"And though her heart is soft, her soul was laced with steel"
- Lauren M. Garcia
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1:01 AM
Cisco and Harry were the only ones of the team awake. Cisco was clearly sleep deprived while he spun around in a chair, balancing a wireless keyboard on his head, while Harry stood at the consoles, sipping on a cup of coffee. "What if- What if I just, like, breach all three of the bus metas to, like, Earth-2?" Cisco asked.
"How about this? We alter each bus meta's DNA by performing intercellular surgery," Harry told him.
"And what? Turn them into chickens?" Cisco asked, a goofy smile on him.
"Yeah," Harry said, which Cisco looked at him, causing the keyboard to drop into his lap.
"We're not Frankensteining innocent people," he said.
"Listen, Ramon," Harry said as he walked around the console, facing Cisco, "DeVoe wants these bodies. Alright? Maybe if we change the bodies, we keep these people safe."
"I'm sorry, don't you have, like, six PhDs?" Cisco asked.
"Seven," Harry corrected.
"Yeah, which one of them is in mad science?" Cisco asked and Harry rolled his eyes.
"Mad science is just an area of study. It's not a degree, okay?" Harry said as he walked back behind the console, "And by the way, I don't see you coming up with any other ideas."
"You know why? Cause it's bed time over here on Earth-1," Cisco said before he got up from his seat, beginning to walk over to Harry, "Do you know what bed time is? Do they have that on Earth-2?"
"Bed time," Harry muttered annoyed.
"Alright, it's this thing where we just shut down to recharge our batteries. I highly recommend it," Cisco said, now standing at the entrance of the cortex, looking back at Harry who continued to press things on the screens of the console.
Cisco then walked up behind Harry, trying to see what he was doing, "Harry-"
"You're still here?" Harry asked, placing his coffee mug down, "What?"
"No matter what you think, DeVoe's already thought of it. So why don't you just go home, recharge, start again in the morning, all right?" Cisco said.
"I'm gonna keep going," Harry said, continuing to press buttons.
Cisco then sighed annoyed, "Goodnight," and he walked out of the cortex.
Harry pressed across the screen and a picture of Clifford DeVoe appeared. "Maybe you have thought of everything," he murmured, thinking to himself before pressing across the screen again, a picture of Harrison Wells coming next to the DeVoe picture, "Just like Thawne."
———
The next morning, Barry, Kara, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin and Ralph all stood in the cortex, staring at a sleep deprived crazied Harry who stood before multiple boards full of equations. It all showed them his idea. A thinking cap.
"What is all this?" Iris asked.
"This is gonna give us the edge we finally need to be smarter than DeVoe. Or me to be smarter than DeVoe, actually. Take a look at this," Harry explained before showing them another board of more equations, but this time — an illustration.
"What is that?" Cisco asked.
"This is an intelligence booster. You put this thing on Dibny here, and even he would be able to understand the point source construction," Harry explained before gesturing to himself, "You put it on a real genius, I'll finally be able to outthink the Thinker."
"You know what, I'm not sure this thinking cap is the best idea you've ever had. It's an intelligent cap is the best idea you've ever had," Cisco said. "It's an intelligence booster," Harry corrected.
"It looks like a thinking cap," Cisco said.
"You don't like it, blame yourself. You gave me the idea," Harry said.
"What?" Cisco asked.
"You're the one that said DeVoe planned all this just like Thawne in order to stop Barry," Harry said before he turned to Barry, "And you said that DeVoe became the Thinker the same night you became The Flash, and so I hacked into security footage of that night to see how he did it," he then turned one of the TVs on, showing DeVoe standing in pouring rain, a thinking cap on, and lightning striking him in the head, "This is why he's so smart. DeVoe boosted his intelligence with neurochemical engineering powered by the dark energy from the particle accelerator explosion. And if we build our own, we can do the exact same."
"Wait, you wanna blast your brain with ten billion joules of dark energy?" Barry asked.
"I've harnessed energy from the particle accelerator explosion before, and I can do it again," Harry said.
"Yeah, but Harry, re-engineering your brain's neurochemistry, that's-"
"DeVoe did it. So can I. How many more metas have to die before we finally stop DeVoe?" Harry asked.
