Kara sat behind the console again at STAR Labs, looking through tabs and tabs, searching where Marlize could be, but absolutely nothing came up. She even searched the twice, but no avail. "Where is she?" She muttered to herself as Harry walked in.
"Where is...where is she?" Harry asked, seemingly looking around the cortex for Kara, "I don't see her."
"No, Harry," Kara said and Harry looked back at her, "I-I'm talking about tracking down Marlize," and he nodded in understanding, "If DeVoe has popped back up, then she might too. And we need to find her before she causes any trouble."
"How are you tracking her?" Harry asked.
"Besides searching the city by myself, my viewers have sent in hundreds of tips. Plus there's facial recognition, and credit card checks," Kara explained.
"Facts," Harry said.
"Right," Kara said.
"Wrong," Harry said and Kara looked up at him confused.
"What?" She asked.
"You're looking at facts when you should be focusing on feelings," Harry said and Kara raised an eyebrow, "You remember the Council of Harrisons?"
"I do."
"Handsome but annoying. Well, they kind of taught me that if you wanna— if you wanna follow DeVoe's actions, you gotta focus on DeVoe's motives. Which is basically DeVoe's feelings, and so feelings, if you're Marlize DeVoe — where are you gonna feel safe?" Harry asked.
"So if I dig into her past, maybe I can figure out where she is now," Kara said before looking at Harry again, "Thank you, Harry. That's really helpful."
"Thank you, Kara Danvers, for saying that, I-I-I don't feel helpful that much anymore. So, thanks," Harry said and Kara softly eyed him before softly smiling.
"Are you busy, Harry?" She asked, getting up from her seat.
"Me?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, you," Kara softly chuckled, "Would you maybe wanna help me investigate?"
"Yes," Harry almost desperately said.
"Okay, cool," Kara said before she began to leave the cortex while Harry stayed where he was.
Then he realized she was leaving, "When— We're gonna—"
"Right now," Kara said, looking back at him, and he quickly began to follow her.
———
Barry zoomed into Cisco's Workshop where he found Cisco, Caitlin, and Mon-El standing in front of a clear board, with a strategy plan written on it, "Did you guys send an alert?" He asked.
"We did," Cisco said.
"We think we've figured out how to stop DeVoe and save the hostages," Caitlin said.
"What-What is it?" Barry asked.
"Us," Cisco said and Barry looked at him, "You bring us into Flash Time with you," in which Barry stared at them taken while he caught Mon-El's smile.
"Look guys, that's great, you know, you want to help, but we can't split up in A.R.G.U.S. if I'm holding onto you the whole time," Barry told them.
"Well, survey says you don't have to," Cisco said before they all stepped to the side, revealing all the information they knew about Flash Time on the board.
"Have you guys been researching me?" Barry asked, looking at the board.
"At first we thought you were vibrating our molecules when we were in Flash Time, but that didn't explain why we were conscious," Caitlin said.
"Which gave us this brain blast. When you run, you don't just tap into the Speed Force. You generate Speed Force around you," Cisco explained.
"It's like you're creating lightning to protect you from the friction, like an aura," Mon said and Barry stared at him curiously.
"So when I bring you into Flash Time, I'm actually extending my Speed Forge aura to you," Barry said and Mon-El nodded.
"And what if physical touch just focuses those powers?" He said.
"I could let go. Share my speed," Barry said.
"Exactly," Mon said.
"We'd only be able to last a few moments before we burnt out. Like fifty-five milliseconds of real time," Caitlin added.
"And thanks to relativity, that gives us just enough time to rescue the hostages while you chase DeVoe down the rabbit hole," Cisco said.
"Guys, I mean you know everything looks normal to me when I'm in Flash Time, but it took me months to learn how to operate like that," Barry said.
"Exactly," Cisco said as he stepped towards him, "That's what makes you the perfect candidate for training. And with Mon's already alien powers added with Flash Time, we'd be able to save those hostages. Easy. Train us."
