining and soldier on, unless you seriously want your organs and the rest of your body to stop functioning from overheating." Ruby told him, handing him another bottle of cold water from the cooler she brought with her. "Here, another one."

"How much do I have to drink exactly?" Griffin accepted the bottle.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Enough so you don't burn like you've been in a furnace, dumbass." As he uncapped the bottle, she pulled out the injection gun again and checked the contents of the vial in the barrel. "Think we got two more shots. Give me your neck again, Griff."

"Why exactly didn't you just give me the whole thing in one shot instead of giving it intervals?" Griffin asked while he showed his friend his neck again.

"Okay, I didn't say anything about it before, but I took this without my parents knowing, and they only made one vial of this. Figured a little at times would go a long way with this one." Ruby pressed the gun to his neck again.

Griffin paled. "Wait, so you're saying this is untested?"

"Pretty much." Ruby pulled the trigger, injecting another dose of the serum into Griffin's system.

"Argh!" He groaned in pain from the second shot. "That's not nice." He rubbed his neck.

Ruby lowered the gun and asked him. "Griffin, this is gonna be hard to ask and answer as well… But what happened exactly?"

Gulping down a mouthful of water, Griffin answered. "I… I really don't know how to answer that." He knew what she was asking about and he didn't know what to say other than explain as best as he could. "I was at school, then suddenly everything got cold and I heard the other students screaming and running in a panic. Then I see that ice guy Lasher freezes everything and then he grabs me. I was inside of an ice-cocoon for hours. Then when he finally lets me out, I'm on the ground in front of Eliza Harmon from Mercury Labs."

"How'd you know she was from Mercury?" That piece of information hadn't reached every mind in the city yet, only the police force knows about it and some others that are part of the team. To the rest of the city, they think it was the first place that Scream attacked.

"I handed in an internship application a while back at Mercury, she was the one who interviewed me when I had my meeting." Griffin replied. "She seemed a bit surprised to see me, then she looked like she wasn't all there and just said she was expecting great things from me."

"That didn't raise any red flags?" Ruby raised an eyebrow, wondering how dense her friend could be.

"Like you haven't met an eccentric woman before?" He was referring to her sisters.

"Oh yeah, my aunt's a bit of a crazy person. You should see the amount of blood that gets spilled when she and my Dad duke it." Ruby casually stated.

Griffin widened his eyes. "Think I should've just said she's the eccentric one, but I think everyone in her family is eccentric." He thinks to himself.

"What happened next?" Ruby asked.

"Honestly after that, it's a bit of a blur." Griffin started. "I remember the glass shattering, everything turned orange. And I… Get flashes." His right hand shook the water bottle, he tried to stop it with his left hand wrapping around his wrist. "Memories flashing… Me tearing down Mrs. Chang's store."

"Getting those disgusting licorice pipes you always shove down your throat." Ruby knew.

"Attacked my Mom." Griffin gulped.

"An accident from your attack on the section of your home where you're the master bedroom is." Ruby told him in comfort.

"I… Hurt Patience." He tightened his hold on the bottle, his newly-acquired superstrength accidently showing itself when he burst the bottle into pieces with a tight grip. Water splashed over his legs.

Ruby saw smoke emitting from his shoulders. "Another accident, your attack was aimed at me and my teammates. Debris accidently hit her."

"That's not any better!" Griffin shouted. "I hurt my mother, my girlfriend! I incinerated a police station and sent that bastard uncle of mine to the hospital! I… Almost… No, I still want to turn that trailer there to a pile of ashes right here and now! And watch that abusing bastard who hurt my Mom and me to burn his way to hell!" He shouted, his clothes shifting and morphing into orange symbiote mass in response to his growing anger.

"Griffin!" Ruby stood up in front of her friend, getting his attention. She watched to her dismay as flames sparked around his shoulders. "Your powers, your symbiote act in response to your emotions. If you don't have a calm mind and control of your emotions, you will go berserk again and your powers will magnify those feelings."

"Magnify…" Griffin scoffed at those words, the flames and smoke from his body dissipating slowly. "When I got this awful power, those awful memories I had from a child, ones I had repressed for so, so long… They just came back again like a volcano erupting inside of me. I don't know why, but it felt like the hate and anger I have with those memories just came back a thousand-fold. Like…"

"Like your desire for vengeance dictated your actions as Phage." Ruby finished his sentence.

"I tried…. I tried so hard to fight back. I tried to go to places in my mind where I'd feel safe again, the store, my home and Patience's home." He said. "I went there as Phage, but when I destroyed them… I just… I just had those awful memories left."

"Memories how that piece of trash that's my father hit me and my mother when I was just a kid… Memories of how that filthy scumbag would just sit and watch TV while my mother had a stinging cheek and I was crying… Memories of how my uncle would turn a blind eye to what happened in our house, dishonoring his oath as an officer and just spitting on his own badge without a damn care…"

"I tried to repress those memories, those feelings for so long. I tried everything… And I couldn't… Cause they were still there." He says with tears stinging his eyes.

"Trauma has that kind of effect on us…" Ruby began. "Sometimes it's the biggest and greatest adversary we as humans will ever come face to face. It's the worst kind of opponent we're gonna face, cause it's not one we can just punch… Not one we can defeat with our bare hands. It's even hard to put a face to it."

"Trauma… No matter how much we repress it… It's the ghost that's gonna haunt us for a long time, if not forever." Ruby says.

"Talking from experience?" Griffin questioned.

"… Before I met Miles… Before I met my Dad and came to this world… I had another boyfriend…. Werner. He helped me achieve my goals, but… I couldn't control what had happened to me…" This time she clenched her hands as she relived the memory.

"I reached out to touch him… And I… I killed him." Ruby clutched her own hands, grabbing them tightly as she thought about the memory that haunted her dreams many times when she was Zoom's prisoner on Earth-2.

"I… I didn't know." Griffin was shocked and in disbelief. He didn't know that Ruby carried that around. He was dealing with traumatizing memories of what that piece of shit man he was forced to call his father had done to him and his mother, meanwhile Ruby herself was dealing with the death of someone she actually cared about. Someone who she killed by accident.

"I'm really sorry, Ruby."

"Thanks. But it's my burden to bear." Ruby says. "That's the reason I became a hero, the only way I can make up for what I did to Werner. I made that mistake and I can only live with it now."

"It was an accident, Ruby. You couldn't control your powers." Griffin tells her.

"Just like you." Ruby looked at him. "You can't blame yourself for what happened here, cause this was out of your hands the moment you got kidnapped. Everything that happened these last few days, it's because of Eliza Harmon."

"You really think so?" Griffin questioned.

"I know so, yeah." Ruby handed him a new bottle.

This one he accepted and looked at it with an intense thoughtful look. "Wait, if you're Genysis, who's Magenta and Eclipse then?" Then it dawned on Griffin, making him break out into a wide smile. "Evelyn and Frankie, right?"

"Well, Evie's Eclipse and Frankie's Magenta." Ruby clarifies.

"You and your sisters are Venom's partners… That's so cool!" Griffin took a swig of his bottle. "Venom's like the coolest hero, and you work with him."

"He's really… Dope." Ruby said sheepishly.

"Seriously? Just "Dope?"" Griffin turned to her with disbelief. "He's like the greatest hero here!"

"Wow, here I thought my boyfriend was the fanboy." Ruby chuckled.

Griffin snapped in her direction. "Hold on, if Magenta and Eclipse are your sisters… Does that mean your Dad is Venom?"

"Yes." Ruby casually said.

Her tone and simple words shook the young man. "Why are you so carefree with giving away your identities like this? Even your family's?"

"Cause you need people who can trust you." Ruby stated. "And my Dad, he's the leading expert on symbiotes and elemental powers in this entire world. No one else knows how to help you. I trust you with their identities cause I want you to trust and believe in me when I say… We can help you."

"… Okay." Griffin nods, finishing his bottle of water. "Where do we go from here?"

"S.T.A.R. Labs." Ruby declares. "That's where our team is."

"Wasn't that declared a class 4 hazardous location?" Griffin questioned.

"Yeah, so is our school cafeteria, but we still eat there don't we?" Ruby countered.

"Your jokes are as awful as always." Griffin quipped.

"Whatever." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's-"

"Ruby, wait."

A familiar voice spoke up from behind, making the two snap their heads around and looking in the direction of where it came from. Their heads turned to the other end of the alleyway they're in, looking at the darkness that covered it up.