"Uh, not-not me. I mean...I saw we got for it. Right?" Ralph said, looking around the room to find conflicted faces on everyone, "Right, guys?"
Barry sighed before he looked down at the standing Kara next to him, "What do you think he?" He asked and she looked up at him for a moment, thinking to herself.
"I mean...it sounds risky, but...if you think it can help us defeat DeVoe, Harry...I say look into it," Kara said, her eyes back on Harry.
"Yeah, I agree," Caitlin chipped in.
"Me too," Iris said.
Harry nodded before looking at a very uncharacteristically quiet Cisco, "Ramon," he muttered.
"No, this is way too risky," Cisco said.
"Of course it's risky, but if we succeed, we will save the lives of the four remaining bus metas," Harry said before pointing to Ralph, "Including a member of our team."
"You're talking about intense amounts of dark energy going right into your brain, right into that cap, that turned a Mac and Cheese loving pacifist into a homicidal maniac. You put that cap on, what's it gonna do to you?" Cisco asked.
"I've run the numbers dozens of times. The math and the chemistry check out. I can do this," Harry told him.
"I don't think you can," Cisco said.
"I can with your help," Harry said.
"Not this time," Cisco said and Harry narrowed his eyes at him, "Alright, let's keep coming up with more ways to solve this," he then walked out of the cortex while everyone else frowned.
"Just so I'm clear on this," Ralph began, everyone looking at him, "Someone finally came up with a way to stop this La-Z-Boy riding lunatic and we just might not do it?" And by everyone's silence, he shook his head in annoyance, "That's really cool, guys," and he stormed out as well.
"I got this one," Iris said, getting up from his seat, walking after him.
"Thank you," Kara said, fiddling with her wedding rings.
"This is the only way," Harry said, and Kara and Barry looked his way, "I'm gonna do it with or without his help."
Down the hall and into the corridor, Iris caught up with Ralph, who was heading straight for the elevators, "Hey, Ralph. Look, don't worry, okay? We're gonna figure this out," she assured him.
"Yeah, everybody keeps saying that, and each time we almost get DeVoe, he gets away. Every time he gets away, he's one step closer to getting me," Ralph said.
"Hey, that is not going to happen," Iris said.
"Well, I can't take that chance anymore, Iris. So if anyone needs me, I will be downstairs in my tiny guest quarters until this is over," Ralph said, pressing the button on the wall for the elevator.
"There are still three bus metas out there, and we're gonna need your help to find them and protect them," Iris told him.
"Iris, the only person I need to protect from now on is good old Ralphie boy," Ralph told her.
"You are part of this team," she sternly said.
"Yeah, and I'm also the only one with a body that DeVoe is trying to snatch. You don't have any concept of how dangerous it is for me out there," Ralph said.
"Yes, I do," she said.
"How could you?" He asked.
"Because I'm also a part of this team," Iris said as the elevator opened.
"Yeah, that's right, you are. But you're always back there," Ralph said, pointing down the hall, "Hiding safe and sound," he then stepped inside the elevator, "While the rest of us are out in the field putting our lives on the line," the doors shut in Iris's face, while she stood there, thinking to herself.
CC Jitters
Joe was sitting in the shop, enjoying himself a cup of coffee when Barry walked up to him, sitting across from him. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Some drama in the Cortex. Thanks for the coffee," Barry said.
"It's all good," Joe said and Barry looked up at him, noticing a look in his eyes, "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm, you know, Cecile's in her third trimester, so it's definitely getting serious," Joe explained and Barry smiled.
"You guys have any names picked out yet?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah. A few," Joe said and Barry raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, I'm not gonna tell anybody," he said.
"No, you're not, because you're not gonna know until Cecile tells you," Joe said.
"Alright," Barry muttered, his lips forming a lined frown.
"Anyway. I talked to Singh about getting you back in the lab," Joe said and Barry's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, and?" He asked.
"It's gonna be a while," Joe said and Barry slightly pouted.
"Why? I thought Judge Hankerson and Singh had everything they needed. We thought so, too, but the mayor wants to sit down with the DeVoes herself," Joe explained.
"Seriously?" Barry asked.
