Iris was minding her own business, walking down the halls of STAR Labs, humming to herself when she turned the corner to find a shoe. Followed by a stretched out leg, leading to a room down the corridor.
Immediately, Iris screamed bloody murder before she started running down the hall, following where the leg led do. "Guys? What the hell?" She ran in to find Dibny laying in a med bed, his arms and legs stretched out, surrounded by Barry, Caitlin and Harry while Joe, Mon-El, Kara stood in the back.
Seeing this, Iris yelled out in terror while Mon tried to calm her down. "Yeah, yeah, Iris, we know-"
"Don't touch me!" Iris snapped at him, and he backed off before she pointed at Dibny. "Who is that?! Is that Dibny?!"
"Yeah," Kara answered.
"What happened to me?!" Dibny snapped.
"Breathe, okay?" Barry told him before he and Caitlin started to breath in and out, trying to calm Dibny down.
"I am breathing," he quietly muttered to himself.
"Okay. Clearly this guy is a bus meta," Iris said.
"What gave you that impression?" Mon asked and Iris gave him an annoyed look.
"This is interesting," Harry said before he showed everyone his tablet. "The dark matter has polymerized Dibny's cells."
He then pulled the readings onto a computer as Dibny began to freak out even more. "What the hell is dark matter and why is it in my cells?!" He snapped.
"You're saying the walls of every cell in his body has elasticized?" Caitlin asked, ignoring Dibny.
"I'm saying they formed an unbreakable bond at the atomic level. Now you can stretch these cells and stretch these cells," Harry explained.
"Like Silly Putty?" Caitlin asked.
"Like Silly Putty," Harry answered
"I'm Silly Putty?" Dibny asked, with tears in his eyes as he pouted.
"No," Caitlin said.
"No," Barry said.
"Kinda," Harry said.
"I'm Silly Putty?!" Dibny now snapped, pointing at himself.
"Ralph," Joe suddenly said and they all looked at him. "Who were the guys on the roof?"
"Is that really the issue right now? Look at me!" Dibny snapped before he gestured to himself then he grabbed hold of Barry's shirt, pulling him close. "Allen, you and your STAR Labs nerds better put me back together."
Kara tried to go after Dibny for touching Barry that way but Mon held her back, seeing as how he was the only who could. "Get your hands off me," Barry told him.
"Get your hands off!" Kara yelled to him as well.
"We're trying to help you," Barry continued.
"You're not trying to help me," Dibny said.
"Oh, shut up!" Barry yelled before everyone started to shout and yell at each other.
"Everyone shut up!" Kara yelled as Mon let her go. Barry walked over to her and everyone quieted down.
"You can do this later. I just need a sample of blood," Caitlin said before she pulled put his arm, just for it to stretch out to. She gasped before dropping it and accidentally stepping on it — multiple times.
"Ow!" Her hands then accidentally pressed on baby powder, which blasted out right at Dibny. Caitlin backed off, standing with the rest of the group as Dibny tensed up, like he was about to sneeze.
After a long tense moment, Dibny sneezed but everyone flinched in horror to see his face — which was now stretched out into his hands. "Oh, is that my face?"
Then Joe gave in and threw up behind everyone as Dibny continued to groan. Joe looked back at Dibny as everyone continued to stare at him disgusted. "Five years seeing this stuff, I finally puked."
CC Jitters
As Cisco got them coffee, Gypsy and Breacher sat across from each other at the shop. He looked angry at everything around him except when he looked at Gypsy. "Daddy. I know you love me, and I love you. I really like Cisco, and I need you two to get along. So do you think that you can try to do that?" Gypsy asked and Breacher smiled.
"I'll do anything for you, petal," Breacher said before Cisco came back with their coffees and his smile dropped again.
"Ah, three coffees," Cisco said as he placed them on the table. "How about you, huh? Ready for some hot java?"
"We don't have coffee on my Earth. Crops were destroyed. My world was attacked Invaded by the worst, most evil creatures in the multiverse. I'll never drink coffee again," Breacher explained and Cisco stared at nervously.
