Eddie sat down on the couch at the West Household as we were all gathered there, "Where's Barry?"
"He should be here any second." Joe began, "I sent him out for-"
"Pizza!" Barry ran in, holding three pizzas, setting them done on the dining table.
Cisco cheers from the stairs, "What?-"
Eddie got up and opened the boxes, spreading them out, "From Coast City?"
"Supposedly the best in the west." Barry slipped off his jacket and tossed it to the side.
"Why did I not think of this before?" Cisco joins us in the living room, grabbing a slice, "Come to papa."
I looked up at our friend who was seated on the chairs alone, "Caitlin?"
Caitlin lightly shook her head, "I'm not hungry."
Barry plopped down on a chair, looking at me, patting the arm of the chair for me to sit.
I smiled at him, sitting on the arm of his chair, as he grabs two slices and hands me one, biting onto his.
"Okay, six months of investigating Harrison Wells has led us nowhere, so we're going back to the beginning to see what we can find out."
Eddie bites into a slice, "What does that mean?"
Cisco hits his beer bottle with Joe's, smirking, "Road trip, baby."
I looked at Eddie, "Joe and Cisco are going to go to Starling City."
"Starling City?" Caitlin repeats, "What for?"
Joe looks at her, "To investigate the car accident that Dr. Wells was in with Tess Morgan 15 years ago."
"I- I don't understand." Caitlin was honest, "Why?"
"Dr. McGee said that after Wells's accident, he became like a complete stranger." Barry chewed on a bite, "Just a different person entirely."
"Because the love of his life died?" Caitlin shot back and didn't want to believe her boss was a murderer, "You of all people can understand how grief can change a person."
"Caitlin, we believe that Dr. Wells is the Reverse-Flash and killed Barry's mother, and he may have done the same thing to Tess Morgan." Joe told her straight up, "We have to learn everything we can about that night, see where it leads us."
Cisco clears his throat, "Oh, um, can you cover for me with Dr. Wells?"
"You mean lie?" Caitlin questioned.
Cisco trails off, "Yeah?"
"I need some air." Caitlin exhales deeply as we all began protesting as she left the house.
Joe sighs deeply, "Doesn't look like Caitlin's with us."
"No, she's with us." I put the slice of pizza down and dust my hands off, "I'll talk to her."
"What do you want us to do here?" Eddie asks.
Joe's answer was simple, "Business as usual while we're gone."
Eddie nods, "Copy that."
-
I walked into Star Labs the next morning, dressed in high waisted dark wash jeans, a black sweatshirt on as it ended right where my jeans begin, white sneakers on my feet.
I set Caitlin's usual coffee in front of her, my wavy hair falling from behind my ears, "Good morning."
Caitlin exhales deeply, "Hey."
"Hey, can we talk about last night?" I began, fiddling with my fingers as I watched her.
Caitlin got up and walked away from me, rounding the console, "There's nothing to talk about."
"Yeah, there is!" I rushed after her, "Caitlin, look, I know after everything Dr. Wells has done for all of us, it's hard to wrap your head around this, but I need you to see the truth-"
"The truth?" Caitlin repeats, "The truth is that he's helped you through a number of things since you've known him."
"Look, I know, he has- no doubt, but maybe he's doing it for a reason." I tried to persuade her as we headed into the Med Lab, "But, if we're right about this-"
"If, Zee, if." Caitlin emphasizes, "And before I can believe any of this, I'm gonna need to see some proof."
"Proof?" Dr. Wells' voice came from behind us, making us both look back immediately in alert, "Proof of what?"
I blurt out right away, "We may have another meta-human case on our hands!"
"Ah, we are always happy to help, Zee, as you know." Dr. Wells smiled at me, "Have you heard from Cisco? He hasn't arrived yet."
"Uh, he has to help Dante, his brother." Caitlin made up an excuse, "He might need a few days off."
"Ah, well." Dr. Wells nods, "All right."
-
Caitlin repeats Barry's words, "A shape-shifter?"
"Yeah, I literally saw a grown man, like, m- morph into a teenage girl." Barry rounds the console and stood behind the seat I said in.
"We're dealing with a shapeshifter." I slouched in my seat and looked up at him, "Could life get any better than it is now?"
