After a few days of rest and physical therapy, Barry was back on his feet with a cane. Joe and I helped him into the cortex as he tried to take a few steps on his own and we followed closely behind.
"Alright, I got you," Joe told him.
He took a few more steps before falling forward as I grabbed his arm helping him into Wells' old wheelchair.
"I can't do it right now, alright?" He sighed.
"We've been making so much progress," Joe answered.
"Yep, six whole steps," Barry said sarcastically, "Someone get me a bozo button."
"Hey, give yourself some credit. You just broke your back," Cisco answered.
"Yeah, a normal person would've been paralyzed the rest of his life," Iris added.
"How long until I'm fully healed?" He asked.
"The initial MRI I took a week ago showed a complete dislocation at the T12-L1 interspace of the thoracolumbar junction," Caitlin pulled up an xray on the monitor, "But this is the MRI I took this morning. It's remarkable, but you're almost completely healed."
"I'm still having trouble breathing," Barry added.
"That's totally normal with a spinal injury. It should clear up soon," she answered as Barry turned towards his Flash suit.
"We're going to get you back in that suit, Barry," Joe promised him, "Real quick, trust me."
"What are we gonna do about Zoom?" He asked.
"No sign of him since Cisco nailed him with that tranq dart," Joe answered.
"And I haven't vibed since then," Cisco added.
"Maybe Zoom's not coming back," Iris suggested.
"I highly doubt that," Harry said walking into the cortex putting on a backpack, "Which is why I'm gonna go do something about it."
"What do you mean, go do something about it?" I asked.
"I need access to your breach room and your speed canon," he answered.
"Why's that?" Barry asked.
"Because, Barry, it's time to go home," he sighed.
"So, you show up on our Earth, you screw everything up, and now you want to go home?" Joe asked, "Sounds very familiar."
"Again, that wasn't me," Harry turned to Joe, "I need to go take care of Zoom once and for all before anyone else gets killed."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Barry asked him.
"I'll think of something. Ramon, if you'll escort me to the speed canon," he offered.
"No, no, you can't go through the breach," Caitlin said standing up.
"Yeah, he can. Jay taught us how to send people," Cisco shrugged.
"That's not what I mean. Look, if you can figure out how to stop Zoom on your earth, you can figure out how to do it here," she answered, "We need you to stay here until we defeat Zoom, Dr. Wells."
"What I need, Dr. Snow, is to return home," Harry took a step towards her, "And I'm going to do that with or without your assistance." He left leaving us behind.
"What are you doing? If Harry wants to go, bye," Cisco sighed.
"Look, like it or not, Cisco, we need his help," Caitlin answered.
"I'm not sure another plan from Wells is what we need," Joe added holding Barry's cane behind his back.
"Yeah, I mean, the last bright idea he had nearly got Barry killed," I nodded.
"I know, but Jay's gone, and Dr. Wells knows Zoom better than anyone, so until Barry is back on his feet again, we need to keep Wells around in case Zoom returns," Caitlin answered.
"Wow thanks guys," I said under my breath feeling forgotten.
"Caitlin, if he doesn't want to be here, then we're better off without him," Barry answered, "Let him go."
"I can't do that. Not yet," she shook her head before going into her lab.
One of the alarms went off on the computer and Cisco ran to his phone, "Oh, snap, meta-human attack. Nope, nope, my bad, that is just an alert for me."
"For what?" I asked.
"Oh, it's just a reminder. I have a date in a hour, so," he nodded.
"Oh, with who?" Iris smiled.
"With the lovely Kendra Saunders, the barista at Jitters," he answered, "I think we're gonna go out for dinner and a movie, and then, I don't know, maybe some breakfast."
Joe started laughing and Barry played dumb, "Wait, breakfast? Why breakfast? I don't..."
"Yeah, 'cause you know, you go home," Cisco answered not getting it.
"Cisco, he's messing with you," Joe laughed as Barry waved his hand for him to go.
Cisco left for his date and I went to pick up some food for dinner since Barry was staying at Star Labs until he was fully healed. "I brought burgers," I said holding up the bags as Barry sat at the desk.
"Ooh, nice," he smiled as I sat beside him and passed out our orders.
I stayed the night at Star Labs like I normally did since I didn't want to have Barry be alone. The next morning Joe stopped by as Barry went to walk on the treadmill. Joe pushed Barry to go faster when suddenly Barry went flying off the machine into the wall. "Barry!" I yelled running into the room, "Are you okay?" He got up before I could help him and got back on the treadmill.
