Rocky Raymond //Book Five// - COMPLETED

Chapter 25 - Cause and XS

3rd Person POV

Mack stands in between Caitlin and Iris in the cortex at night after Cisco had debriefed them on the metahuman cure

"We have to wait how long before we can use the meta-human cure?" Barry asks

"Not even that long." Cisco says

"Cisco." Iris says

"It's gonna go by like that." Cisco says, snapping his fingers

"Cisco." Iris says

"29 days." Cisco says

Sherloque spits out his drink

"A month?" Nora exclaims

"I know, right? Just one, teeny, tiny, month until we stop Cicada's purge." Cisco says. "You know, historically speaking, this is way faster than we've ever stopped a big bad so..."

"We can't wait that long." Barry says. "If he finds another meta or comes after us... we have to speed this up somehow."

"We have to wait for the compound to fully synthesize or it won't be able to effectively neutralize the dark matter in a meta-human's pituitary gland." Caitlin says. "Without any way to expedite the exotic evolution..."

"Barry, we're gonna have to wait." Cisco says, finishing

"I think we have to wait." Caitlin confirms

"Unless... you took it into the Speed Force." Sherloque says

"Hmm?" Caitlin asks

"What, you want him to go into the Speed Force for a month and then, what, come out the same day that he left?" Iris asks

"Oh, no, no, I'm not saying you manipulate time." Sherloque says. "I'm saying you manipulate dark matter. So very simple. It's simple chemistry, right? When you are synthesizing a compound, you use a... Commodity, uh, substrate, uh..."

"A catalyst?" Caitlin supplies the word

"Catalyst, right. And the most efficient catalyst you can use when synthesizing a compound that negates dark matter is superluminal particles." Sherloque says

"Tachyons?" Nora says

"Très bien." Sherloque says. "Tachyons, and the place where tachyons are the most dense?"

"Speed Force." Barry says

"And voilà." Sherloque says

"That might actually work." Caitlin says

"Yeah, it will." Cisco says. "It'll be like nuking it in a pan-dimensional microwave. Nice work."

"I know." Sherloque says

"So how much time would this save?" Iris asks

"From 29 days down to..." Caitlin starts, typing into the computer

"60 minutes?" Mack says, doing the math in her head

"She's right." Caitlin says

"Yeah, it's gonna be faster." Cisco says

"And also since Cicada has been quiet since your last encounter, maybe there's no time like the present." Sherloque says

Barry looks at Iris

"Do it." Iris says

"All right. I'll see you in an hour." Barry says

Barry speeds out

Nora leaves the room

She skids to a stop in the pipeline next to Barry

"Nora, you need to stay here." Barry says