"Look, we can't find Marlize, so the only chance we got is to get Ralph to use his nauseating powers to impersonate DeVoe again," Joe said.
"Alright, I'll ask him, but right now he'll barely leave STAR Labs," Barry told him.
"What happened to that whole buddy system thing you had going on?" Joe asked.
"It's not enough for him, I guess," Barry said.
"Then I don't know, Barry," Joe said.
"I should be out there. Helping people. Putting bad guys away," Barry said, craving to have his job back.
"Right now? We should be trying to stop DeVoe and finding those last few bus metas, cause I got a bad feeling one of them's gonna show up soon," Joe said and Barry nodded.
Central City Bank
After a attempted robbery, CCPD was called in, meaning Cisco, and Joe. Cisco scanned the melted safe with his dark particles scanner, it screaming like crazy.
Joe then walked up behind him, "Cisco."
"Hmm?"
"What do you got?" Joe asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual," Cisco said, before looking back at Joe, "Just loads and loads of dark matter."
"Makes sense. Eye witnesses said this guy melted this vault door with fire from his hands," Joe told him.
"Hmm, figures. But not just any fire," Cisco said before he pointed at the melted safe, "This fire melted through ten inches of reinforced steel. I mean, that would take over six-thousand degree Fahrenheit. Ten times the thermal output of Rory's heat gun."
"Well, here's where it gets weirder," Joe said, the two of them beginning to walk away from the safe, "Apparently shortly after, his powers stopped working."
"Stopped working?" Cisco questioned.
"Yeah, so if he was one of our bus metas, I guess we have one less to worry about," Joe said.
"Nobody's power stop working," Cisco said, the two of them approaching a blonde white man, dressed in a fashionable suit.
"Eric Fry, five months ago, were you on the 405 bus?" Joe asked.
"Please," Fry muttered in his English accent, "Do I look like someone who takes public transit?"
"Alright then, Mister Fry," Cisco said, mocking his accent, "How long have you had your powers?"
"A few years," Fry said.
"Oh," Cisco muttered, back in his normal voice, "You're an OG meta."
"And you just started using them now?" Joe asked.
"Here, yeah. Once Supergirl and Flash showed up, I took this act on the road," Fry said before he gestured to his meta cuffs around his wrists, "Doesn't matter anymore, though."
"Right, you don't have your powers anymore," Cisco said, bending down in front of Fry, scanning over him with his dark matter scanner, "Cause they just disappeared? Vanished?" He then smushed the scanner against Fry's cheek, causing the Brit to look down at him annoyed, "Into thin air? Huh?"
"Alright, Cisco," Joe said, tapping on his shoulder to stop.
"He's clear," Cisco said before standing again.
"You have any idea how this happened?" Joe asked.
"One minute I had powers. The next...nothing," Fry told him.
Joe nodded before looking at some nearby officers. "Will you get him out of here?" He asked and they walked up, grabbing Fry.
"That's right. Get him out of here," Cisco said.
"Alright," Fry muttered annoyed before he got dragged off.
"Yeah, get him out of here," Cisco continued before looking at Joe, who was thinking to himself, "I can't believe his powers disappeared like that."
"How does someone lose theirs powers?" Joe questioned.
STAR Labs
"So, I can think of a couple ways this might have happened," Caitlin said, looking at the bank's footage, "If this Eric Fry metastasizes solar radiation to create heat, we could put him in the dark to de-power him," she then faced everyone in the room, which was Joe, Cisco, Ralph, Barry, Iris and Kara.
"But it was still broad daylight," Joe said.
"Ookay, maybe his internal biochemistry has been altered to create its own internal thermal combustion and he just ran out of fuel," Caitlin continued.
"Okay, so if this guy's not one of the bus metas, then that means that there's still three more out there before DeVoe gets to me. So, I'm safe. Safer, I'm safer," Ralph said.
"Those are innocent people, Ralph," Barry said.
"I'm innocent. I'm still gonna get terminated," Ralph said before he had a realization, "Oh, my God. I'm Sarah Connor."
"No," Barry muttered annoyed.
"I'm gonna go back to my room. Get some comfort food," Ralph said, beginning to walk out.
"Ralph-" But Ralph continued his way out.