"Oh, yeah, you know, I'm not great right now," he sighed.
"What happened?" Joe asked.
"It's nothing. I'm good, alright? Just forget it," he brushed it off leaning over.
"Barry, talk to us. We can help you," I told him.
"No, you can't help me. Not this time," he shot back and flinched at his tone, "I'm sorry. You just wouldn't understand."
Barry sat down on the treadmill and I left him and Joe. A few minutes later Joe left came out on his phone and went out to the hallway then Barry came out silently before sitting in the wheelchair and started spinning in circles slowly.
"Did Caitlin come through here?" Cisco asked walking in.
"No," I shook my head.
"She just hit me in the face and ran away," he answered.
"Yo!" Joe yelled running in, "Grodd!"
"What?" Cisco asked.
"Grodd's back," he said looking at Barry.
"Caitlin, that must be why she was acting like that. She was being mind-controlled," he answered tapping away at the computer looking at all the security cameras where we saw Caitlin leave the building followed by a huge gorilla.
"What the hell is that?" I asked.
"Grodd, he's a giant gorilla with the mind of Einstein," Cisco gasped.
"I'm continually amazed by the similarity between our two worlds," Harry answered looking over Cisco's shoulder.
"You got talking gorillas on your Earth too?" Joe asked him.
"Oh yeah," he nodded.
"Remind me never to go there," he sighed.
"Why would this Grodd abduct Caitlin?" I asked.
"I don't know," Cisco shrugged looking through the sewer security cameras, "It doesn't make any sense. She was always so nice to him."
"He mind-controlled two lab technicians to steal chemicals that enhance intelligence. He wants her for something," Joe answered.
"Well, looks like he left his bachelor pad in the sewers," Cisco answered as I crossed my arms trying to figure out exactly what was happening.
"Grodd's a big ass gorilla," Joe sighed, "He can't just waltz through downtown in the middle of the day without anybody noticing."
"Right, and if there's been sightings, then we might be able to approximate his location," Harry suggested.
"I can call CCPD. They can access the tip hotline, send over files of Grodd's recent attacks," he offered.
"Good," he nodded.
"We gotta get her back," Cisco sighed.
"We will," I said putting a hand on his shoulder. Harry and Cisco left as I turned to find Barry zoned out in the wheelchair, "Barry," I said and he didn't answer.
"Barry!" Joe said getting his attention.
"You can't blame yourself for this," I told him, "There's nothing you could have done."
"I still don't have my speed," he sighed spinning the cane in his lap, "How are we supposed to save her from Grodd?"
"You may not have your legs just yet, but you still got that brain," Joe answered, "Use it. Help us figure that out."
I walked over to the desk as Joe walked out as we sat in silence and Barry stared at the map of the city on the screen. Barry left to go run on the treadmill and I stayed giving him sometime alone. Then I decided to go pick up some food for everyone and made a run to Big Belly Burger. When I came back I heard voices in the infirmary and walked towards them. "I brought food! Oh, hello," I said noticing Barry was talking to a man.
"And this must be Sadie," the man smiled.
"Sadie, this is my dad. Dad, this is Sadie," Barry said getting up slowly from the bed. Barry's dad walked towards me and I went to shake his hand but he engulfed me in a hug.
"Nice to finally meet you, sir," I grinned.
"And I you," he nodded.
"Hey, guys," Cisco ran into the cortex, "I think we found him." We gathered around the desk as Cisco pulled up a map with three different locations. "Grodd has to be in one of these three bell towers. The only reason we couldn't find him on any cameras underneath the city before is 'cause he upgraded from a bachelor pad to a penthouse, like a baller."
"Okay, so we know where he is. We still don't know how to get her," Barry walked over limply but better than before.
"We got a plan," Cisco nodded.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
"We use me," A dark voice said behind me. Barry ran across the room and I turned to find him pinning the Reverse Flash against the wall.
"That's Harry! That's the other Wells!" Cisco yelled running past me towards Barry, "Let him go. Let him go."
Harry took off the mask and Barry apologized as Henry and I joined them.
"We found another suit in the time vault," Cisco explained.
"I thought he was dead," Henry answered.
"He's dead. This is...this is Harrison Wells from Earth-2," Barry said.
"Earth-2?" He asked.
"I'll explain later," he answered.