"That's fascinating." Dr. Wells admits from next to me, "Today's physicists have always regarded programmable matter as nothing more than a theory, but I guess your shape-shifter proves it can be done."
"Wait, so he, or she, or I don't know- whatever," Barry gestures toward the screen and places his hands on my chair, "This person can actually transform into anyone they touch?"
"Yes, it appears so." Dr. Wells nods, "That includes you, Mr. Allen."
"Oh right-" I point at him, then up at Barry, "I hereby ban you from being the Flash around our shapeshifter."
Barry began smiling down at me, as I continued, "Because if he does transform- or morph- or whatever- into you, then he can expose that Barry Allen is the man behind the mask."
Dr. Wells nods, adding in, "Because at this point we don't know if the shape-shifter is capable of absorbing more that just your physical characteristics."
Barry questions, "Like he might be able to copy my speed?"
"That would be bad." I pointed out, "But- also very cool- I can't decide-"
"Got it." Barry puts his hands up in surrender, "Hands off the meta-human."
Dr. Wells nods, "Hands off the meta-human."
Caitlin stood in front of the console, "So- how do we find someone who can transform into anyone?"
"Well, I guess like any problem, you just go back to the beginning." Dr. Wells said, "In this case, that would mean finding the first person the shape-shifter morphed into when they discovered their powers."
Barry looks at him, "Yeah, can you pull up the CCPD records of cases where the perpetrator plead innocent, even thought they were caught on camera committing the crime?"
I point at him, "That's smart."
"You're good, Barry Allen." Dr. Wells nods proudly, pulling them up, "You're very good."
"Look at this." Dr. Wells' eyes scan the screen, "Multiple crimes of this manner all dating back to a month after the particle accelerator explosion."
Barry questions, "And the first one was?"
Dr. Wells pulls up the file, "Jacob Fisher."
"A teller at the Federal Credit Union." I sat up and read the screen in a skim, "Claims he was innocent, and was framed by his best friend, a Hannibal Bates."
"I'll pass this along to the CCPD, see if they can track him down." Barry puts on his coat and looks at me, "Need a lift to work?"
"Yes, please-" I got up and grabbed my jacket.
Barry backed away with me, looking at Dr. Wells, "Thank you, Dr. Wells."
I knew he was just playing it off to seem like everything was all okay.
Dr. Wells doesn't even move or glance back at us, "Always here to help, Barry."
-
"Turns out Hannibal Bates hasn't been seen in well over a year." Eddie said when we got out of his car, "Only remaining relative is his grandmother."
"She took out a missing person's report a couple of days after the Jacob Fisher arrest." Eddie looked at the house we were staring at, "Figure we could ask her a few questions."
"Like why anyone in their family thought that naming a kid Hannibal wouldn't mean he'd grow up to become a criminal?" Barry remarks as we walked up the steps onto the porch.
"Right-" I point at him, "Who in their right mind would name their kid Hannibal? I almost feel bad for him."
As we knocked on the door and were invited in, we were questioning his grandmother almost right away.
Barry questions, "Have you heard from your grandson, Hannibal, recently, Mrs. Bates?"
"Recently?" She repeats, "No- why do you ask?"
Then she gestured toward the small couch for the three of us to sit on, "Oh, please-"
I smirked in humor, gesturing for Eddie and Barry to go first, as they both squeezed in, uncomfortably next to each other, taking up the whole couch.
I snickered, sitting on the arm of it, comfortably.
Eddie clears his throat, "Um- because, you filed a missing person's report over a year ago."
"Oh, yes, I certainly did." She nods slowly, "You'll have to forgive me, Detective, my memory is not quite as it used to be."
Eddie inhales sharply, "Of course."
"Uh, neither apparently are my manners." She sighed deeply in shame, "May I get you three something? Coffee, tea?"
"Uh, no- thank you, ma'am." Barry speaks on behalf of all of us, "We're fine."
"Oh, please- It'll only take a minute." Her voice varied, "It's nice to have visitors."
Eddie exhales deeply, "Coffee'd be nice."
The minute she walks out and into the kitchen, Eddie and Barry get up as I began laughing at them quietly.
Barry playfully shoved me as I laughed, looking around the living room.
I notice a picture on the dresser, "Ma'am, would you happen to have a recent photograph of Hannibal?"