"I know it's a leap, Barry, but we're running out of time and I just think it might work," Caitlin said and a soft smile appeared on Barry.
———
Later on in the Speed Lab, the room was decorated to make it seem like the hallway at the A.R.G.U.S. facility with the five agents hanging up. Barry, Mon-El, Cisco, and Caitlin stood at the start of the hallway, in STAR Labs sweats, with a timer set on a screen next to them, "Okay, ready?" Caitlin asked and they all nodded, "One second on the clock," and she pressed the timer, "Go."
Caitlin, Mon-El, and Cisco stood in front of Barry, holding hands, so when Barry touched them with the speed force, they were all affected. Yellow lightning circled around each of them, and time completely stopped. Literally.
"Oh, Flash Time, how I've missed thee," Cisco said as Mon-El smiled, never having actually been in Flash Time before.
"Here we go," Barry muttered.
"Is that lightning about to hit me?" Cisco asked and Barry shot him a look.
"You wanted to do this," he said.
Slowly, Barry let go of them and the circle around them disappeared, but yet, they stayed in Flash time, "Woah," Mon muttered.
"It's working," Caitlin smiled.
"Thank you, Speed Force," Cisco whispered to himself.
"Okay, here we go," Barry said before he stepped out in front of them, heading down the hallway, with them following, "Just remember, when you're moving this fast, it's not about running with your legs. It's about staying calm, focused, centered. Otherwise you're gonna fall on your ass at Mach 3."
"Yeah, okay, sensei, I'm just opening a breach," Cisco said before he attempted to open a breach under the first hostage. But he couldn't get the energy fully out.
"You good?" Barry asked.
"It's a little harder than I thought," Cisco muttered, "Maybe if I shift my weight—" but when he did, a yellow lightning circle went around his leg.
"Cisco?" Mon questioned.
"You're burning up already. You okay?" Barry asked.
"I-I-I can't move my leg," Cisco stammered.
"What?" Barry asked.
"My leg's not working," Cisco said.
"Alright, stay calm. Remember, concentrate. You're slowing down," Barry calmly said.
"I can't really concentrate, I-I gotta, gotta keep it loose. I gotta keep moving, I've got to breach, I mean—"
"You gotta stay calm," Barry repeated.
"Okay, well, I gotta get the leg to move," Cisco said before he tried to kick his non-moving leg with his moving leg, but then the moving leg, froze up as well, "Now both of my legs are stuck."
"What?" Barry asked.
"My-My legs are stuck," Cisco stammered, "I'm working with two frozen drumsticks here."
"Okay, just relax," Barry said.
"Okay...now I'm falling—"
"Cisco—? Oh!" Mon-El speed over to him, catching him before he fell right on his back.
Everyone had lightning circle them, time going back to normal, "You okay?" Mon asked Cisco.
"Yep. Yep," he muttered, placing himself back on his feet, "My leg's just asleep, but I'm gonna get this. I'm telling you."
"Okay," Barry muttered as Cisco began to walk off, to wake his leg up, right when Caitlin's phone began to go off.
She stepped off, grabbing her phone to see what it was about, "It's Joe and Cecile," she said, looking at Barry, "Do you think I can spare a minute?"
"Yeah...we could use a break," Barry said as Mon-El frowned.
———
In the Med Lab, Cecile sat on the bed as Caitlin finished the regular check up with Joe standing behind Cecile, "Good news is you're totally healthy," Caitlin said and Joe sighed.
"Thank God," Joe said as Cecile tilted her head, reading Caitlin's thoughts.
"Oh, no, Caitlin, please don't think relax. If you were nine months pregnant and you suddenly started craving Master Kush and Surf, I don't think you would relax," Cecile said.
"Actually...I was thinking relaxin. The hormone," Caitlin said and Cecile gestured for her to go on, "As we get closer to your due date, your body releases relaxin to loosen the ligaments to make it easier to deliver the baby. It's like you're literally stretching."
"So you think this hormone is stretching her meta powers?" Joe asked.