"If we can get Harry to convince Grodd that he's well, that he's his father, maybe we can convince him to let Caitlin go," Cisco suggested.
We made a plan and I suited up to go with Cisco and Harry to check the bell towers.
"Be careful," Barry said grabbing my arm as we left.
"I always am," I nodded giving him a quick smile before following them to the van. We checked two bell towers and both were vacant of 1,500 pound gorillas.
"Looks like we're 0 for 2 on the bell towers, huh?" Cisco answered as we left the second bell tower.
"I like to think of it more as, now we know exactly where they are," Harry answered as we got to the van.
"Okay, let's do this again. Gimmie your best Wells," Cisco said as we stopped.
"I'm not doing the Wells again, Ramon," he sighed, "I told you..."
"Look, I just made these anti-mind-control ear buds. They could fail, and if they do, you're toast, so you're gonna need to nail it if you want to live," Cisco held up a box.
"Ramon," Harry started.
"Cisco," he corrected.
"Cisco. In many ways, you've shown me what it's like to have a son," he answered.
Cisco rubbed his forehead and they went on bickering as I got into the van waiting for them to finish. Once they did Cisco handed us each earbuds as Barry called him.
"Yeah, we're moving on to the third location," he answered as we drove to the last bell tower.
When we got there Harry walked through the door as I phased through the other side of the building to get Caitlin while he distracted Grodd. I listened through the coms as he talked to Grodd.
"All right, that's great, Wells, keep talking," Barry told him.
I ducked around the room trying to get closer to Caitlin but it was hard to hide from a 9 foot tall gorilla. Harry walked towards Caitlin telling Grodd that he didn't need her anymore.
"Come on, buddy. Let me get her out of here. Please," he pleaded.
Grodd started to get angry but since he didn't know I was in the room I couldn't hear his thoughts. I ran towards Caitlin who tried to run and put in the earbuds.
"Oh, Sadie, thank god," she sighed as I led her to Cisco.
"You guys have to get out of there," Barry ordered.
"Harry's trapped," Cisco told him.
"We can't leave him here," I added, "What do we do?"
"The drugs. The drugs that Grodd stole. Wells, and overdose of those drugs will shock his brain," Barry answered as I ran towards Harry to help.
"Look at me!" Harry ordered Grodd, "I would never leave you alone. Grodd, I made you a promise. I have bigger plans for you. Remember? One day, this city will be yours."
I found an injector on the floor running over to the desk a Barry told me which one to get. I inserted it into the needle and slowly made my way over to Harry and Grodd. Harry threw another needle at Grodd as I did the same.
"Go!" Harry yelled as the gorilla went crazy.
I ran for the door but his flailing arm knocked me to the ground but before I could get up Harry was helping me to my feet as we went for the van. I heard a thud behind us and Grodd was out cold. We went back to Star Labs to make a plan on what to do with Grodd as Caitlin patched Harry up.
"You okay?" Barry asked as we joined the team.
"Yeah, I'm fine. With the help of Harry of course," I nodded.
"We need to do something with Grodd," Joe said.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like get rid of him for good," he answered.
"You want to kill him?" Caitlin asked.
"Considering how many people he's killed, yeah," he nodded.
"This isn't Grodd's fault. He's only like this because Wells made him this way," she defended.
"Yes, Cait, he kidnapped you and you could have died," Barry answered.
"You didn't see what I saw. Grodd's getting smarter. He's lonely and sad. He wants more apes like him," she explained.
"What are you saying? He want's kids? 'Cause I'm pretty sure one telepathic Grape Ape is more than enough for this city," Cisco said sarcastically.
"I know where we could send him," Harry offered putting on his sweater.
"What are you talking about?" Barry asked.
"When the singularity exploded and I discovered the breach in Star Labs, I ran similar tests and discovered the same thing. The difference being the breaches in Central City are scattered all throughout the city whereas counterparts in my world are most definitely not," Harry answered walking into the cortex as we followed.
"And you know where they lead?" Cisco asked as Harry pulled up a map of Earth-2.
"Well, I was in the process of figuring all that out when Dr. Snow so gallantly convince me to stay, but if I'm correct, this breach is gonna get Grodd as close to home as he's ever likely to get," he pointed at the screen.
"Okay, even if you're right, how do we bait Grodd to go through with it?" Joe asked as everyone looked at each other.
"My son'll do it," Henry spoke up, "Won't you, Flash?"