From the shadows, came out a familiar young woman, bearing white skin and blue eyes and long brown hair. Her hands attired with fingerless gloves and wearing a red zipped leather jacket and dark blue jeans over her legs. A strand of her hair was covering part of her face. "I'll take him there, it's easier for me with my powers." Evelyn told her sister.

Ruby narrowed her eyes…

"Evelyn! Oh great, I get to teleport like you do, Evie." Griffin said.

"No one teleports like me." Evelyn smiled.

But then Ruby surprised them both when she swung her hand, catapulting a gravity blast towards her…

…Sister…

Out of pure instinct Evelyn jumped off the ground and onto the sidewall. The entire alleyway shook from the gravity attack, cracking the ground and the walls. Once it stopped, Evelyn snapped her eyes to the gravity manipulator.

"What the fuck, Ruby? You attacking your own sister here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I would…" Ruby shot the girl a glare. "If you were actually my sister."

"Wait, what?" Griffin asked.

"What do you mean? It's me, Ruby. Your sister." Evelyn told her.

"Cut the crap!" Ruby snapped at her. "You're not my sister. But I've heard of you. Born in Starling City… Not like my sister… But you have the same face. You're her… Evelyn Sharp, my sister's doppelganger."

"Doppelganger…?" Griffin muttered.

A smirk formed on Evelyn's face. "What gave me away?"

"First of all, my sister's a klepto and loves to throw a rude joke in my face when the opportunity shows itself. But she's no wimp. From that little attack, my sister wouldn't run or hide, she would've stood her ground and taken it. But you're not her."

"Second of all, something about your symbiote feels off. Same feeling I've been getting from Lasher, Riot and Griffin's Phage symbiote. It's like your symbiote isn't the same as ours, like it's not real. Honestly, it makes my skin crawl."

"Third of all, my sister says "Shadowport," not teleport. And she doesn't have a mole on her face. Not to mention, she's a redhead."

Ruby finalized her list.

Evelyn's smirk fell. "Still, it's no small feat to attack someone with the same face as your family. But you made it look so easy. Are you really that cold-hearted?"

"Nah, I just know my sister can take a beating like a warrior. Unlike you. Snipers like you are cowards at heart, right?" She counters, provoking her sister's Earth-1 doppelganger. "Griffin, stay behind me."

"Big words…" Evelyn's form began to be enveloped by bluish mass coming out of her flesh. Her face was engulfed by the mass. "Think you can back it up, Genysis?"

To her surprise, Ruby shook her head. "Nah, not my job. It's hers."

Before Agony could voice her question, a smog of shadows appeared from above her and she was knocked down to the ground. Four serpentine wings wrapped around her limbs and pinned her to the ground. "She's right, you're mine!" Eclipse shouted.

"God, you guys took your time." Ruby quipped.

"Can it!" Evelyn said.

"Go on, deal with your stunt double. I'll take care of Griffin." Ruby told her sister.

"Got it!" Evelyn nodded and shadows enveloped them both. "You're coming with me… Evelyn!"

"Yo-"

Agony's words were cut short when Evelyn shadowported them both away.

"Be careful, sis." Ruby muttered her concern for her sister.

"Your entire family's full of badasses, you know." Griffin chuckled.

Turning around to face him with a smile, Ruby stated. "What else did you expect from the Snow-Fury family?"

"Good, you're here." Griffin and Ruby looked up and saw Venom falling down from the rooftop and landing in front of them. "Glad you're both okay."

"You really took your time, Dad." Ruby stated with crossed arms, feigning annoyance.

Landing on the wall beside them, Frankie reminded her. "You could have shared with the rest of the class instead of running off on your own, sis."

"Not my fault you wanted to twiddle on your thumbs, sis." Ruby countered.

"This is officially the best day of my life!" Griffin squealed happily.

"Wasn't this the worst day of his life so far?" Reap asked her host.

"He changed his opinion pretty quick when he saw Dad." Ruby noted, watching as her friend was drooling over her father.

"Nice to officially meet you, Griffin. Don't worry. We're gonna get you out of here, Griffin." Seth tells the young boy.

"Thanks." He smiled widely. But then his smile disappeared and the boy fell to his knees, grasping his head. He screamed in pain, howling so loud that the symbiote-bearers around him stepped back after flinching from shock.

"Griffin?!" Ruby dropped down to his side.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Seth grabbed his shoulder. "What happened?"

"It's… That awful feeling again…" Griffin panted, saliva dripping out of his open mouth and his eyes tearing up. His clothes began to morph and change colors into an ominous orange color, smoke emitting from his entire body. "I'm… Not me again!"

Abruptly he slammed his head down on the asphalt, causing it to crack. Lifting his head up again, he showed that there wasn't a single scratch or bruise on his forehead. "Fight it, Griffin! Don't let Phage take control!" Seth shook the kid, getting him to face him.

"Dad…" Ruby felt a lightning-like pain strike her brain once again, making her grab her head tightly. "I don't think he's in control right now." She gulps out the words.

"What-!"

Venom's words were cut short when Griffin's arm was hurled forward, having formed into a massive orange arm, slamming into his stomach and pushing him back and out of the alleyway. "Sorry….!" Griffin gritted his teeth in pain.

Landing on his feet, his crystal sword digging into the asphalt like an anchor, he looked back up to see that the young boy was crying in pain. But his teary eyes soon disappeared in the growing immense symbiotic mass that enveloped his entire body quickly.

Ruby and Frankie jumped out of the alleyway, both standing beside their parent. Ruby had enveloped her body in symbiote mass as well, standing with her family as Genysis.

Griffin Grey disappeared, drowning and possessed by the forces of Phage, the same flame-user who snarled at them with animosity and hate. He panted, breathing out smoke as flames erupted inside of his mouth. "…In… Incinerate… Father!"

"He wants to kill his old man?" Ruby was shocked, though she had talked with Griffin before he was taken over, it was still shocking to hear that he wanted to turn his own father to ashes. "Griffin… You've already hurt people, one that turned back on you and your family's tears, the second one provided a place where you can eat your favorite snacks… The other you love… I'm not letting you cross that line. No matter what."

"What kind of freak show is this?"

The four symbiote-bearers turned their heads, facing the trailer and saw Henry Declan Burke standing in front of it, wielding a shotgun that's aimed at the four of them.

Cocking his gun, he said. "My home ain't any place for the circus, so stay the hell away."

Another stabbing sensation hit Ruby's mind. "Damn it again!"

"What is it?" Frankie asked.

Genysis didn't answer, instead she snapped her head towards Henry when she saw a figure drop down behind him, soundlessly standing up behind him. "Look-"

"Haven't you heard?" Henry froze when hearing the voice behind. "You can't scare freaks away, Burke."

Rajeet Kumar put a hand on his right shoulder, releasing a quick and violent wave of frost that encased his entire arm and his shotgun, freezing them together. "W-What the fuck!" Henry said, shivering from the absolute cold he's feeling.

The ice from his shoulder didn't stop there, it completely covered up the entire right side of his body, freezing him to the ground. "T… H… E…"

Henry struggled to speak, half of his face frozen solid and covered with ice, making it impossible to say a single coherent word. "What's the word the cops usually say… Oh yeah. "Freeze.""

"Got a better one than that!"

Hearing another familiar voice speak out loud, the four symbiote-users looked up to the sky and saw a hulking figure that dropped down like a bomb, delivering an adamantium fist straight into the frozen side of Henry's face. The force of the attack pushed Henry down with the power of a meteor, easily sending his human body into the asphalt. His attack caused a gust that pushed the trailer on its back and even cracked the ground.

An object flew out from where the gust came from, landing in front of their feet and shattering into pieces.

It was difficult to see at first, but the heroes instantly saw that it was the frozen shotgun that was in Henry's hand… Now broken in pieces…

And Henry's frozen hand… Still clutched around the trigger…

"Phew, that was fun." Joey Rose got back up on his feet, his right adamantium arm returning to normal. "First time I left a guy in pieces like that. Sets the mood."

"Just had to take my kill. Well, won't go into the numbers anyway." Rajeet quipped. "Oh yeah, what was that better word you got for this guy?"

"Crumble." Joey smirked.

"That sucks." Rajeet voiced his opinion. He turned his eyes to the heroes who gave them a sneer, and at Phage who gave a murderous growl. "What's wrong, Griffy? Figured we'd come and help kill dear old Daddy."

"Granted, we just took the kill." Joey quipped.