"The way I see it," Cisco continued, pointing at the screen footage where Fry and a Asian man was, "Fry walks into the bank with his fire powers, meets this other guy, and then his powers are gone. Coincidence? I think not."
"So you think this guy did something to Fry?" Caitlin asked.
"I think we can ask him some questions," Cisco said before he turned back to Joe, who was standing by the console with Kara and Iris.
"I interviewed every eye witness in that bank. Nobody knew who he was," Joe said as Cisco stepped behind one of the computers by him.
"Cisco," Kara muttered, thinking to herself, "Why don't you cross check the deposits from today with Joe's witness list?"
"Way ahead of you," Cisco said, already going through the online list, "Everyone on the list checks out except Matthew Kim — an EMT out of Central City General."
"Barry," Joe said and he looked back at him, "Kara," and the blonde perked up, "Let's go ask some questions."
"Oh!" Iris suddenly snapped out from her seat, a nervous look on her, "I-I'll go," she then noticed Kara and Barry's confused expressions, "I mean, I would like to go."
Kara questioningly nodded before looking at Barry, "You can stay here, right?" She said and Barry hesitantly nodded.
"Um, okay," he said.
"Well, you know, I never go out into the field? So I thought, you know," Iris said before she smiled.
"I mean, if Kara says you can. She's the boss," Barry said and Kara smiled.
"Alright, come on Iris," Kara said and Iris excitedly grabbed up her jacket, "Caitlin, why don't you see how this power stealing thing works, and Cisco, why don't you use the satellite's tracking perimeters to scan the city for dark matter?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"I'll just come running if you need me," Barry said and Kara smiled at him as the three of them began to head out.
"Thanks. Love you," she said.
Once they left, Barry awkwardly turned to Cisco and cleared his throat, "Can I hang out in here?"
———
Meanwhile, in Cisco's Workshop, Harry was working on building the Thinking Cap with Ralph helping him. But he was stuffing his face with hotdogs. "Can you- Do you mind- Can you save the eating till later?" Harry asked, "We're actually trying to save lives here."
"This is really good, though," Ralph mumbled with his mouth full.
Harry sighed annoyed as he stopped what he was doing to the cap, "Is it?" He asked.
"Yeah, you put this together pretty quick, huh?" Ralph asked.
"Yes, I did, for a test run," Harry said before he picked up the cap from off its stand, placing it on top his head, which it worked immediately, "Ooh, I can feel my neurons firing," he then glided in his chair to a computer, "Firing at a rate twenty times their normal rate. And that's without the addition of dark matter. I can feel my brain's processing systems evolving," he then turned back to Ralph, snapping his fingers, seeing him take a bite of his hotdog, "There's a sixty-seven percent chance you're gonna spill that mustard on the floor—" and mustard splashed right on the floor, "Oh!" Harry smiled as Ralph stared at him oddly.
"Okay, how did you do that?" Ralph asked.
"Well, I simply analyzed your eating habits and extrapolated them at a predictive behavior model all within four seconds. The cap is working," Harry explained.
"Eh, cool, but I'm not quite convinced," Ralph said.
"No? Really? You're not convinced?" Harry asked before he watched Ralph wipe some mustard off of his hands and onto his work pants, "Alright then, the answer is none. And have a little more respect for your body, will you?"
"That's a veggie dog, man," Ralph said, placing his dog down on his plate.
"I'm not talking about the veggie dog, man. I'm talking about the wiping the mustard on the pants causes the pant movement which indicates a lack of clothing to bodily friction, which can mean only one thing," Harry explained.
"Right, what kind of underwear am I wearing?" Ralph asked.
"And the answer is," Harry said before he stood up from his seat, arms crossed across his chest, "None."
"You got all that from your fancy metal cap?" Ralph asked.
"Yes, I did," Harry said.
"It's impressive, Harry. Except for one very small thing," Ralph said.
"Which is?" Harry asked.
"Your head is on fire," Ralph said, pointing up.
But Harry laughed, "It's no-" he started, until he heard a fire crackling, so his eyes went up. And the cap was indeed on fire.
He quickly grabbed it from off his head and placed it on the table while Ralph grabbed the fire extinguisher. He pulled the trigger and put out the fire, while Harry frowned in frustration.