"Yes...I think instead of just reading people's minds, she's now inhabiting them," Caitlin said.
"Great. That's great. I mean, that's just one more thing for me to talk about in therapy," Cecile said and Caitlin stared at her tensed, "I mean, can you believe what Doctor Finkel said this morning?"
"Babe, we didn't see her this morning," Joe said.
"Uh, I did," Caitlin awkwardly said as Cecile got down from the bed.
"She thinks I'm repressing something. I mean, repressing something? How crazy is that?" Cecile asked, walking over to a table where she immediately spotted a glass flask, "Oh, my God. This Erlenmeyer flask is covered in water spots."
"Yeah, she's definitely me," Caitlin said, grabbing something off another table as Cecile began to clean to flask. She and Joe then walked up behind Cecile, "Here why don't I give you this," and Cecile turned back to them to see Caitlin was holding what seemed to be a inhaler, "It'll help you take some deep breaths and focus."
"I'm familiar with an albuterol inhaler, thank you," Cecile said before putting down the flask. She then took the inhaler, squeezing it down into her mouth, and just a few seconds later, she was back to normal, "Oh, my God...Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, Caitlin."
"Don't worry about it. You're just going off my instincts," Caitlin said.
"How do we stop this from happening again?" Cecile asked.
"I don't think we can until you give birth. So I think the best thing to do is actually keep you isolated and use this," Caitlin said before she handed the inhaler to Joe.
"Come on, we can handle that, Joe said and Cecile smiled.
"Okay, I'm gonna get back to training," Caitlin said with a smile.
"Thank you, Caitlin," Cecile said as Caitlin began to leave, until she turned to face the girl, "Hey, Caitlin?" And she turned back to face Cecile as well, "For what it's worth, when I was you back there for like twenty seconds, it seemed like you were trying to ignore something. Something really big. And if there's anything that I've learned from having these powers, it's that you cannot hide from anything forever. You just be careful, okay?" And Caitlin awkwardly smiled, nodding, before Joe and Cecile left.
———
Kara and Harry stood in the cortex, before a board full of Marlize's information. Essentially her entire life story, "Marlize Malan," Kara said, "Born in Cape Town."
"Cape Town," Harry smiled, "Summers by the sea. Picking grapes in the vineyard."
"Got a PhD in inflationary theory and engineering," Kara continued.
"Cute little button nose always buried in her book," Harry said before chuckling, "So nice."
"Tenured as a professor of engineering at Oxford where she met Clifford DeVoe," Kara continued.
"Where she met her husband to be. Isn't that romantic?" Harry asked, and Kara slowly looked at him, an odd and confused expression on her, "A continent apart, yet they find each other. So romantic. I mean, it's beautiful when you think about it..." and he looked at Kara with a smile, just for it to instantly drop when he saw her deadly annoyed look, "It's-It's...what?"
"Beautiful, what is that?" Kara questioned, "What are you doing?"
"I'm empathetic. I'm being empathetic— Council says be empathetic. I'm empathetic. You know? I'm putting myself in Marlize's shoes," Harry said before he gasped with an idea, "I should see if she's got a pair of shoes, put myself in 'em—"
"No, Harry," Kara said and Harry looked at her as she pointed to the board, "This? This is not a love story, okay? She married a psychopath."
"Psychopath now, not then. Back then he had feelings. They loved each other. He had feelings. She had feelings then he...lost the feelings, and that's why she got out. That's why she left. She left," Harry said before an idea purged him again, "Danvers-Allen...we should turn Marlize."
"What?" Kara asked.
"We should turn—"
"No, Harry. I don't think you even know what you're saying right now," Kara said.
"I know what I'm saying. I know. I have- I have bad days. Dumb Harry. But I'm not dumb today. Today's a good day. We should turn Marlize. Marlize can help us," Harry said and Kara stared at him, taken back.
"Why would she do that?" She asked.