"Why… Why you kill… HIM?!" Phage expelled his words, smoke erupting out of his maw in plumes.

Joey cracked his fists. "Consider it payback for wiping the floor with us before, Griffy."

"And if you want to take another crack at us, take a number…" Rajeet looked at the raging violet eyes of Magenta. "I got bigger fish to fry."

"Rajeet…" Magenta snarled.

"Magenta, you take care of Kumar." Venom instructed his daughter, knowing full well that with her current skills and powers no ice would stand against her and her Scrap Fist. "Genysis, you take on Rose. Leave Phage to us."

"Sorry, dear brother, but that can't happen."

Hearing that voice again after so long sent a chill down the spines of the symbiote-users, the three of them snapping their heads around to see a familiar figure step onto the edge of a rooftop building.

Standing under the light of the moon in the darkened skies is a woman, attired in a yellow mass that covered her entire body. Massively long red hair that was the same length as her body reached the ground, the deep black streaks in the hair strands and white long jagged white veins on her skin illuminated by the moonlight. She flexed her white fangs and her white claws.

Pointing her white eyes at her brother, Scream said. "Sorry, brother, but we require your attendance."

"Scream…" Venom snarled. "Finally showed your face, again Sister."

"Can't let the others have the fun." Scream smirked, showing all of its shark-like teeth.

"Dad." Genysis got Seth's attention. "Look at her left arm."

Obliging to his child's words, the elemental narrows his eyes on her arm. He locked eyes on a strange device with a screen on it, appearing to be like a gauntlet and showing four beeping lights on the visor.

Venom pointed a finger at the gauntlet. "What's that?"

"What? This little thing?" Scream grazes the screen with a finger. "Call it… An accessory. Gotta look pretty."

"Try to do that when you're down one arm." Seth snarled. "Ruby, take Phage. Get him away from this area. Magenta, you stay with us here and we deal with the other three."

"Two against three? Good odds." Frankie smiles.

"Okay, good luck!" Ruby looked in Phage's direction, running towards him and slammed her fist into his stomach. "Sorry Griff, it's gonna be a little rough." Concentrating gravity into her hand, she released a wave of it that pushed the flame-user back and out into the street on the other side.

"Two against three?" Rajeet cracked his fists. "Pretty confident, aren't we Venom?"

"Quit yammering. Let's get to it-"

"How about we better our odds then?" A certain Scarlet Speedster's voice said over the comms.

"What?" Frankie questioned.

WHOOSH

A pair of yellow blurs appeared before them, stopping and revealing both Flash and Kid Flash.

"Hope you weren't waiting." Kid Flash smirked.

Magenta rolled her eyes. "We weren't. Barely thought of you two."

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"And enters the fray… Are the two speedsters of Central City!" Cisco announces, drumming on the console. "Forget two on three, we got four on three now, baby!"

"Agreed, we now have the numbers advantage." Julian agreed.

H.R. smiled. "This is what we need to take down these dangerous foes."

Caitlin bit her lip. "I wouldn't be so sure about that…"

Joe looked down at her. "What do you mean?"

As if on cue, the speakers turned on and the mutant's voice stated. "Okay, why exactly did you guys send the two speedsters to us?"

"Mom, please tell us this wasn't your idea." Magenta asked.

"It wasn't sweetie." She told her child, who sighed in relief.

Cisco looked confused. "What's their problem?"

Caitlin shook her head with a smile. "Knowing Seth, he'd probably be saying something like…"

X

"Why are we getting speed types when we seriously need more power types against these?" Venom slapped himself in the face.

Wally gestured around with open arms. "Oh, come on, man. You know we got this. We got the power."

"This is gonna be great." Magenta said sarcastically.

"Cute." Scream landed on the ground in front of them. "Riot, take the cosplayers. Kill them, beat them or break them, whatever you decide. They're of no relevance. Venom's mine."

Joey smirked; his form enveloped by the symbiote mass from within his body. "Well, pest control…" His face gets enveloped. "Finally seems like fun."

Rajeet shot a glare at the ferrokinetic, his form enveloped by the symbiote from within his body. "Why take down the flies…" His face gets enveloped as well. "When you can take down the rhinoceros."

Lasher and Riot stood in front of Flash and Kid Flash, and Magenta. Behind them, Scream and Venom stared off, one sharpening her claws and the other tightening his hold on his crystal sword.

Barry told Kid Flash. "Let's take this elsewhere-"

"No, stay here." Seth instructed the speedsters. "We can minimize the damage if we stay put in one location, and Magenta and us can help you two out if you're struggling with Riot."

Wally faced him. "What, you think we can't take down these guys?"

"Overconfidence is gonna dig your grave if you keep talking like that." Venom told him. "Stay put, fight together." He instructed.

With a nod, Barry told the yellow speedster to follow the elemental's commands. They'd have a battle themselves… And they weren't the only ones to deal with the enemies…

Other battles were taking place in other places.

X

A smog of shadows exploded over the two opposite placed water towers. From either side of the smog came out a symbiote-bearer…

One is an archer, using the powers of light and darkness that she got on another Earth.

The other is one that has cast away her bow and arrows, settling for the new powers of the water element that came with her new symbiote which she got from Eliza Harmon.

The two, bearing the same name and face, but are completely different from one another, look at each other intensely.

Eclipse was the first one to unmask herself, shooting a glare at the other Evelyn from this Earth with her own two eyes.

Agony removed her mask next, returning a vengeful glare at the other Evelyn from Earth-2 with her own eyes.

"So… You're really her… My doppelganger?" Evelyn Fury asked her.

"You're not surprised? How'd you figure it out?" Evelyn Sharp asked.

The metahuman clenched her fists. "When we fought before… My symbiote never fought back against me like that before. That was the first time and I didn't understand it. But then my Dad told me something…" She saw her doppelganger clench her fists too. "Same thing happened to him where he comes from, not against a double like you and me. His moment when he fought against the original Venom, cause there was a sort of resonance between the symbiotes, like they couldn't figure out who to listen to. It's the same case with us, the difference is that this time there wasn't a resonance between identical symbiotes…"

The human scoffed. "This time was between identical hosts…"

"Yeah… Gotta admit I was shocked and had my doubts whether it was true or not…" Evelyn Fury admitted. "But then we made a call to your former teammates in Star City, they said you've gone to the dark side and then you disappeared."

"Got a little visit from my new boss… She told me about you." Evelyn Sharpe stated. "You… You're me and you just got everything you wanted."

"What?" Evelyn Fury blinked her surprise and confusion.

Evelyn Sharpe looked back up with angry eyes. "I lost everything that was important to me… I lost my parents… I have nothing left. Then I hear about you! Someone who's exactly like me! Someone with my own face! Someone… Who's actually happy! While I'm in agony all the time! It makes me so mad and I just wanna… Kill you-"

"Cut the crap!" Evelyn surprised the Earth-1 native when she appeared in front of her with shadowporting and delivered a straight jab into her face. Darkness and light released from her hand in an explosive wave, hurling the water-user away off the water tower and onto a nearby rooftop.

The force of the attack pushed Evelyn Sharpe across the rooftop pavement, her body forcing a trail through the hard surface. She stopped when her back hit the bricked rooftop doorway, coughing up bile upon impact.

She looked back up and saw that her doppelganger from Earth was enshrouded in an aura of light and darkness, the symbols on her face shining like magma. A look of pure anger had taken residence on her face.

"You're… You're seriously pissed off because I'm you, but living a life where I'm not a complete scumbag like you. Cut the fucking crap, Evelyn!" Evelyn Fury snapped.

"You damn-" The human was cut off.

"What kind of bullshit did you just spout?" The metahuman shouted. "You had a bad life and you took it out on me…. Use it as an excuse to drag an honest-to-Earth good guy like Griffin into this mess, where he's turned into something he doesn't want to be. I've heard plenty of crap reasons, but that's literally the biggest one I've heard so far."

"Screw you!" Evelyn Sharp enveloped her face in symbiote mass and shot towards the metahuman like a speeding bullet.

But to her surprise, Agony's arms were ensnared by the metahuman's serpentine wings when she was within reach. "Also, for your record…. I lost my parents too!"

The memory of her losing her birth parents at the hands of Zoom returned to her mind…

"What?" Agony questioned.

Evelyn enveloped her face in symbiote mass again and delivered a punch into her evil doppelganger's face, pushing her back a few feet. "Right in front of my eyes, I lost my birth parents to the biggest psychopath in the history of Earth-2. Then I got kidnapped by that monster while I was trying to live on the run. I was literally in hell for months!"