When she doesn't reply, Barry calls out after me, "Ma'am?"
We walked into the kitchen to see the back door open, my eyes widening, "Son of a bitch-"
"She's gone-" Barry's eyes widen as well, "Zee and I'll take the front-"
Eddie was already out the door as we ran out, as I skidded to a stop, doing a complete 360 turn, "Where the hell did he go?"
"Hey, we located Bates-" Barry was on the phone with Dr. Wells and Caitlin, "He was impersonating his grandma."
Dr. Wells was clear, "Barry, do not let him touch you."
Caitlin adds, "Or let him see you use your super speed."
Barry huffed in defeat after the phone call ended, "Well, how am I supposed to catch him?"
"Run like a normal person-" I shrugged, before rushing off immediately, searching the entire perimeter with Barry, until I heard gunshots.
"This way!-" Barry ran down the alley towards the gunshots as we all skidded to a stop, where Eddie was over two dead cops.
My eyes widen, "Oh, man-"
Eddie looks back at us, "Barry, call 911!"
-
"Until you show me something incontrovertible, the best that I can do is promise to keep him out of gen pop at Iron Heights." Cecile Horton walked out of Captain Singh's office, after going through what had happened last night.
A little after, Barry comes out as well as walks over to me, as I immediately questioned, "Any luck?"
"It's not looking good." Barry admits quietly and sighs, "But, we'll figure it out-"
"Zee, Barry!" Iris walked in, tears streaming down her face as she headed right for us.
I blinked in surprise, "Iris-"
"What is going on?" Iris went straight for my embrace, "Everyone at CCPN is saying that Eddie shot two cops- how is that even possible?"
Barry sighs deeply, "We're not sure yet."
Iris looks between us, sniffling, "You don't think he did this, do you?"
I shook my head, "No, of course not-"
Iris began moving, "I need to see him."
"You can't- you can't see him, all right?" I stopped her, "They're not gonna let you."
Barry places a hand on Iris' arm, "Look, I'm gonna do everything I can to help him."
Iris hugs me tightly, sobbing into my chest as I comforted her, rubbing her back, exchanging looks with Barry.
-
"Hello, children-" I walked into the Med Lab where Barry and Caitlin stood, "Is the serum good to go?"
"We're older than you." Caitlin nudged me playfully, then held up the vial, "Just need to give it a little spin."
"Still children to me-" I walked over to her, holding my hand out for the vial, "Can I do it?"
Caitlin smiles and handed me the vial, "Knock yourself out."
I walked over to the rotator test tube mixer, attaching the vial to it, turning it on as I watched it, Caitlin standing next to me.
Barry was directly behind her, almost extremely close, "So- this, uh- serum that you're making, is it a temporary fix, or will it take away his power permanently?"
"Not permanently." Caitlin watched it, "Just long enough so we can stop him."
Barry questions again, sounding unusual, "And how long is it going to take?"
"Not long." Caitlin replies, nodding toward me, not even noticing Barry being that close, "Okay, that should be good-"
I stopped it and took the vial out, looking at the substance inside, Caitlin turning, her eyes wide when she sees Barry, "What are you doing?"
"Something-" Barry followed Caitlin to the other desk when she walked away, as weirded out as I was, "I think I should have done a long time ago."
Then, he grabs Caitlin and turns her, pressing his lips into hers, catching both Caitlin and I off guard.
I almost dropped the vial in my hands as I watched them, my eyes wide.
There was a small pain in my chest.
I didn't think that Barry was like that.
Caitlin pushes him away immediately, knowing about what hadn't begun but was between Barry and I, "Barry-"
Barry pulls her in again, as she pushes him away once more, "Barry- what is wrong with you?"
"Barry Allen, a player." I handed Caitlin the vial, looking at Barry with clear hurt in my eyes, turning and walking into the cortex, "Wouldn't have expected that one."
I couldn't even be upset with him.
We weren't even together.
But, it still hurt.
Iris suddenly walks into the cortex, catching me off guard, "Hi, I have been looking for you everywhere."
"Well, I'm here." My tone was straight, hearing Barry and Caitlin come behind me, "What's up?"
"Look, whoever is framing Eddie, I got to thinking." Iris began, "What if they've done something like this before?"
