Rocky Raymond //Book Two//COMPLETED

Chapter 43- Back to Normal

MacKenzie's POV

"Yo!" Cisco calls as we walk into the cortex.

"In here." Barry says.

"I got your text. What's up?" Cisco asks.

"All right, facial recognition just picked up Grey breaking into Ace Chemical down on Newbury Road." Barry says.

"Is my dad with him?" Jesse asks.

"I don't know yet. But we have to go." Barry says.

"Uh, you sure about that?" Cisco asks.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Look... we can't just sit here." Barry says. "Regardless of whether I have my speed or not, I have to try to help. That's never gonna change."

"Okay. I'm with you, but we're gonna need some backup." Cisco says.

"Joe's on his way." Barry says.

"I'm coming with." Jesse says.

"No, look, please just stay here. Stay with Mack. We don't know what we're dealing with yet. Just finish running the test on the blood sample. I'm sorry. Thank you, Jesse." Barry says and they walk out.

***

"So his genes have actually mutated." Jesse says from in the cortex as Barry gets patched up by Iris for his wounds. "I ran the DNA from the blood sample Barry found, and the functional myostatin in his cells is essentially gone. I mean, giving him super-strength."

"Guys, there's something else." Barry says. "Um, I saw him age. Right in front of me."

"He's suffering from oxidated stress." Jesse says. " It means the protein in the DNA in his body are being ravaged by oxidants."

"So, what, he needs to up his blueberry intake?" Joe asks and Jesse laughs slightly.

"No, it means, uh, the more he exerts himself, the faster he ages." Jesse says.

"So if we can get him to exert too much energy..." Barry starts.

"Then he'll become old and weak." Iris says.

"And how do you think we're gonna do that?" Joe asks. "I can't watch you be a human punching bag until he turns into Grandpa Simpson."

"I think we can fix that. Jesse, I'm gonna need some of that quick thinking of yours. Mack, you too." Cisco says.

We leave the cortex.

***

A little later...

"Not picking up anything from facial recognition." Barry says.

"The only cellular dead zone I can find is the one in here." Cisco says. "No offense."

"No, wait a second, was he wearing his watch when he left to get me?" Jesse asks.

"Mack already tried that. GPS isn't working." Cisco says.

"Okay, no, but the meta-human activity would be." Jesse pushes Cisco out of the way to type on the computer. "I mean, the watch is designed to track metas, right? And since Griffin Grey is one, it'll keep sending a message to a server till it goes through."

"But since we're on a different Earth, it'll never go through." Cisco says.

"So it just keeps sending the same signal." Iris says.

The location comes up.

"There he is, Central City Amusement Park." Cisco says.

"Yeah, and I'm coming with this time." Jesse says.