The months where she lived as Zoom's prisoner flooded back to her eyes…

She shadowported and appeared in front of her doppelganger, delivering a kick into her stomach and kicking her up into the air. Eclipse swung her arm back and formed a bow in her hand while forming arrows in her other one.

From the air the water-user lashed out both arms and formed them into rifle-like weapons. Pipes formed on her back and she released a number of water bullets at her doppelganger.

But having imbued her arrows with both darkness and light, Eclipse intercepted the water shots with her arrows which she shot the same instant that her doppelganger released her attack. Bright explosions erupted over their heads, splashing and raining water over the metahuman.

While water continued to cascade over her form, Evelyn said. "You and I have both been through hell… And sure, I may be a thief with no impulse control, but I sure as hell ain't some scumbag like you who hurts others for such stupid reasons. You and I aren't the same… We're different people."

Agony landed on the ground, holding her stomach in pain.

"You said before you're agony incarnate… Right?" The four wings on Evelyn's back rose up, pointing at the villain and the tips tore open to reveal hungry and snarling mouths. "Well… I'm the Eclipse of this city… Light and darkness are my allies, and I will use them to stop you here and now!" She said as she took aim with her arrows.

"You… I hate you even more!" Agony snarled. "I wanna kill you and destroy you!"

"Try it!" The metahuman countered.

X

ROAR

A demonic roar echoed through the streets of Central City when Phage released another powerful flame blast at the gravity manipulator.

But just like the previous ones, Genysis extinguished them with a number of gravity blasts. "Come on Griffin! Don't tell me I seriously have to talk my way through that skull of yours again?!"

Not listening to a single word of hers, Phage swung his flaming arm like a mallet for her. Genysis leapt backwards to avoid it, the fist continued on its path and embedded into the ground. Using that to her advantage, Ruby imbued herself with gravity and charged towards the fire-user.

Phage looked up, only to see the gravity manipulator right in front of him.

"I'll knock you around till you stop being like this and go back to that damn do-gooder you are, Griffin!" Ruby thrust out both hands, releasing gravity blasts into his face. The two blasts pushed Phage backwards and sent him flying across the asphalt.

Flexing her fingers, Genysis gathered gravity around her entire body. The very asphalt around her feet rose up, tearing into pieces and scattering in all directions. Locking eyes onto the flame-user's form, the gravity manipulator flung her both arms in his direction with a snarl, catapulting a massive concentrated gravity wave at him. Phage barely got a chance to look up when the destructive gravitational force hit him, hurling him into the air.

The force that shot him into the air made the flame-user roar in pain and annoyance. Stretching out an arm to the nearest building surprise, using his claws as an anchor, Phage yanked himself to the side of it and directed a snarl at Genysis.

Unhinging his jaw like a serpent, he opened his mouth and took a deep breath, inhaling a large amount of air that was far beyond the capabilities of any human. As more and more air entered his gaping maw, sparks of red flames began to ignite in the back of his throat.

"Oh crap, he's gonna do that flamestorm thing again!" Reap realized, mentally shivering in her host's mind.

Using her "other's" senses, she felt and saw that while civilians were running away she could see that there are still some around and taking in the battle between symbiote-bearers. "That level of attack could turn every single one of them to ash."

"Not to mention, your Dad said if he keeps firing off those recklessly…"

Ruby looked up at him. "Griffin's gonna die."

She wouldn't let that happen.

She wouldn't let a friend die…

Not while she was there!

Releasing gravity forces from her entire body, she launched herself like a cannonball. She traveled through the air at tremendous speed, coming closer to Phage in a matter of seconds. Taking advantage of his shock, Genysis swung her right leg and delivered a heavy kick to his face.

The strike to his head caused his focus to dissipate and the flames he accumulated in his maw were extinguished. "Patience wouldn't want you to destroy anything, Griffin. She knows that's not you!"

He staggered back at the mention of his girlfriend's name. "Pa-Pa-Patience!" He forced the word out, struggling to form that single meaningful name of someone he cares and loves. Griffin grabbed his head with both hands, his flaming claws tearing into the symbiotic flesh. "I hurt her!"

"You didn't hurt her, Griffin! That was an accident!" Ruby delivered an uppercut, striking his chin and pushed it upwards. "Stop making me repeat everything I've already said, you damn idiot! Come on, Griffin! Get out!" Using his torso as a springboard, she slammed her knee into his jawline and punched his teeth.

"R-Ruby…" He groaned out the walls, falling to a knee on the side of the building.

Ruby retook a position on the side of the building, standing in front of her downed friend. "Griffin, Patience is okay. She's in the best possible hands there are. But she'll feel awful if you are still stuck in misery while looking like this. Come on, take control."

"N- Not me!" He groaned, continuing to dig his claws into the flesh on his face. "Can't get control…"

"Then take it!" Ruby delivered a gravity-empowered strike to his face with her right fist. "Take control, Griffin!" Another fist slammed into his face. "You stopped yourself from hurting your mother, your girlfriend and no matter how much you wanted to tear that piece of crap of your father to shreds, but you didn't!"

Jumping back from him, Ruby swung her fist, releasing another condensed gravity blast that pushed Griffin off the building and down to the streets. He landed on his back and the gravity manipulator followed, jumping off the establishment.

Phage didn't get a chance to move when Genysis landed on his torso. The moment her body touched his, he was immediately assaulted by another powerful gravity force on every inch of his body. She increased the force, the asphalt under the flame-user's body cracking from the overwhelming gravitational power. Now he couldn't even move a single joint under the dangerous pressure.

"You didn't attack that bastard… You didn't take that step." Ruby said. "You didn't turn into a monster. Come on! Fight back! Take control!" She punched his chest, applying much more gravitational force on him.

"Not… Me… In CONTROL!" He shouted, expelling smog from his mouth and into her face.

But the tongue around her neck tightly wrapped around her mouth and nose, keeping herself from inhaling it. "Heard you the first time, I know it's not you in control and it's not the symbiote either… But it's your thoughts, your repressed feelings and memories that drove you to attack those places. You sought out those places, in the back of your mind… That's what dictates this symbiote's actions."

"… I... Want… Wanted to go to them?" Griffin asked.

"You wanted to feel safe again, when that happened you accidently destroyed them cause of your different physique and your new powers. You attacked them cause there was a bad, horrible memory that came from it. Even within good places, there's still a chance for a bad memory to be born from them. Overcome them, Griffin. Let go of them and finally… Take control!"

Ruby didn't know what else to do. If she uses more and more of her powers on him, she might end up hurting him or worse. She managed to get through to him once with her words alone, she had to believe and hope she could do so again.

Words can at times reach deeper into the human body than any attacks.

And she was hoping that her words had that effect on him again. If not… She didn't know if what else or who else could reach Griffin Grey…

X

Endless shots of condensed water continued to fly over the heads of the numerous civilians on the streets…

Only to meet an opposing endless storm of arrows imbued light and darkness…

The two sides met in violent explosions, causing flashbang-like explosions above the citizens' skies and water rained down on them.

But it wasn't just arrows and water bullets that were used in this grueling battle between two who wear the same face.

Having been pushed back by the latest explosion, Agony lashed her arms out to the sides and morphed her rifles into curved scythe-like blades. "Damn bastard!"

Shadows erupted in front of her, and from within that plume of darkness, Eclipse came out like a missile wielding a massive broadsword enwrapped in both light and darkness.

Acting quickly Agony crossed her curved blades over her head and blocked the massive sword swing from her doppelganger. "You run out of water shots and switched to blades? Obvious tactic."

"Like you're one to talk." Agony pushed back against the broadsword, but struggled in this clash of powers. Uncrossing her blades, she managed to push the metahuman away from her and she could put distance between them with a jump backwards. "Didn't think she'd be this good with blades too…"

Preoccupied by her own thoughts, she failed to notice that Eclipse had disappeared in a smog of shadows and appeared over her head. The metahuman swung her sword downwards in a devastating swing, but Agony avoided it with a backflip and jumped into the air.

But, having predicted it to happen, Eclipse's four wings pointed at her doppelganger and took aim. Two of them unleash beams of darkness and lights separately, the remaining ones fire off bullets of light and darkness.

With wide eyes and quick thinking, Agony thrust out her arms again. This time she morphed them into rifles again and released bullets of condensed water at the incoming barrage from her doppelganger.