"I went through CCPN's crime archives, and in the last 11 months, there have been six crimes committed by people who later swore that they were innocent." Iris was telling us what we had already knew, "None of them had priors, all of them had rock-solid alibis."
I nod as if I had no idea, "All right-"
"So- I hacked into my dad's CCPD account, and went through the footage of Eddie shooting those cops." Iris sat behind the monitor and typed away, pulling up the footage from last night, "Look."
"What do you want us to do, Thawne?" The cops asked, inching closer to Eddie in the footage.
"Die." Eddie shot both cops, the footage cutting.
Iris looks back at all of us as we stood behind her, a furious but hurt look on my face, Barry continuing to act unusual and Caitlin weirded out, "What's wrong with all of you?"
Caitlin blurts out, "Nothing."
I stared ahead of me, "Nothing at all."
"I don't know." Barry began, "Seems pretty convincing to me."
"Look again." Iris played it again, then points out, "Eddie is not left-handed."
"Look, Eddie is being framed, and we need to figure out who is behind this." Iris looks back at all of us, "And believe me, when I get my hands on them, they are going to be-"
Barry lets out a cry of pain, grunting as he fell to the ground, as I gasped and turned along with Caitlin, my eyes wide as Dr. Wells was behind him, being the one who knocked him out cold.
"Oh, my God." Iris got up, "What did you do?"
"Your observations about the shooter were spot on, Miss West, he was indeed left-handed." Dr. Wells nods in confirmation, "As is this man, our Barry is right-handed."
Caitlin sighs in relief, "Oh, I knew it."
"Oh my God." I gasped, feeling guilty that I even thought of Barry to play with anyone's feelings.
Iris looked down at the man, "Then this is him."
Dr. Wells nods again, "It is indeed."
"I need to take him in to the police." Iris immediately said, "If they can see what he can do, then maybe they'll let Eddie go."
"Perhaps it might be best if Dr. Snow and I handle this." Dr. Wells said to her.
Iris looks between them, "What are you two going to do?"
"No- no, no, no." Iris shook her head, "I'm taking him in."
I shot Caitlin a look immediately, as she blurts out, "Well, at least let me help you."
-
"Barry?" I yelled throughout the West Household as I entered, throwing my jacket onto the arm of the couch, looking around, "Barry!"
There was no response, as I ran up the steps, checking every room.
I opened the door of his closet, seeing Barry unconscious on the ground, his hands and ankles taped together along with his mouth.
"Oh, Barry-" I sigh deeply and fell to my knees, turning him onto his back and immediately slapping him, not even trying to shake him awake.
Barry's eyes snap open as he flys up, letting out a cry of pain that was muffled into the tape.
I gave a sympathetic smile, tearing the tape from his mouth as he breathed heavily, "For real?"
Barry blinked a few times, trying to catch his breath, "Why did you slap me?"
"You were unconscious." I broke the tape from his wrists, "I needed to wake you up."
Barry teared off the tape from his ankles, inhaling sharply, "Smelling salts works just as well."
"Smelling salts aren't fun." I placed a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"
Barry nods, "I think so, yeah."
"Wait, Zee." Barry's eyes widen in realization, looking at me, "Bates, he was here-"
"I know." I exhale deeply, "We all know."
Barry notices the guilty expression my face, "Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"
"He kissed Caitlin and I was extremely upset with you- but, now that I know it wasn't you- we're good." I pulled him up before he could reply, "Let's go."
-
"So- this Hannibal Bates has turned into quite the meta-human." Dr. Wells pulled something up on the screen, "Take a look, his cells have the ability to transmogrify at quite the rate."
Barry places his hands on his sides, "Which is how he can become anyone."
"Which is how he can look like anyone." Dr. Wells pointed out, "Because he cannot appropriate your memory or your powers."
"Got it." Barry nods, "Hands on the meta-human."
"Hands on the meta-human." Dr. Wells smiles lightly, "And to help you do that, Dr. Snow has concocted a solution we believe will stop him."
"Yes." Caitlin picked it up, "I've made a serum that will create a cortical reaction around his cells."
Dr. Wells adds in, "Deprive those cells of their electrical charge, his shape-shifting days are over."