"Two for me then," he muttered. "It's okay," Gypsy said before he looked at her father. "Daddy, why don't I get you a tea?"
"Like a relaxing tea?" Cisco asked and Gypsy nodded. "Please. Thanks." Gypsy then got up to get the tea and Cisco took her place. "Uh I know from a friend — Who is also a father — How important his daughters are to him. And I just wanted to let you know how important your daughter is to me. And that after you and I get to know each other a little, maybe we might find that we're not so different."
He then started to sip on his coffee when Breacher said, "I'm going to hunt you." Cisco choked on his coffee, "You're not worthy of her."
"Isn't that for her to decide?" Cisco asked.
"Ten," Breacher said.
"Also, I could have sworn you said, uh, you were gonna hunt me," Cisco said as he placed his coffee down. "What, like a deer?"
"I have hunted some of the worst breach criminals in history. Marla the Dark Lord. Soolunga of Sheerdra. The Sand People of Scar. You will be easy prey. Nine," Breacher told him.
"Listen, I have tried to be polite with you, but this is going a little too far. I get that you're overprotective-"
"Eight," Breacher said.
"Are you counting?" Cisco asked.
"For the next twenty-hour hours, I will be hunting you throughout this city. We will not use our powers. But when it's over, my daughter will be free of you. Seven," Breacher explained.
"Do you do this with all her boyfriends?" Cisco asked.
"I hunted her last one, yes," Breacher said.
"Where is he now?" Cisco asked.
"I don't know," Breacher said.
"He got away," Cisco said as he leaned back in his chair relieved.
"I don't know where you go when you die," Breacher said and Cisco looked at him terrified. "Five."
"You just skipped six," Cisco said.
"I know. Four. And don't try to breach," Breacher said before he let out a creepy soft chuckle. "I'll know it if you do. You can't hide from me. So if I were you, I would start running, Cisky." Cisco then slowly stood up as he laughed before he suddenly ran off.
Breacher took a moment to himself, sighing before saying, "Three, two, one." He got up and walked off.
When Gypsy came back with the tea, all she found was Breacher's chair spinning. "Damn...He's hunting him."
STAR Labs
Barry hung up Dibny's photo as the third bus meta on the board when Caitlin, Joe and Kara walked from the med bah into the cortex. "I finally calmed him down. Amazing what 50 milligrams of Lorazepam can do when you get it in aerosol form," Caitlin said.
"Is there anything you can do put him back together?" Kara asked.
"Please, my stomach can't take much more," Joe said.
"I think I could stabilize his cells if I had a sample of his DNA from prior to when he was exposed to the dark matter on the bus," Caitlin explained.
"Why?" Barry asked as he turned back to everyone, to find them staring at him oddly. "So he can go out and start hurting people, like our other friends here? I think we should lock him up in the Pipeline."
"He hasn't done anything," Caitlin said.
"Yet. Trust me. I know this guy. He's a bad guy," Barry said before he turned back to the board.
"Barry, I took an oath to help people," Caitlin said as Barry took a marker and started to write something on top of the board. "I'm a doctor. I can't just leave him in there like spaghetti."
"Villains?" Kara questioned what Barry wrote as he looked back at her.
"Yeah. Every person that was on that bus is now one-thousand-times more dangerous than they were before. Dibny included," Barry explained.
"I think you're letting your personal feelings cloud your judgment," Kara said.
"No, I'm not," Barry said.
"What if he's changed?" Caitlin asked and he looked at her.
"People don't change," he said.
"I did. When I became Killer Frost, you still believed in me," Caitlin said.
"You're a good person. He's not," Barry said.
"Barry, how about you and I go back to Dibny's office?" Kara asked and Barry looked at her. "Find a DNA sample for Caitlin? Joe, you go back to CCPD, see what you can dig up on Dibny?"
"Yes, boss," Joe said before he walked out.
Ralph Dibny's Office
Kara tore off the locked knob of the office before Barry pushed the door open, for the both of them to see the office was completely trashed. "Looks like someone tossed this place," Kara said as the two walked in.