When the water shots and the bullets of darkness and light collided, eruptions of water and light erupted all over them. But it was the immense and powerful energy beams from Eclipse's wings that easily evaporated her water bullets and hit her.

Agony groaned upon getting hit by the beams, which also shot her through the air and into the side of a building.

Shadowporting to that very same building, Eclipse stood on the side of it and looked down on Agony. "Give up and leave Griffin alone, he's a good guy. And drop whatever villain play you're doing, it's useless."

Pulling herself out of the wall, Agony snarled in anger at her doppelganger. "I won't sto-"

"Oh, just can it with that entire bullshit about wanting to kill me for having a good life!" Eclipse cut her short. "We're completely different people from the beginning, you damn moron! We're from different worlds, living different lives altogether. You and I may have shared the same name once, we may share the same face… But you and I… We're nothing alike!"

"Don't act like you've already won this fight!" Agony jumped forward with razor-sharp claws, each blade-like talon enwrapped by a rapidly swirling stream of water.

But her opponent's wings shot forward, wrapping around her forearms and her torso, lifting her up in the air. "I have won this fight; you haven't had this power long enough to get used to it. Not like me and my sisters. I've had mine for a long time now, I've fought dangerous villains dozens of times. You can't win this fight… Evelyn."

"You damn-"

"She's not wrong."

Thrown straight upwards to their level, a grenade came into their field of vision.

The moment they laid their eyes on it…

EXPLOSION

But a bright flash of light enveloped them both, causing both of their focus to dissipate.

Because of that, Eclipse's wings unwrapped from her doppelganger's form and covered her eyes. "Oh, come on, what now!"

When it finally faded away, the metahuman saw that she was completely alone and looked around in confusion when she saw that she was alone.

"Oh seriously!" But as she said that she realized why that voice sounded familiar… She had it before… From a certain mercenary…

X

Back at the house where once Declan Henry Burke lived…

A massive battle has taken over the area.

Venom and Scream, each clenched their fists erupting massive lightning through their hands, before they swung them. The two opposing elemental fists met in a violent clash, releasing shots of electricity everywhere around them.

Eliza's long symbiotic hair spiraled around them and went to strike Seth's head, but with his other hand he countered with a swing of his crystal sword and cut the hair strands to shreds.

With a groan from the pain, Eliza's control of her electricity fell and Seth pushed further with his own lightning fist and pushed her back against a wall. Before she could, he wrapped his hand around her torso and slammed her into the wall.

"Why did you bring that kid into this? Griffin's innocent! He did not deserve this fate!" Venom snarled in her face.

Scream smirked. "You're talking as if he's dead, dear brother! We've merely bestowed a gift upon the young boy, giving him the tools and the power to vanquish those that have wronged him. Don't we all want that?"

Turning his entire arm into adamantium, he tightened his hold on Scream's body. "He never asked for this! He's a child with blood on his hands!"

Scream smiled. "Much like yours from all those years ago, right? As Stryker's pet project?"

Seth's eyes widened with shock. "How do you know th-"

KICK

She cut him off with both legs kicking upwards into his chin. Scream spiraled up the wall till she reached the ledge which she stood up on. "Struck a nerve?"

Snapping his head upwards to face her, Seth's entire body enshrouded in lightning. "Whatever you know, and whatever you've done to Griffin… You'll regret it!" He jumped into the air and swung his fist towards her.

Seeing his head-honcho getting attacked, Rajeet pulled back a hand and formed an ice javelin. "Can't have you do that… Venom." He pulled his hand back, about to hurl it through the air.

But a colossal shadow covered him in darkness, making him look up. His eyes expanded to the sizes of planets when he saw a familiar-looking gigantic mechanical arm covering up the sky. Then a much familiar voice spoke up.

"Stay out of their fight, Lasher!"

Shouting out the words Magenta swung her humongous mechanical appendage downwards with a clenched fist.

Widening his eyes further, Lasher jumped away and out of the area of impact that the metal fist would hit. The massive weight and force of it easily cracked the asphalt, digging into the asphalt. It swung towards the ice-user.

Rajeet slammed the six flailing tendrils to the ground and launched himself off the asphalt before the arm could come closer to him. He looked to the one swinging it and saw Magenta glaring at him with anger in her eyes.

Purple lightning sparked over her other free arm. The huge mechanical appendage on her other arm split into dozens of pieces, each of them shooting towards her other free limb. The one single mechanical arm had now split into two huge mechanical arms that Magenta wields.

Lasher pulled back the javelin, hurling it towards the ferrokinetic the next moment. Pouring all of her might into her legs, the metahuman cracked the ground and jumped off of it and shot towards the ice-user like a rocket. When the ice weapon came within her reach, she swatted it away like one would a fly, shattering it into pieces.

Magenta's focus remained on the enemy symbiote-bearer and she clenched both of her mechanical arms, sparking with purple lightning and pulsating with purple veins. When coming much closer to the villain, she thrust one mechanical fist forward.

Seeing that there was no time at all to dodge it, Rajeet covered his entire body with ice to block the attack, forming a thick layer of ice to protect himself. But what surprised him next was Magenta's other arm that appeared next to him.

To his left and right is a massive metallic arm…

"Take this, you rotten bastard!" Frankie slammed both hands against Rajeet from both sides, crushing his icicle armor easily with her immense force from the dual strike. Lasher struggled against the attack as he felt his entire body getting squashed from both sides.

Feeling as though his entire skeleton was getting crushed, he spouted. "Damn brat!"

"Only one of us is gonna be damned, and it sure as hell ain't us!" Magenta shouted, curling her fingers around his thin physique. He groaned when feeling the metal tighten around him, coughing up blood under his mask.

Roaring her rage, Magenta lifted the ice-user high into the air before swinging her arms down. Lasher tried to pull out of the grip but his efforts were for naught as he quickly reached the ground and slammed into the concrete.

His screams of pain barely reached their ears, drowned out by the sound of asphalt tearing up and fissuring from Frankie's tremendously powerful attack. The purplish lightning continues to dance over her form as Magenta watches the area she attacked. "I ain't losing to anyone again…"

From where he stood, Riot was impressed by strength. "That little squirt knows how to set the right mood. I like it…" The adamantium-user turned his head to face the two panting speedsters. "Unlike you two."

Kid Flash boasted. "How about we get serious then? We could run circles around you faster than you could see us."

"But that's all you can do, isn't it, Kiddie Flash?" Joey smirked. "Speed is all you two have, which some like. But what my mood needs more than anything…" He flexed his adamantium muscles before digging the fingers of one hand into the ground. "Is absolute power!"

Pouring all of his strength into his arm, Riot pulled his hand up. With that motion, he flipped over a massive portion of the asphalt into the air over the speedsters' heads.

"Kid Flash, run!" Flash instructed his partner and the two ran in separate directions.

They had to avoid a number of falling pieces of concrete raining down, zigzagging to dodge them. But while they did dodge the falling pieces of rock, it was only Barry who zigzagged to avoid them. Wally, proud of his new ability, phased through the pieces that came onto his path.

Barry came to a halt, witnessing his protégé skillfully put his newfound ability to use. "Not bad, Wally."

But his thoughts of how proud he was for his student came to an end when he was suddenly lifted up from the ground by numerous adamantium tendrils. He turned his head as much as he could, coming face to face with Riot's enlarged adamantium fist.

The fist made contact, launching the speedster out of his tendrils and shooting through the air. The Flash grunted when he was hurled into an empty house, tearing down the fences and the windows.

"Looking anywhere else with an opponent in front of you? Ballsy." Riot reassimilated his other arm.

He pulled back his right arm and thrust it out towards the hero, traveling through the air at high speed.

But before the clawed adamantium hand could reach his mentor, Kid Flash quickly sped to him, snatched Barry, and pulled him out of harm's way. The tendrils continued on their path, piercing into the damaged house.

"Got you, Teach. You okay?" Kid Flash asked, dropping the senior speedster off.

"My face hurts. That's all." Barry admitted, holding his bruised cheek. "And he's still standing." He directed to Riot who turned to them with a confident smirk.

But as he menacingly walked towards them, the Scarlet Speedster realized how he remained clad in adamantium. "I got an idea."

Wally snapped his head to him. "Hope it's a good one, cause this guy's like a monster truck."

"Nothing a lightning bolt won't take down." Barry stated his plan. "Keep him occupied for a while, I'll strike when I'm ready."

"Got it." Wally inhaled sharply before speeding ahead to the villain. "Hey, big guy! Try and catch me! If you can!"