"To stop the psychopath," Harry said, pointing at the picture of DeVoe, "Protect the man trapped inside the monster. Marlize can save everybody. Marlize is the key."
"Harry, we've tried that already. With Savitar. It didn't work. You can't save monsters," Kara sternly said.
"Marlize isn't a monster," Harry said, pointing at Marlize's picture, "She was manipulated by a monster. And besides, the clock's ticking. It's like ten hours before the Enlightenment. What do we have to lose?"
"She stabbed Iris with a katana, Harry. Our lives are what we have to lose. We can't save anyone if we're all dead," Kara told him off, and he slightly flinched back away from her.
"Right."
"We're going to find her and we're going to stop her so she doesn't hurt anyone ever again."
"Okay."
Kara then grabbed some files, stuffing them into her purse, "I left some of my files at home. I'll finish my investigation there," she said, beginning to leave the cortex.
"I'll come with," Harry said, trying to follow her.
"No, I'm fine, Harry. You stay here, okay?" Kara said.
"I'll come with—"
"Harry!" Kara snapped, looking back at him annoyed.
"I'll just stay here," Harry muttered as Kara walked out, "Just stay right here."
———
Back in the Speed Lab, the red lightning circled around Caitlin, Mon-El, and Cisco again before disappearing, Barry taking them into Flash Time again, "Alright, just remember to stay calm this time," Barry said before he and Mon-El looked at Cisco.
"Why are you looking at me—"
"I wasn't— both of you," Barry said before he sighed, stepping off towards the first agent, the three following him.
Cisco stood in front of the dummy, loosening his body to be more calm, "Alright. Take two," he muttered before he held out his fist, and with his whole concentration, a breach opened up under the hostage, "Yes!"
"Nice!"
"Brrrrat!"
"A little baby breach."
"That's right, Barry," Cisco smiled, "A baby breach. And in time, she'll blossom into maturity, but for now, in Flash Time, she's my little breachling."
"Okay," Barry muttered before looking over at Caitlin, who was holding the cold gun in her hands, "Cait..."
They all watched as she pulled the trigger on the gun, but it flickered, not working, frustrating her more, "Cold gun's still not working, just like Killer Frost," she muttered.
"We gotta find a way to off-set the friction," Barry said as Mon-El stared at the girl worried. Especially when her leg froze.
"Ah, damn it," she muttered, the gun dropping from her hands.
"Oh..."
"My leg's stuck," Caitlin said.
"Alright, just stay calm," Barry said as Caitlin tried to move again. But she stumbled backwards, tripping over her self, "Hey, watch out—!"
When Caitlin crashed back into the wall, she was unconscious for a moment, and saw a memory flash through her eyes:
A girl, crashed her bike into the ground, her leg tangled up in the tire wires, "Dad! My leg's stuck!"
A truck was coming right for the girl, sliding on its brakes, "Caitlin, watch out!"
"Caitlin!" Barry, Mon-El, and Cisco rushed to her side, seeing the crash left her unconscious, leaving Barry stressed.
———
When Caitlin finally came to, she found herself in the Med Lab, with Cisco, Mon-El, and Barry sitting around waiting for her, "What happened?" She asked.
"Training," Cisco said, "You came out of Flash Time in midair. I think you got concussed. Then again, I'm not the team doctors."
"I mean, I don't feel nauseous," Caitlin said, sitting up in the bed, "Just hand me some acetaminophen, and get back to training."
"No, hold on," Barry said as Caitlin turned to get out of the bed while Cisco got up to get the meds, "We have to talk about what happened."
"What do you mean?" Cisco asked, looking back at them, "You just lost focus, right?"
"Yeah."
"No, it was...I don't know. Something pulled your focus," Barry said.
"No...I'm fine," Caitlin said.
"If this were the real thing, you would have died," Barry said.
"Yeah, that's why it's called training. She'll get it," Mon said.
"I'm not a liability," Caitlin added.
"I know...I am," Barry said, causing the three to look at him confused, "I'm putting you guys in danger doing this. I mean, I-I realize you guys want to help, but I've got to stop training you."
