At the West Household, Cecile was sitting at the dinning table when Iris walked in from the kitchen, holding two fresh cups of tea. "All right, coming in hot," she said, placing the cups down.
"Oh, hey, you didn't have to do all that," Cecile said.
"Listen, I did not inherit my dad's skills in the kitchen, but a decaf herbal tea, that I can do," Iris said, taking a seat across from Cecile.
"So, if it's okay with you, I just was wondering if I could talk to you about Joe," Cecile said.
"Um, yeah," Iris hesitantly said, "Of course it's okay."
But for a moment, Cecile stared at her, reading what Iris was thinking, "Oh, no, honey, it's-it's not about that," she said and Iris smiled relieved, "We have zero problems in that department," she then pointed at her belly, "As you can tell."
And Iris's smile dropped, purely disgusted now. "Okay," she awkwardly said, "TMI, but okay."
"I really thought being able to read his mind would make our relationship stronger, not push us apart," Cecile said.
"Well, how does my dad feel about your new powers?" Iris asked.
"He thinks it's gonna take a little getting used to," Cecile said.
"Yeah, but how does he feel?" Iris asked but Cecile seemed confused, "Look, we all know that my dad thinks that he's this cool, grounded man of mystery, but we all know that he's actually just-"
"A big softie," Cecile said with a smile.
"A big softie," Iris agreed, "But if you really want to get closer to my dad, you need to stop focusing on what he's thinking and find out what he's feeling."
STAR Labs
In Cisco's Workshop, Caitlin and Harry were staring at a board of equations, thinking to themselves. "Maybe we could use a biochemical treatment and target the pituitary glands? Flood them with human growth hormones?" Caitlin asked.
"No, that will just accelerate their d— it'll make things worse," Harry said.
"Guys?"
"What?" Harry asked.
"Guys?"
"Yeah?" Harry asked.
"Guys!"
"What?!" Harry slammed his hands against the table where the LEGO set was, which caused Ralph, Cisco and Mon-El to tumble around like it was an earthquake.
"Little Ralphie needs to use little boys room," Ralph innocently said.
"Didn't you just go?" Cisco asked, who sat on the bench where Mon-El laid on.
"My bladder is literally the size of a hummingbird's right now," Ralph said before he looked at Caitlin, "Come on, Caitlin. Help a wee fellow take a wee-wee?"
"Can you-"
"Me?" Caitlin questioned.
"Well, I'm not touching him," Harry said. "Fine," Caitlin said before she looked at Ralph, "I'll take you there, but you have to find your own way out."
Caitlin then picked him up and walked out, leaving Harry alone with Cisco and Mon, who stared up at him and his concerned expressions.
"The embiggening bazooka made us unstable, didn't it?" Cisco asked, standing up from the bench. "Yeah- no. What? No! Wh-Why would you say that?" Harry asked.
"I can see it all over your face," Cisco said.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Your face is huge. I'm watching your emotions on IMAX," Cisco said.
"Yeah. Yeah, this- This was supposed to be an easy W, all right?" Harry said as he wakes around the table, "An easy victory. All we had to do was capture Rundine. Couldn't even do that for Allen."
"Okay, so, you tried," Cisco said.
"Yeah, and I failed, because I'm stupid," Harry said before he chuckled, causing Mon to stand up as well, "All right? Too stupid to help Allen's friend, too stupid to fix you, or too stupid to stop DeVoe— Ow!"
He had realized that Cisco blasted him while Mon stood on the bench, with his arms crossed. "Wh-What was that for?"
"Believe me, I'd punch you in the arm if I could," Cisco said and it looked like Harry was going to slap him, so Cisco held up his hand. "Ahhh!"
But Harry backed down.
"Look, I know you're not used to going up against someone you can't outsmart, like DeVoe, but you really are stupid if you think you're too stupid. You wanna help Barry? You wanna free him? Get out of your own way and u shrink us."
"You weren't shrunk, all right? That's now how his powers work! His powers — work by not just removing the space between the atoms, but also taking out the gravity particles and the dark energy, so that when he embiggens an object-"
"He's refilling it with the same combination of energy he extracted," Cisco added on.
"Yes," Harry said, pointing at him.
"Harry...if you wanna fix us-"
"We need to put you back in Rundine's line of fire," Harry said.