Craning his neck, Riot cracked his fists. "How about you come closer, little pig? Unless you are scared of the big bad wolf."

The taunt made the yellow speedster furious, making his lightning crackle over his entire form more fervently. "I ain't scared of anything!" He sped like a blur to the enemy.

Seeing that his taunt worked on him, Riot slammed both hands into the ground and shot tendrils under the surface. They traveled like animals, burrowing their way through the surface. Expanding the tendrils underneath the surface, caused it to rise up and crack in the speedster's path.

And in his enraged state, the young speedster failed to notice it and tripped at the first rock that his feet hit. He grunted when he fell, the momentum of which he had gathered sent him rolling across the cracked and ragged ground.

His trip across the surface came to an end when Joey grabbed him by his throat and lifted him up high. "Didn't expect much from you speedsters anyway…" He trailed off when seeing something around them.

The other speedster, The Flash, runs around them in a tight-knit circle. Riot dropped Wally, looking around to see the other speedster continuing to run around them. "What the…"

"Flash now!" Magenta shouted, throwing Rajeet into Joey's torso with a mechanical arm.

Time slowed to a crawl and the Scarlet Speedster came to a stop, howling loudly and swung his arm. Following the movement of his appendage, the lightning that he has gathered is shot out towards the villains.

Neither of them could stop the lightning bolt coming at them like thunder, electrocuting them both. The force of the attack hurled the two enemy symbiote-bearers off their feet and they were sent crashing down to the asphalt while screaming in pain.

Their screams finally stopped when they lost consciousness.

"You okay, Wally?" Barry helped his protégé up to his feet.

"Been better." Wally said.

"We're not out of the woods yet, you two." Frankie stated, garnering the speedsters' attention. The ferrokinetic has harpoon guns on both arms while she faces upwards to where the last battle is taking place. "They're still fighting."

Following the direction of her eyes, they see that she's referring to the battle between Scream and Venom.

Their battle appeared to be even more intense than the battles that the metahumans just had.

Scream and Venom jumped into the air, the former wielding four arms where two of them are adorned with two-pronged sabers and the others are flexing their sharp claws enshrouded in lightning and the latter's blazing hands are meeting each of the enemy's attacks head-on.

With a violent smirk on her face, Eliza went to stab him with one of her two-pronged spears. Seth grabbed her weapon and hurled her into the ground. Scream spun back to her feet and tried to stab the elemental again with both pronged weapons.

However, he grabbed her weapons again and ripped them off. With her weaponry lessened by two, Venom clenched his fist and turned it into adamantium and let lightning dance over it. He punched her in the stomach and knocked her up into the air.

Straightening herself mid-air, Scream lashed out her long hair strands and they wrapped around Venom's left arm. Pulling on them, she yanked herself to the mutant with outstretched claws cloaked in lightning.

With a right hand enshrouded in raging black abyssal flames, Venom met the incoming lightning claws with his fist.

The collision released a powerful shockwave, cracking the ground around them. The other heroes watched with sheer shock and disbelief that Eliza was willing to meet the Lethal Protector's immense attack head-on like that without any hesitation.

Eliza groaned through gritted teeth, the black flames from her opponent eroded her lightning and vanquished them. It hurt the most when the flames came in contact with her claws, forcing the enemy symbiote-bearer to put some distance between them.

The Lethal Protector lowered his hand and extinguished the flames. Meanwhile the thunderous Eliza raised her hand to examine the damage done to it. "His black flames completely overwhelmed my lightning."

"I'd go as far as saying that his flames devoured the lightning, leaving trace of their existence whatsoever." Eliza's "other" argued. "Fascinating that his otherwise humanly body can handle such a powerful element that can even erase opposing elements. Truly a fascinating host my brother has."

"Yeah, he is…" Eliza stated and lowered her hand. "You are certainly an annoying opponent, Venom."

"What you've done is unforgivable, Scream." Venom said.

Eliza Harmon turned a young, innocent into a criminal with what she's done and that is an unforgivable line to cross. She wouldn't be forgiven for that. Griffin Grey didn't deserve what befell him. He had done nothing wrong…

He wouldn't let her get away with this.

Using the senses belonging to her "other," Eliza could see that her fellow symbiote-bearers of Rajeet and Joey are knocked out from their fight. But that wasn't the only thing she picked up on…

"ELIZA!"

Acting quickly, Eliza crossed her arms with lightning and blocked the two incoming fists from the side. One was a fist enshrouded in gravity…

The other clad in blazing massive flames…

The two combined attacks pushed Eliza back and she looked up in mild surprise.

Standing side by side is Genysis… and Phage.

"Well, this is a surprise…" Eliza noted, dusting her shoulders off smugly. "Griffin… Did Genysis remind you of who you are?"

"Thanks… To her…" He panted breathlessly. "I… I am… in control." Griffin panted. He made eye contact with Venom. "It's… Funny to look at you like this again, sir."

"We'll get you out of there, kid. Don't worry." Seth assured the young man.

Wally directed to the gravity manipulator. "You didn't give him the serum?"

"Still got one shot left… He wanted to wait for the final shot." Genysis shot a concerned look at Griffin.

Seeing the look, Griffin told her. "It's fine, Genysis. I need to ask her."

"Ask me? Ask me what though?" Scream asked, scratching her chin in thought.

"Why did you do this to me?!" At the very end of his sentence, his face split open and revealed the young man's angry face. "Why did you do this?"

"…Got my reasons, is all." She simply and casually said.

"You… Damn… Monster!" Griffin's face got enveloped by the symbiote mass again. Flames erupted from his shoulders before he rushed towards the lightning-user.

"Griffin, wait!" Ruby screamed.

Despite the monstrous form of Phage rushing towards her, Eliza remained unfazed.

Instead, she smirked confidently. "You should've listened to your friends, Griffin…"

ROAR

An even more monstrous roar erupted from the open dark skies, garnering the attention of all on the ground.

Then… In a white flash… It shot down to Phage who looked up and saw the red eyes…

SMASH

The massive figure smashed down on him like a meteor and completely enveloped the area in a dust cloud.

Seth pulled Frankie and Ruby away with tendrils wrapping around their waists. Barry grabbed Wally and ran away.

They both came to a stop and dropped off their respective partners, turning their attention to the incredibly big dust cloud.

A massive silhouette stood there in the middle of the cloud, visible due to its owner's figure. The dust cloud cleared up slowly, it showed the figure was not alone…

And his hand was wrapped around another figure's throat…

Seth, seeing that, slammed his hands together with wind to blow the dust cloud away.

They got the worst shock of their lives at the sight.

Phage was unconscious, his maw completely open, and his throat ensnared by… Anti-Venom's hand…

"Griffin!" Ruby exclaimed in shock.

Seth gritted his teeth in anger. "Anti-Venom…"

The Vile Destroyer turned its head, facing the Lethal Protector. "Venom…"

Each of them looked at each other with rage. But the elemental's rage subsided, turning to shock and disbelief when he saw Griffin's symbiote retract and he returned to his human form. His throat was still wrapped around by the wretched titan's hand.

"What's Anti-Venom doing here?" Barry inquired, sparking lightning all over his body to ready himself for another vicious fight with the being that put anti-symbiotes inside of Seth's children.

"Oh, you think it's wrong for someone to bring her friends along?" Scream quipped, walking up to stand beside the wretched titan. "He said he wanted to pick me and my friends up, along with Griffin. Of course."

"He's not alone." Walking out from behind Anti-Venom revealed Taskmaster himself. Carrying on his shoulder is an unconscious Evelyn Sharp. "Brought the sharpshooter too, she's impatient and lost the fight."

"No surprise Evie won… But that's really her doppelganger from this Earth." Frankie asked in surprise, shocked that Ruby could bring herself to attack someone with her sister's exact face.

"What is with these symbiotes, Eliza?!" Ruby bellowed out loud. Eliza narrowed her eyes. "Those symbiotes aren't like ours… They're not the same… Something about them feels empty. What did you do to them? It's like they're not even living!"

"The host can feel that? That's fascinating." Scream questioned.

"Indeed, and surprising." Eliza agreed. "While we are curious on how you reached that conclusion, and how you can even determine that with a mere "feeling" is incredible. You're not wrong. The symbiotes that are Lasher, Riot, Agony and Phage… They are not like ours or yours, they are not living beings."