"Barry, come on. Those hostages—"
"Mon and I'll find another way to save 'em," Barry said.
"You have to let us help you," Caitlin said, "I mean, after everything DeVoe did to us...Killer Frost."
"She's right. We're running out of time, you need to keep training them," Mon said.
"It's worth the risk," Cisco added.
"I'm not training you guys just to get you killed. I'm sorry," Barry said before he stormed out of the room, causing Mon-El's eyes to follow him, a stern look on him.
Barry and Kara's Apartment
At her apartment, Kara was looking through files upon files upon files as soft music played in the background on the Alexa when she suddenly heard—
KNOCK, KNOCK!
"Danvers-Allen!"
She froze, an annoyed expression on her face, hearing Harry outside of her apartment.
"Danvers-Allen!"
She scoffed to herself, "Of course he followed me home," she muttered under her breath before she walked up to her door.
"Danvers-Allen!"
Kara opened her apartment door, swinging out into the hallway to find Harry standing outside of her neighbors apartment, obnoxiously knocking, "Danvers-Allen! Danvers-Allen!"
"Apartment five!" Kara yelled out and Harry looked at her, "Hi, Harry."
"Five—Oh, you moved," Harry said.
"No," Kara said.
"This...This is apartment four," Harry said, beginning to walk over over to her.
"Four," Kara muttered.
"You're in apartment five," Harry said.
"Yes," Kara said as Harry stopped in front of here.
"So, look, I just came to say you were right. Trying to put myself in Marlize's shoes, and I forgot I should also try to put myself in your shoes," Harry said and Kara huffed.
"Thanks. It's very big of you to admit you were wrong, Harry," she said.
"I'm not— I don't know if I was wrong— The word you said. It's more like I'm dumb. I'm dumb now," Harry said.
"Harry."
"Yeah?"
"Marlize is not gonna help us fight her husband out of love," Kara said.
"Love. Exactly," Harry said before he began to search his pockets for something, "Look, she, look The Enlightenment was not born out of love," he then pulled out an article written about Marlize a while ago:
OXFORD PROFESSOR WOUNDED IN BLAST
"She's always been an activist. Look at that. Even before she met DeVoe, she was trying to save people," Harry continued.
"Yes, her earlier papers were very optimistic. She thought technically could, could liberate humanity," Kara said.
"Humanity. Right," Harry said.
"But she's not saving anyone now," Kara continued.
"Not according to your perspective. What about her perspective? Put yourself in her shoes," Harry said before he walked past her, right into her apartment.
"Come in, please," Kara annoyingly said before she turned into the apartment, finding Harry waddling around on the carpet.
"You know? Just put yourself in her shoes. Okay?" Harry said.
"Harry."
"Yeah?"
"Take your shoes off," Kara said.
"You put on my shoes, and I'll put on your shoes. We'll both trade shoes," Harry said, beginning to take his shoes off.
"No. No, Harry, I don't want to try your shoes on. I want you to take your shoes off," Kara said and Harry straightened up, looking down at her confused, "You're tracking mud all through my house. Please."
"Oh...right. Sorry," Harry murmured, walking towards the front door where the shoes were kept, "It's kinda more of a loft."
"This is my home, okay?" Kara said as Harry looked back at her, "This is the first place that I've lived in with Barry. It makes me feel loved and safe, and so we are going to keep it nice and...clean," her face had dropped at the end, realizing something.
"What? What is it?" Harry asked and she looked at him, "What are you thinking about?"
"I think I know where Marlize is hiding," Kara said and Harry smiled.
"Apartment four," he said. "No, not apartment four," Kara muttered, quickly grabbing her purse and shoes.
West Household
Meanwhile, Iris and Ruby were eating lunch at the dinner table when Joe walked down the stairs, not finding Cecile anywhere. "Babe. Babe?" Joe called out before suddenly, Cecile came out of the kitchen, holding a packed baby bag, and a katana, "What are you doing?"