———
Later that night, Ralph stood with Cisco and Mon again, all of them looking up at Harry, Caitlin, and Iris. "What do you mean we only have twenty minutes until we explode?" Ralph asked.
"Actually, it's only eighteen minutes before your equilibrium totally destabilizes," Caitlin said.
"Not helping, Caitlin!" Mon snapped.
"You're gonna blow up in under twenty minutes, unless we re-expose you to Rundine's energy blasts, okay?" Harry said before Kara walked in.
"Okay, so a facial recognition just picked him up at Weather Services Airfield. I think he's trying to skip town," Kara told them all.
"Okay, I'm gonna stay here and try and figure out a cure," Caitlin said.
Streets of Central City
It was pouring rain. Iris was drinking the STAR Labs van, Harry was in the passenger seat while Supergirl was in the back, the van being such faster than flying through the rain. "Gotta go faster. We gotta go faster," Harry criticized Iris.
"Do you wanna drive this thing?" Iris asked.
"Kinda do," Harry said before he touched his comms, "Ramon, El, remember, when Rundine tries to shrink the van, you've got to get in the path of his blast. Do you understand?"
"Copy that. We're heading into the hanger now."
Central City's Weather Services Agency
A drone flew into the hangar of the facility, with Cisco, Mon-El and Ralph on top of it, but they saw that Rundine was alone. And that he saw the drone. "Uh, guys? I think he sees us," Ralph said into comms.
"You're not getting big again," Rundine told them, but in the distance, he saw headlights. Of a van. Heading right for him.
So he pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at the van, and it embiggend into a car. Iris swung the stirring wheel around, making it so that they dodged the car, which crashed and blew up right behind the van.
Rundine chuckled to himself until he heard an awful crash. Like a car door got kicked down. He looked towards the van to see the slide door was on the ground and a red boot was hanging out of the van.
His expression dropped when he saw Supergirl step out of the van, heading right for him. Walking perfectly well, not speeding up at all, wanting to scare him the closer she gets.
At the same time, Harry and Iris, ran around the van, blasters in hand. "I'll go left, you go right!"
But Rundine pulled something out from his pocket and threw it right at Iris. A big yellow jeep. Before it could hurtle on top of Iris, Supergirl flew in, holding it up. She then threw it the side, a glare in her eyes.
"Harry, try flanking him. We're gonna come around the other side."
"Copy that," Harry said, both he and Supergirl heading for Rundine. But he pulled something out of his pocket again, throwing it towards the drone. A helicopter.
"Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!"
"I know, I'm doing it!"
"Oh, boy," Harry muttered before he ducked out of the way so he wouldn't get sliced.
Cisco, Mon, and Ralph all screamed as they barely missed being squashed by the helicopter. Rundine chuckled at all the chaos around him.
"We've gotta figure out how to get him to fire at us."
But then they saw Rundine pulled out a missile launcher.
"Abort!"
The three jumped off the drone right before it got hit by the missile. Cisco and Mon now were floating to the ground, while Ralph held them, his body stretched out like a parachute.
"We're going too fast."
"Think light thoughts."
"I'm thinking how you nearly got us killed!"
"Think lighter!"
Harry swung around behind the helicopter before pressing his comms. "Snow, tell me you got something," he said.
"The cure is not done yet. Only one minute till the boys go nuclear."
"I don't want to explode," Ralph said, now standing on the ground with Cisco and Mon.
"What do we do?" Cisco asked.
"Iris!" Mon yelled, but she wasn't nearby, not able to hear him.
"Plan B," Harry muttered to himself.
Just a few moments later, Rundine was stealing the thing who miniaturized before the heroes got there when suddenly he heard a whistle. He turned around just to have to dodge a laser being shot at him. Harry and Supergirl stood just a couple feet away from him. "I'm gonna shrink you down to the subatomic level, boy," Rundine said which Harry smirked while Supergirl chuckled.
"Oh, is that right?" Harry asked, before he moved his fingers forward, "I'd like to see you try."
Rundine then blasted at Harry and it hit him. But it didn't consume him. Instead, three small figures jumped out of his front pocket, glowing golden, as they embiggend back to normal.
Cisco, Mon-El and Ralph all rolled across the floor while Rundine looked at them surprised. Giving Supergirl enough time.