"They're not sentient." Seth widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Correct, these are symbiotes that only serve one purpose: Weaponry. That is all they are. Powerful weapons." Eliza smirked. "With just one of these, they have the power of you, Venom. The power of elements in their grasp along with the strength and speed and all-purposeful benefits of a Klyntar-host."

Scream clenched a fist that was aimed at Seth. "We have to thank you, Venom. Had it not been for you, We never would have been able to achieve this. To get these powers, we didn't even know we longed for. You have our eternal gratitude for this. We have powers that are beyond what speedsters could achieve."

"Enrage me as much as you desire with your misguided praise… But know this…" Venom raised a hand and clenched it in front of Eliza. "We will rip that Klyntar off your body in the end, we will destroy you!"

"Perhaps, but we do believe we can prove to be a much bigger obstacle than what Carnage proved. Remember that…" Her hair strands shot out and wrapped around the bodies of Rajeet and Joey and pulled them close. "We are those that will strike down over this city like nothing before."

"Your army is complete then…" Seth realized, recalling her previous words.

Taskmaster chimed in. "Nothing like a thunderbolt to strike down a protector, leaving him in ashes."

"That's a good name… Thunderbolts." Eliza smiled, forming separate hands from her shoulders and gathered lightning in them. "We will take my Thunderbolts and leave."

Scream slammed her thunder-riddled hands together, clasping together the accumulated lightning and released a massive blinding flash that had everyone cover their eyes.

"Griffin!" Ruby screamed out to her friend, but she couldn't do anything as the flash hit her eyes.

After several minutes of hurting their eyesight, the lightning-imbued flash vanished, and the heroes saw that Eliza and Taskmaster had escaped with Thunderbolts… With Griffin…

Ruby fell to the ground on her knees and punched the asphalt, thrusting her fist into it. Bellowing out in anger and regret.

"DAMN IT!"

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

When the heroes returned from the battlefields, they were all left with a bitter taste in their mouths. The taste of defeat, failure, self-hate and regret.

The rest of the team watched them all sinker deeper and deeper into the sea of regret they're already drowning in. They wanted to help them back out of those deep waters, but they were unable to conjure up any words that could possibly be their lifeline.

"Guys, guys." H.R. stepped out into the middle of the Cortex. "Lighten up, we all tried our best and-"

"H.R." Seth got his attention. "Not now. Please." He asked politely but his tone was cold as steel with hints of growing and surging regret.

"Seth." Caitlin moved around from the console to the elemental's side. She wrapped her arms around her mate, giving him a loving hug and a kiss to his cheek. "You and the girls did the best you could."

Hearing her mother's words, Ruby shook her head with a scoff. "Our best wasn't good enough, Mom. Not to save Griffin from becoming Eliza's latest guinea pig. She took him and we were helpless to stop her and her… Thunderbolts."

"Thunderbolts?" Cisco raised an eyebrow.

Barry faced the viber. "It's what Eliza calls her and her symbiote army."

"Eliza and The Thunderbolts?" Cisco mulled it over. "Sounds like the name for a heavy metal band with tons of special effects. Guess it fits the bill though."

"Not important right now, Cisco!" Ruby exclaimed. "We're never gonna get anywhere like this."

"Dude, calm down. We were all there and we tried our best back there." Wally said defensively.

Ruby scoffed. "And like I just said, our "best" was a freaking disaster! Not only did Eliza's forces increase by one, but we also lost Griffin. Or did you fail to see that while you got your ass handed to you!"

Wally narrowed his eyes, glaring back at the gravity manipulator. "Hey, you lost too, you know! Don't lose your cool and take it out on me cause you're getting sour."

Joe and Seth turned their eyes to the argument between their children.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I ruining that little high you got from learning how to phase, is that why you're whining and complaining? Well, sorry you decided to throw a party cause you learnt one new party trick. But of course, if you freaking used it more than just getting away, then I might actually remember your useless trick."

"What the hell?!" Wally growled.

"That's enough!" Seth howled at them.

"Both of you!" Joe followed up.

"Uncle Joe, stay out of this! It doesn't concern you!" Ruby snapped at him.

"Ruby!" Caitlin shouted at her daughter.

With a scoff, seeing the looks from both her parents, Ruby jumped over the console and walked out of the Cortex.

"Ruby…" Seth narrowed his eyes and walked in her direction. "Cait…"

"I know. I'll check on Evie." Caitlin said, moving towards the medbay where her two metahuman daughters are.

Stopping at the threshold, the mutant told the entire team. "Don't be too hard on Ruby for this outburst, guys. This loss… It hits harder on her than the rest of us. Try and be understanding." With that said, Seth continued out of the Cortex and where his daughter is.

X

(Pipeline Entrance)

PUNCH

Out of pure anger and immense self-hate, Ruby punched the pipes on the wall. Her fist easily punched holes in the metal contraptions.

"Damn it…" Ruby groans, gritting her teeth. Her fingers tightens around the pipes she's already damaged, tearing into the metal like it was paper.

"Pretty sure you're not pissed about breaking those pipes, are you?" Reap sarcastically quipped.

"It's pipes, they can be replaced." Ruby removed her hand, pieces of the metal she broke fell to the floor and onto her left feet. "But what we lost…"

"A person can't be replaced." With no surprise expressed on her face, Ruby turned around and saw her father standing at the gateway entrance at the end of the ramp. "And that feeling increases that much more when it involves a friend like Griffin."

"Dad, I'm sorry for losing my shit out there, but we lost out there today!" Ruby exclaimed. "We lost and Griffin paid the heaviest price back there. I… I know the others were just trying to make us feel better… But there's no way that can be done now. We lost and I'm angry."

Seth took a seat on the floor, locking eyes with his daughter and nodded to the spot next to him.

Ruby sighed. "Fine." She moved to the spot and sat down beside her parent. "What's the lecture?"

Turning to face her, Seth admitted.

"You have no, possibly no idea… Of how tremendously proud of you I am of you right now."

The gravity manipulator blinked her eyes in surprise and disbelief. "What? What do you mean, Dad? Dad, I literally broke into a fit out there, lost my shit on Wally and you're proud of me?"

"Cause you're angry from… feeling like you failed your friend in his biggest time of need." Seth spoke softly, knowing the truth behind her rage. "You know, in this line of work, it's hard to remember or even how to process a loss when we usually win so many times. We get so used to winning nowadays and we forget the feeling of a painful loss. And I'm really proud of how you are right now…"

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

"This loss, this defeat that you're feeling shows how much you've changed, honey. I remember how you were very… different back then. You still had parts of the old you in you, the one that was an assassin for HYDRA. And you were still haunted by what you did back then… To Werner. You were still hurt by then."

"And now… You're someone who gets angry for the sake of someone who is a friend. You're angry and you're in pain from thinking it's your fault. And that very fact… I'm so proud of you for that, honey." Seth tells her.

"We failed, Dad. We lost Griffin." Ruby said, her eyes stinging with tears of regret.

"We lost a battle today, Rubs." Seth wrapped an arm around his daughter and pulled her close. "But we will win this war. I promise."

In her father's embrace, Ruby let the tears stream down her face and soaking his T-shirt.

Seth tried to control his anger, but he couldn't stop it from spiking with every tear from his daughter that was soaking his clothes. Whatever Eliza was planning is hurting his family more and more, pushing them into pits of fear and despair.

Her endgame… Whatever it was, Seth was gonna put an end to it…

Every single criminal act she has committed thus far has hurt his family too much.

"Venom…" Seth got his "other's" attention. "Whatever happens, we're gonna defeat Eliza and her army ourselves."

"Or die trying…" Venom growled his agreement.

X

(S.T.A.R. Labs, Medbay)

Caitlin walked into the medbay, seeing Frankie sitting in a chair in front of the gurney where Evelyn's sitting on.

"Hey, you two." She got her children's attention. "Both of you aren't hurt, right?"

Evelyn smiled. "We're fine, Mom. We were just talking right now."

Frankie turned in her chair. "Yeah, Evelyn practically pummeled her evil doppelganger."

"Yeah, to think your doppelganger actually turned to the Dark Side." Caitlin quipped. "I didn't even think that was possible, considering she was working with Arrow in Star City."

"Well, everyone in that city turns "doom and gloom" like every Tuesday." Frankie recalls how the team is on a daily basis, they were pretty negative during the interception of the alien invasion. "But honestly… What do we do about your doppelganger if we have to keep fighting her?" She directed to her sister.

The metahuman of light and darkness steadfastly said without any hesitation. "We fight her. No. I will fight her again. She's got a grudge on me, and I'm gonna defeat her once and for all."