"Yeah," Barry said as he closed the door behind them. "Probably the same guys that hung Dibny off the roof."
"Why do you think?" Kara asked as she started to go through the office.
"I dunno. Guy like that probably has a long list of people that wanna toss him off rooftops," Barry said and Kara sighed before she faced him. "What?"
"Seriously, what is with you and Ralph? What happened between the two of you?" She asked.
"It was one of my first cases when I was junior CSI. Dibny was the lead detective," Barry said as Kara watched him look through the office.
"What case?" She asked.
"A woman named Judy Gimlin was stabbed to death. Her husband, Reagan, was the prime suspect. But there was no evidence. Nothing to tie him to the crime scene," Barry explained before he looked at Kara. "And then, Dibny miraculously found a knife with the husband's fingerprints. Case closed. Dibny was a hero. I don't know, maybe because my mom was stabbed, I wanted to be sure. So I analyzed the knife. The serrations on the blade did not match the wound on the vic."
"Dibny planted the knife," Kara realized.
"Yep. And then he lied about it. Under oath," Barry said.
"So you busted him," Kara said.
"I mean, he didn't just bend the rules, Kara. He committed perjury. Evidence tampering. He was thrown off the force," Barry said and Kara nodded before she walked over to the desk. "Point is, he was crooked then. He's crooked now."
"I believe you," Kara said before she opened a drawer that had old donuts in it. She cringed before looking back at Barry, who was looking through more stuff. "How much DNA do you think Caitlin needs?"
"Not much," Barry said as Kara closed the drawer.
"Okay," Kara said before she came across a hairbrush on the desk. "Oh, think this will work?" She picked it up as Barry looked over at her. She then opened another drawer where a bomb was, immediately started to beep. "Bomb!" Barry zoomed over to Kara, grabbed onto her, then phased through the floor. They zoomed out of the building right as Dibny's floor exploded and they both stared at the scene before them taken back.
STAR Labs
Kara placed the hairbrush in an evidence bag before handing it to Caitlin. "And that's what it feels like to vibrate through solid matter," Kara explained as Caitlin zipped up the bag.
"I'm just glad you two weren't hurt," Caitlin said.
"No thanks to your new buddy in there," Barry added and Kara gave him a look.
"He's not my buddy. He's my patient," Caitlin defended.
"Caitlin, I just don't understand why you're defending him," Barry said before Caitlin snapped around towards him.
"Because I know what it's like to suddenly find yourself with extraordinary powers and be totally freaked out by it. And so do you, for that matter," Caitlin argued and Barry huffed. "You and I both woke up in this lab once knowing that our lives would never be the same. So how about you give the guy a little sympathy?"
"Okay," Kara said and Barry looked at her. "That's enough."
Right then, Joe walked into the cortex and they all turned to him. "Hey," he said. "I pulled the LUDS on Dibny's phone. There were fifteen phone calls between him and the Mayor's office."
"What the hell is Mayor Bellows doing talking to Ralph Dibny?" Kara asked but then Barry scoffed and stormed into the med bay.
When he walked in, he found Dibny was still the same as he was before, stretched out throughout the entire room. "Oh, look. It's my good buddy Barry Allen," Dibny said.
"Someone just blew up your office," Barry told him. "Sweet! Insurance claim," Dibny said.
"My fiancée and I could've gotten hurt," Barry also told him. But right then, Dibny looked past him, and through the doorway. He saw a woman with golden locks, the sweetest smile, laughing with Caitlin, and he could've sworn she was an Angel. But this was Kara Danvers. And Dibny realized she was Barry's fiancée.
"You landed the blonde hottie?" Dibny asked as he looked back at Barry.
"I didn't just land- She's not a possession-"
"Wow. Everything's coming up Allen. The job. The girl," Dibny continued and Barry sighed frustrated.
"Who's trying to kill you, Dibny?" He asked.
"Do you know how many people I have pissed off in the last six years? Angry husbands. Angry wives. Not exactly dealing with high society taking photos of cheating spouses," Dibny told him.