She zoomed up to Rundine and punched him right across the face. He stumbled back but then was shocked by an electric choke hold around his neck, shot by Iris, who stood a couple feet behind him.
He dropped to the ground right as a police car zoomed up next to Iris, Joe getting out of it.
Iris walked up to the boys who were chuckling, touching their faces in relief. "I'm big again! I'm big again!" Ralph exclaimed.
"Remind me to never again breath into any of Harry's stankin' ass pockets!" Cisco said as they all stood up.
"Hey," Iris said, walking up to Ralph, "Sorry again about stepping on you."
"Hey, you saved me a trip to the chiropractor," Ralph said.
"Yeah, I guess so," Iris chuckled while Mon watched her from the side.
Meanwhile, Cisco stood next to Harry. "You did it," he said.
"Yeah, I guess I did," Harry said.
They all then watched as Supergirl grabbed Rundine, pulling him up to his feet while Joe walked up behind him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Hands behind your back," Joe told him and Supergirl gave Rundine a stern look.
"You heard him. Hands behind your back," she said and he put his hands behind him, then Joe cuffed him up.
But before Joe could take him away, Mon-El stepped up next to Supergirl, giving Rundine a stern look. "Rundine...sixteen years ago, did you rob a Mercury Labs warehouse?" He asked.
"Give us your confession now, and I guarantee the D.A. will cut you a deal," Joe said.
"Mercury Labs," Rundine muttered, "That's the one that Ratchet got fingered for," he then cackled, "I laughed so hard when that guy got arrested. You want a confession? Find a priest. I'd rather rot." Joe then pulled him away and towards his cop car, while everyone else looked like they failed.
Iron Heights Prison
The next day, Barry was at the phone booth, on the phone with Joe while Dave stood nearby. "Yeah, all right. Thanks," Barry said before glancing over at Dave, "Hey, Joe, just hold on a second, all right?" He then placed the phone on top of the booth, looking back at Dave.
"Ain't good news, is it?" Dave asked and Barry sighed.
"Rundine won't confess. My friends tried everything, I mean, the-the DA offered every deal she could, but...I'm so sorry, man. Look, you were right about everything in here. You know I-I made you a promise and I let you down," Barry told him.
"You Damn idiot," Dave said and Barry cowered down, "You did not let me down," and Barry looked up at him surprised, "I forgot what hope felt like. It's not a bad thing — I'll see you around, kid," and he walked off.
Barry then grabbed the phone again, placing it to his ear, "Hey, sorry," he said.
"It's okay, Bar."
"I just wanna thank you for trying, you know, and I'm sorry to send you on this goose chase," Barry said.
"Barry, that place you're in is full of walls. When you hit one of those walls, you find a way to get through it. Don't lose your faith. There's too many people counting on you, out here and in there."
"Yeah," Barry muttered.
———
That night, when Barry made sure the cameras weren't on him, he zoomed out of his cell, phased through Dave's, then zoomed him out of it. Out of the jail, and all the way to JiaJu, China, leaving Dave there by himself and confused. But there was a note in his hand. He opened it up.
: Sometimes you do get the movie ending
He chuckled to himself before he looked around him, breathing in the scenery.
Barry was able to get back to his cell before no one knew he was gone, and he simply smiled.
West Household
The next morning, Joe grabbed his satchel and was on his way to the door to leave for the day when Cecile walked down the stairs. "Nope," she said and he looked back at her confused, "Nobody leaves until we're both good again."
"Okay," Joe said, placing his satchel down, "What do you want from me, Cecile?"
"I wanna know why me having these powers is so upsetting to you," Cecile said.
"You have the power. Just read my mind," Joe said.
"Uh-uh, no, no, no, me reading your thoughts is what got us into all of this. I want to know how you feel," Cecile said and Joe sighed.
He then walked over to the back of the couch, leaned against it while Cecile sat down on the step going into the living room. "Cecile, you being able to read my thoughts, it—It makes me feel vulnerable in a way that I don't like, you being able to hear every scared dumb thought of mine. I just don't want you seeing me like that," Joe explained.
"But I would never think less of you for the thoughts that cross your mind," Cecile said.
"How could you not?" Joe asked and Cecile sighed.