Barry nods slowly, "Wow, that's great work-"
"Barry." I called out for him when the computer started beeping rapidly, "We got a ping from your cell phone- looks like Hannibal Bates is at the airport."
Barry steps back, "Payback time."
-
"Let me out of here!" Hannibal had shifted into Caitlin, hitting against the glass in his cell as we all stood in front of him in the pipeline.
Hannibal then shape shifts into me, smirking at Barry, "Hey, cutie- want to let me out of here?"
"I'm already out here." I placed my hands on my hips, "But- really? Come on, I'm right here."
Dr. Wells wheels closer to the glass and stops, his eyes squinting in curiosity, "Seen a lot of things that you can become, but who are you, Hannibal Bates?"
Hannibal shifts, wearing something plain and not having any identifiable features, "I, uh- I can't remember."
He looked like an untouched, glass doll.
"I can't remember." Hannibal was horrified.
"Well, let's lock up shop." Dr. Wells wheels back and turns, leaving the pipeline, "Good night, everyone."
Caitlin closed the door and followed him a little after, getting ready to leave so we could meet Cisco and Joe at CCPD.
I began following, when Barry grabs my hand and stopped me, "Hey-"
I stopped and looked at him, "Yeah?"
"I want you to know that even if we aren't together- I'm not just going to go around and kiss other girls or anything like that." Barry grabs both my hands, caressing one with his thumb, "I know we aren't an item- but, in some ways- it's you and I."
My heart warms at his words.
"I know we don't know what this really is yet or where it's gonna go- but, I plan on figuring it out with you." Barry squeezes my hands gently, "Okay?"
I broke out into a smile, "Okay."
With that, I pushed myself to my tippy toes and pressed my lips into Barry's.
-
Caitlin shook her head, staring at the computer screen as we stood in Barry's Lab that night, "This isn't possible."
Between us all laid a corpse.
The real Harrison Wells.
"Caitlin, I ran the DNA test twice." Cisco told our friend, "It's a perfect match."
Joe slips his hands into his pockets, "This body is the real Harrison Wells."
I stared at the corpse in horror, inhaling sharply as I covered my mouth, "God, this is so freaky."
Caitlin looked at it, standing next to me, "If this is Dr. Wells, then who have we been working for this whole time?"
"Dr. McGee said that after the accident, Wells became a completely different person." Barry said quietly, "It's because he is a different person."
-
"Cisco-" I walked over to him and stood behind his chair, Caitlin and Barry by my side as we looked at what Cisco was skimming through, "What are you doing?"
"After the accelerator exploded, I built a 3-D model of Star Labs so that I could pinpoint exactly what caused the malfunction."
Barry's eyebrows furrow, "And you never ran this test?"
"Of course I did." Cisco said, "I just never had any reason to look at any areas outside of the pipeline or the cortex- it's a big building, lots of places for Wells to hide something."
When there's a beeping from the computer, along with a red room on the model, Caitlin questions what we were all thinking, "What is that?"
Cisco was getting up after pausing, grabbing a device and headphones, "That shouldn't be there."
Barry, Caitlin and I followed Cisco down the hall as he used the device to find the room.
"I'm picking up more activity around here." Cisco stopped, looking at the wall in the hall, "Tachyons."
Cisco pulled out the headphones and points, "There."
Barry felt the wall, until his hand pressed against some sort of push in tile, that opened the wall.
My eyes widen, my voice quiet as I stared into the darkness in the room, sharing confused and suspicious glances with everyone, "What the hell?"
Slowly, we were huddled together as we entered the room, the door shutting behind us.
A light shined, over the Reverse Flash's suit.
Caitlin's eyes widen, "Oh, my God."
As shocked as I was, I was angry that we had been right about him, "That son of a bitch."
Cisco, Caitlin and I were so invested in the suit that we didn't even realize Barry had moved away from us until he called for us, "Guys."
We turned towards his voice, walking over to him and suddenly seeing a hologram of an article.
FLASH MISSING
VANISHES IN CRISIS
Cisco was the first to react as we all were appalled at what we were staring at, "What the frak?"
authors note:
I'M EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER
also, they're so freaking cute ? like i can't ?
like this ship is so cute and they're not even together yet, i-
I CANT HANDLE IT
thank you for 4k !!
literally, I'm cryin, but,
vote and comment loadsss