"Her grudge is unfounded and unreasonable, honey." Caitlin sat down next to her child. "But the fact of the matter is that you could stand up to someone like that, it shows great character and it shows how far you've come as a hero. I'm proud of you."

"But we still lost this fight, Mom." Frankie clenched her fists.

She put a hand on her ferrokinetic daughter's head and told her. "It's one fight, Frankie. We can lose this one fight… Then we win the others that are gonna follow up soon. Trust me on that."

Frankie and Evelyn smiled at that, loving their mother's encouragement when they needed it the most. With their parents behind them, and on the battlefield, the two sisters, along with their third one, would continue to fight and fight without ever stopping.

They wouldn't stop until Eliza is done for…

X

(Snow-Fury Residence)

Walking through the doors of his home, Seth entered the household with a number of pizza boxes in his right hand while his left one was busy with the lock. With everything that happened today, both he and Caitlin agreed they'd get some comfort food for the entire family.

Looking in the direction of the living room, the mutant found his mate sitting on the couch, wearing an expectant look on her face. She turned her eyes upwards and met her mate's eyes, standing up to meet him. "Hey, you're back."

"Yeah, the line at the pizza place was longer than I thought it'd be." Seth replied, using tendrils to put the food on the table. "What's up? You've been waiting for me?"

"Seth, come with me." Caitlin didn't wait for a response, taking him by his hands and pulled him over to the couch. Taking a seat beside him, she asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Raising an eyebrow, he asked. "Tell you what?"

"About your dissociative repression." Caitlin tightened her hold on his hands. "I never knew you had this condition until now. Why is that?"

"It's not because I'm ashamed of it or kept it a secret, it's just… Never came up." Seth honestly said. Scratching his head, he also added. "And honestly, I expected you, more than anyone, to have that figured out."

"Why'd…" Caitlin trailed off, remembering his past. "From being Stryker's experiment when you were a child." She realized. "Of course, that entire year is full of traumatic experiences and memories. No wonder your mind would push them out of your consciousness."

"Yes and no." Seth stated, confusing her. "Yes, I was, at a time, pushing them down so long I hoped they were forgotten. But after a while…" He raised a hand in front of himself. "I had to bring them back up again, and keep them there." He clenched his fist tightly, his knuckles creaking under his flesh.

"What? Why?" Caitlin didn't understand that.

Granted, she knew that with trauma they had to be faced sooner or later to overcome them. But hearing Seth's words, she felt like there was another meaning behind his decision to resurface the horrific and traumatic memories of being kidnapped and tortured by the human military of Earth-616, the ones that were led by Stryker to create biological weapons.

What could drive him to do something like that…

"Don't think I've ever said this before, but there was a time when I couldn't actually use Venom's powers in battle. I couldn't become Venom, to be more precise." Seth reveals, shocking his mate. "It was a while after I was adopted by my Dad, I got private visits from another powerful telepath who tried to help me past my trauma. But at the same time, he also wanted me to try and awaken the new powers I had gotten. This was mostly to see if I could use them still. But… For maybe half a year, I couldn't use or even talk to Venom."

"You couldn't?" Caitlin asked in surprise.

"Nope. Apparently, the trauma he and I experienced was enough to push him down into the depths of my mind. The guy who examined me surmised it was due to me reacting to what had happened." Seth groaned at his own memory. "I didn't know how to feel back then, other than being absolutely weak and was ashamed that I could once use that power but not any longer."

"How did you manage to use Venom's powers again?" Caitlin wondered.

Answering the question with a hollow chuckle, Seth replied. "Unfortunately, it happened when I thought my sister was in danger from a villain. He had these claws like a tiger and tried to attack my sister… She was still younger than me back then and I… Lost it completely. The memories of when I was absolutely powerless and in Stryker's hands returned and me and Venom synced and we… Exploded on that guy, wrecking him till the point where he wished he was dead instead."

Recognizing something familiar in his words, Caitlin inquired. "Is this because of that humongous, dangerous form you took when I was kidnapped by Snart and Rory? You turned into that form."

"The telepath I'm talking about and Liv calls that form Abomination. Guess it's pretty accurate, considering how scared Liv was when she saw that form." Seth recalled. "Since I was a kid, I've had problems with both my mutation and Venom's powers. Only time I've managed to get them both on my side was when I either almost hurt my baby sister or when I thought she was in danger. Kind of a strange brother."

"So, you force your own horrible memories back to the surface and…. Use them to fuel yourself." Caitlin never heard anything like that before.

Seth understood her surprise. "Yeah, the telepath said it was my own unique way of handling the trauma I went through. Most would think I'm a nutcase for doing this, but it works for me."

"So, your psychological condition… It's like your weapon." Caitlin admitted, still in utter shock and disbelief. "Everyone has their own form of dealing with trauma, it's nothing that's easy to get past. Some push it so deep into their mind, it's buried. Others try to confront it to the best of their abilities… But you… You keep it sheathed like a sword you pull out for dangerous and hard battles that threaten your family or the innocent."

Caitlin leant up against his shoulder, surprising him with her action. "You… You really are something else, Seth."

Leaning his head up against hers, he spoke into her hair softly. "The very reasons for me to fight and go beyond my limits are in this very house… I got you, Frankie, Evelyn and Ruby. For you, my family, I'll dig up all the things that caused me pain and use them for you. If it has the potential to make me stronger, then I will use it no matter what."

Nuzzling her head against his neck, Caitlin argued. "You're plenty strong as you are now, Seth."

"I wanna protect you and our family…" Seth wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "I will get stronger, Cait… Stronger than I am now."

Seth's resolve had been wavering for a long time now. He blames himself for the emergence of the new symbiote swarm that Eliza has brought over the city. He blames himself for listening to Barry and Iris' wishes and losing his best friend Joe because of that.

His resolve had weakened after two powerful blows from his decisions, and it suffered a third blow today when he heard how Eliza had knowledge of his past and his time as Stryker's experiment. But that was the blow to his resolve…

From now on, he would start swinging his own arms and unleashing a flurry of blows on whoever stands in his path. He wasn't gonna let his family suffer anymore.

He is the Lethal Protector, his family's Protector…

…He is their Venom…

X

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

Inside the breach room, Wally walked down the staircase and raised a hand in front of the reinforced wood wall that Cisco had prepared for his phase training.

With a deep breathe, the yellow speedster remembered it. Remembering the feeling of phasing, of vibrating his body at impossibly high-speeds, Wally phased his hand, and it phased through the thick walls with ease.

He formed a wide smile at that, encouraged by his training and his combat experiences on the battlefield allowed him to break through his shell and he could know phase with ease. He pulled back his hand and stopped vibrating, smiling wider as he closed his hand.

But his smile stopped when, on the platform, a breach opened up.

WHOOSH

And from the wormhole came a familiar speedster out, sliding to a stop in front of the yellow speedster. Wally smiled when seeing Jesse Quick there, steadying herself till she was ready to stand straight. "Jesse!" He ecstatically said, moving in to hug her.

"No, no, no, no!" Jesse stopped him with her chant.

"What's wrong?" Wally saw her terrified look.

"Grodd." Jesse said, confusing the other speedster. "He's got my dad. And he has him in Gorilla City."

Another Earth-2 adventure awaits the heroes of Team Flash and Team Venom.

To be continued…

And that's a chapter peeps.

The heroes of Central City faced off against not one, but TWO of Eliza's Thunderbolts. Phage showed himself, having Griffin Grey as his host. Agony under the control of the wrathful Evelyn Sharp of Earth-1.

Anti-Venom made another appearance, stopping Griffin's attempt at revenge on Eliza for turning him into a monster like Phage. But Phage has done a lot since his appearance, becoming feared by many with his actions. His actions, will they bear consequences or not?

Evelyn Sharp has joined Eliza's Thunderbolts, becoming Agony and is dead-set on destroying Evelyn Snow-Fury whom she loathes for living a good life with friends and family, something that she lost…

Will her unfounded hate for Eclipse turn into a spear that can drive through the hero's heart or will she fail in her pursuit for unreasonable revenge?

Why did Anti-Venom come to Eliza's rescue? With his master out of the way, who's orders does he obey then?

What awaits the heroes of Central City as Eliza's army has amassed and is gonna strike…

Only time will tell if the heroes can save Griffin Grey and stop Eliza's Thunderbolts once and for all… and prevent Iris' possible death.

Stay tuned and until next time, peeps!