"Okay," Cecile said before she cleared her throat, "Joe, your grandma Esther's noodles, they taste terrible. Uh, no, they are terrible. That woman had no business ever messing with the wok."
"Wow, okay. Wow," Joe said, surprised.
"And I think that I have been using semi-colons wrong for my entire life, which leads me to believe that I don't even know what a semi-colon actually is. Also, I would like to buy a new pair of pants, cause," Cecile explained, before pointing at her baby bump, "But I haven't yet, cause I'm afraid to go into the store, cause I think the salesperson is gonna judge me, because, truthfully, even I think that I am just a little bit crazy for having another baby at this age-"
"Oh, baby," Joe said, getting up and sitting next to Cecile, "You're not crazy. That speech you just gave w-was a little," and Cecile laughed, "But you're not."
"Those were my scared, dumb, vulnerable thoughts. You think any less of me?" Cecile asked.
"Of course not," Joe said and Cecile smiled.
"Mm-mm. Look I can't promise you that I'm gonna stop reading your mind. I-I don't even really know how this all works yet. But I can promise you that nothing you ever think will change my opinion of you. And even when you're not thinking it, I know that you are the brave, brilliant, devastating handsome man that I love, and the one thought I hear you have the most is that you love me too," Cecile told him.
"And I do," Joe said and Cecile chuckled before he kissed her.
STAR Labs
Kara, Iris, Mon-El and Caitlin all stood by the computers, with Cisco and Ralph sat down in chairs while Harry placed Rundine's picture on the bus meta board. "Well, based on my scans, Mon, Ralph and Cisco's cells have reformed and re-stabilized," Caitlin said.
"I can attest my bladder is completely back to normal," Ralph said, sipping down a large cup of soda, "Fourth Big Gulp today."
"I miss when we could just pick him up and carry him out of the room," Caitlin whispered to Kara, who nodded in agreement.
"Hey," Cisco said to Harry, who turned around towards him, "You just passed up a dig at Dibny. Sure you're all right?"
"You know, we reopen a case against an innocent man, and, oh, somehow stumble upon the actual culprit, a culprit who, by the way, has meta-human powers that we are partially responsible for," Harry explained.
"It's like you said. There are no coincidences when it comes to DeVoe and these bus metas," Iris said.
"What's DeVoe doing? What's his motive? Does he want Sylbert Rundine incarcerated?" Harry asked.
"Or to have Big Sir set free?" Kara asked. "Or for me to come back before Barry did?" Mon asked.
"Or for Cisco, Mon and I to become itty-bitty meta-humans?" Ralph asked.
"Not a meta-human," Mon told him.
"Well, whatever his plan is, we'll figure it out. We're gonna stop him," Harry said.
"And bring Barry home," Kara said.
"And bring Barry home," Harry added.
Iron Heights Prison
That night, Barry was eating some more pudding in his cell when suddenly his cell door buzzed open. He looked at it confused just to see Warden Wolfe standing there. "On your feet, Inmate," he said and confused, Barry placed his pudding on the shelf.
"Is there a problem, Warden?" Barry asked.
"As you know, Inmate Ratchet mysteriously disappeared last night. Where do you think he went?" Wolfe asked.
"Well, I couldn't say," Barry said.
"In an effort to locate Inmate Ratchet, I reviewed the security camera footage. Did you know the oscillating cameras aren't the only ones in this wing?" Wolfe asked but Barry stared at him confused, "Once you started stroking Inmate Ratchet's hopes of freedom, I had a camera installed right by your cell," Barry now stared at him shocked while Wolfe gestured to the small camera directly outside of Barry's cell, "And when I checked that camera, I learned who you truly are."
"Um, I don't know what you're talking about," Barry said.
"Then let me be specific," Wolfe said before he showed Barry a picture in a file. Of him. Speeding off from his cell. "You are the Flash. There's no use denying it or trying to run," and at that exact moment, Barry blinked, not feeling so well, "You're clearly already feeling the effects of the drug cocktail I put in that snack you so seem to enjoy."
Barry tripped over himself, but he grabbed hold of the cell bars, trying to keep his composure as long as he could. "Why? Why would you do this?" He asked.
But he couldn't hold on any longer, and fell to the ground, his eyes slowly beginning to flutter close. Wolfe bent down, watching him go under. "I did warn you — everyone in here is a monster."