"Then why are you talking to the Mayor?" Barry asked.
"Who says I am?" Dibny asked.
"Your phone records," Barry answered.
"Did you get a warrant for that? Cause I know you're all by-the-book," Dibny said.
"What's your business with Mayor Bellows?" Barry asked.
"Nothing. Just calling to tell him what a swell job I think he's doing," Dibny said.
"Fifteen times?" Barry asked.
"Twelve of those were butt dials," Dibny said.
"All right, look, whatever. Maybe we'll go talk to the Mayor ourselves. You know, he's a huge fan of Joe's," Barry said.
"Yeah, you go do that," Dibny said before Barry started to leave. "I'm gonna stay here. Stretch my legs."
———
Meanwhile, in Cisco's Workshop, Harry was sitting in a chair while reading something when Cisco climbed out of the vents from under the stairs. "Ramon, do you think it's wise to be sneaking around a technologically weaponized facility?" Harry asked before Cisco grabbed a bag and started to put weapons in it.
"It's a lot safer than what I'm up against out there, so-"
"Coffee didn't go well, I take it?" Harry asked.
"Well, Gypsy's dad wants to hunt me for twenty-four hours to see if I'm worthy of his daughter," Cisco said as Harry continued to read and sit. "No powers so, don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do about that."
"Fight back," Harry said and Cisco eyed him.
"I swear, it's like you're trying to listen, but you just nod while thinking of something else. You're doing it right now," he said but Harry got up and placed what he was reading down.
"Fight back. Ramon, what did you say? You said no powers?" Harry asked and Cisco nodded. "Well, in addition to being Vibe? You have another superpower- You're smart in here. All right?" He pointed to Cisco's head. "Outwardly, you're weak. But use your outwardly weak appearance to your advantage. He's gonna anticipate a pathetic target. Well, you're pathetic. You're pathetic. You're weak."
"Not helping, just hurting," Cisco said as he continued to load up on weapons.
"All I'm saying is, set a trap, okay?" Harry and Cisco looked at him. "Beat him at his own game."
"Set a trap," Cisco muttered.
"Set a trap," Harry said.
"That's right, a trap. A trap, I can do," Cisco said before he zipped up the bag and picked it up. "Cause he may be the Predator, but I'm the Schwarzenegger."
"Where is he?"
When Breacher walked into the workshop, all he saw was Harry sitting and reading — no Cisco. "He was here," he said.
"Uh, he went that way," Harry said, pointing down the hall, and Breacher walked off.
———
In the med bay, Caitlin walked in, holding a glass with blue liquid in it. But Dibny looked at her nervously. "I farted. I'm not sure everything's still where it's supposed to be down there," Dibny said.
"Drink this," Caitlin said.
"What is it? I don't just drink stuff. My body is a temple," Dibny said.
"Clearly," Caitlin said annoyed. "Drink it."
"I wanna know what it is," Dibny said.
"It's seventeen percent alcohol," Caitlin said.
"You should have lead with that, sister," Dibny said before he took the glass and gulped it down. But it sure did not taste like alcohol. "Ugh! What was that?!"
"It's a serum of sulfur, zinc oxide, and steric acid to cross-link your polymerized cells," Caitlin explained.
"In English," Dibny said.
"It's gonna fix you," Caitlin said, and immediately all his stretched out ness, stretched back to normal. He gasped excitedly before looking at Caitlin again.
"Oh. You did it. I'm cured," he said.
"Well, not cured. All I did was introduce a stabilizing enzyme to reset your body to default shape through vulcanization," Caitlin explained but Dibny continued to stare at her, waiting for an translation. "It's like muscle memory."
"Muscle memory, huh?" Dibny asked before he got up off the bed. "How far back memory, you think?"
"I don't know. Uh, think about the shape you want to be and just be it," Caitlin told him. Dibny then lifted up his shirt, revealing his chubby stomach, but then it stretched into a skinny one with abs.
"I'm back! I look like a Hemsworth," Dibny said and Caitlin smiled.