Iris and Ruby looked over to see what was happening, and Ruby stared at the woman shocked that she was casually holding a sword, while Iris was unphased.
"Uh, I got, I got snacks. I got water. I got a change of clothes for the baby," Cecile listed off before she smiled, "Forgot a change of clothes for me," and she chuckled.
"You're me?" Joe asked before they both started laughing, "This is a whole new level of weird," and she tried to walk off, "Stop. Give me this..." he took the sword from her before pointing down at the couch, "Sit down."
He placed the sword down before the two plopped down on the couch, Joe taking the inhaler out. He handed it to Cecile, who deeply inhaled it in, "Better?"
When Cecile looked back at Joe, she had sweet smile on her, but it was not Cecile's, "Hey, daddy," she said.
Instantly, Iris dropped what she eating onto her plate, looking over at Cecile and Joe, a panicked look on her, "Uh-oh," she muttered.
"What's going on?" Cecile asked and Iris softly shook her head.
"No," she muttered.
"Where's Mon-El?" Cecile asked.
"No!" Iris gritted her teeth before quickly getting up from her seat, walking over in front of Cecile, with Ruby following.
"Mon-El?" Joe questioned.
"You know Mon-El, Dad. The love of my—"
"Do not finish that sentence," Iris almost demanded as Cecile slowly looked at her.
"...life," Cecile muttered, narrowing her eyes at Iris, "Who the hell are you?"
"Okay...not better," Joe muttered, reaching into his pocket to grab his phone, "I'm calling Caitlin."
"What are you doing in this house?" Cecile asked Iris, "We don't know you."
"Cecile...this is Iris's childhood home," Joe said.
"Cecile? Why do you keep calling me Cecile? My name's not Cecile" Cecile said, "I'm Iris West."
"No, I'm Iris West," Iris sternly said and Cecile looked at her again.
"Who do you think you are? Coming into my house, telling me what to do?" Cecile asked and Iris raised her eyebrows in shock as Ruby nervously looked in between.
Like Iris would do in this situation when a stranger invaded her home, she would reach for the sword. So that's what Cecile did. But Joe stopped her, "Okay, don't!" Joe exclaimed, forcing her to stay still, "Iris! Iris!" And Cecile looked at him, "Iris, sit down. Sit down," and Cecile did so as Iris actually sat down as well, "Okay. I need you to take a deep breath. In through your nose. Out through the mouth. Close your eyes," and Cecile did so, "Imagine that you're sitting in a big, beautiful sea. The waves are cresting over you, back and forth. Those waves...that's Joe. Now look up. Big, dark, beautiful sky with one shining star. That star is you, Cecile."
Cecile deeply exhaled as everyone nervously eyed her, "Great. How do you feel?"
Cecile opened her eyes, seeing Iris and Ruby, then looked next to her, seeing Joe, all of them worried looks on them, "Joe?" She asked and they all sighed in relief.
"Oh, God," Joe muttered.
"Oh, Iris," Cecile muttered, looking at her, "I'm sorry."
"It's...fine," Iris muttered with a smile.
"You pulled me back," Cecile turned back to Joe, "How did you pull me back?" And he pointed to the Lamaz book in on the table, "Lamaz?"
"I-I had to switch some things up in my head, but," Joe said and Cecile smiled.
Iris smiled at them before suddenly asking, "Hey, am I crazy?" She asked and they looked at her, "Cause you reached for that katana."
"No, Iris. Trust me, there are far worse heads I could have gotten stuck in," Cecile said and Iris nodded, "And I was stuck in your head," which Iris tensed up, "I saw what I saw. And I felt what I felt."
"I..."
"Iris," Cecile sternly said, her eyebrows raised and Iris frowned.
"Um...I think...I'm gonna go to STAR Labs, real quick," Iris softly said and Cecile smiled while Joe and Ruby just stared at the two confused, "I'll be back, Ruby," and she got up from her seat.