The plan was that Caitlin was going to lure Grodd out of the bell tower and Barry would race her away and get Grodd to follow him. Cisco, Harry and I would be on the other side of town where the breach was supposed to open up with Cisco's speed cannon.
"Cisco, almost there. Are you ready?" Barry asked as we waited.
"I'm in position," he answered.
"Now, once you turn on the speed cannon, the quark matter will stabilize, stretching the breach about so big," Harry said making a circle with spray paint. "So anywhere within this circle will suffice."
Barry was a few hundred feet from us as he skidded to a stop.
"I don't have eyes on Grodd," he told us, "Does anyone see him?"
Suddenly Grodd jumped down from the highway landing where Barry was but he was already gone. He tried to get him to come closer to us when Grodd caught Barry off guard and threw him into the wall before putting a foot on him and pinning him to the ground. I was about to run to get him when Caitlin yelled at him.
"Right here, Grodd," she told him, "We didn't understand what you wanted, but now we do. I can give you what you want. I can give you a home. You just have to trust me."
Grodd took his foot of Barry as he coughed. He followed Caitlin towards us.
"Alright, here he comes," I told Cisco.
"Ready to flip the switch," Harry said as Cisco turned it on, "Now Barry!"
Barry ran just before the breach could open grabbing Caitlin as we watched Grodd struggle.
"Full power," Harry told Cisco.
"It is," he gasped as Grodd fought the breach.
"Barry, you can't let Grodd get free. Conquer your fears, son. Believe in yourself," Henry's voice came over comms.
Barry ran in the opposite direction but was back in a few seconds punching Grodd into the vortex where he slowly but surely got sucked away.
"Welcome back, Flash," Cisco grinned as we ran over to make sure Barry was okay.
"Thanks, bro," Barry smiled as they shook hands.
We went back to Star Labs and I took my suit off as they gathered in the cortex looking at the Reverse Flash suit.
"I can't believe something good finally came from that suit," Caitlin sighed.
"First and last time," Barry answered.
"That thing still gives me the creeps. We should destroy it," Cisco suggested.
"Let's do that, but see if you can figure out how to get it back in this ring first," Barry tossed him the ring, "Might be nice to have something like that instead of carrying around a bag all the time."
"I can help with that," Harry offered as we all looked at him, "What? I know a thing or two about micro-technology."
"Yeah, you know a thing or two about a lot of things," Cisco answered.
"Well, as long as what he knows keeps my son and these good people, safe, the more you know, the better," Henry said crossing the room and holding his hand out to Harry, "Pleasure to meet you, Harrison. Again."
"Dr. Allen," Harry nodded shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you," Henry looked towards me and I smiled before he and Barry walked out of the cortex together.
"So, Harry, this place on your earth that we've sent Grodd, what is it exactly?" I asked.
"It's a refuge where gorillas subjected to lab experiments, like Grodd, can roam free," he answered.
I sat down as Caitlin and Cisco talked.
"I still don't understand, though, why do the breaches on our earth lead to different places on yours?" Cisco asked Harry.
"I don't know yet, Ramon, but I do know we have to close them all, and I don't know how to do that," he answered turning to us from his computer.
"You don't have to do it alone anymore. Any of it. Together, we defeated Grodd, and if we stay that way, we will figure out how to close breaches, get Zoom, and get your daughter back," Caitlin told him.
"Thank you," he smiled.
I left to go home and wait for Barry to come back from taking his Dad to the bus station. I changed into my pajamas and opened my laptop sitting on the couch going back to looking for jobs when I thought about what Thea had said. I didn't want to use my dad's money, I didn't want anything to do with him at all but I needed it and I settled on taking some until I get back on my feet. There was a gust of wind blowing my hair in front of my face and Barry was beside me.
"Still looking for jobs?" He asked putting his head on my shoulder looking at the screen.
"Yeah, kinda. I just took some of my dad's money though I didn't want to," I sighed.
"It's there for you so you might as well use it," he shrugged.
"I just don't want to be associated with him but that's kind of hard saying as we share the same last name," I answered closing my laptop.
"Everything will work out in the end," Barry said giving me a light kiss on my shoulder as I yawned. "Time to sleep?" He asked.
"No, I don't want you to leave," I sighed putting my head on his. But before I could do anything I was in my room under the covers and Barry kissed my forehead and turned to leave but I grabbed his hand, "Please don't leave." Barry didn't say anything but went around the other side of the bed getting and wrapped his arms around me and I sighed feeling completely safe and happy.