The next day Katrina was working away at CCPD when she got a call to head over to S.T.A.R Labs, she rushed over just as Barry arrived at the same time.
"Hey, any idea what's going on?" she asks him.
"Nothing, just that Caitlin said she had something to tell us about Bette" he says as they enter the lab.
"I thought she would tell you more, so did you head straight home after you left my place?" she asks as they go toward the cortex.
"Yeah might have stopped a robbery or two" he smiles, "did you go to sleep after I left?" he then asks her.
"Uhh yeah after I had another late night visitor" she tells him.
"Another visitor?" he ask.
"Yeah umm Dick stopped by" she says.
"That's the guy from Gotham right?" he asks.
"Uh yeah he is" she says a smile forming on her face.
"So, did uh something happen between you two last night?" he asks. "I'm sorry that was like super personal" he quickly apologizes.
"No, you are my best friend, you are allowed to ask that, and just to let you know no nothing happened. I think we finally came to an agreement that we need to stop doing whatever it is that we are doing. It's too hard on the two of us" she tells them as they enter the cortex to see everyone having grim looks on their faces.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Barry asks everyone.
"Did Eiling find out where you are?" Katrina asks Bette.
"No, Caitlin was about to give me the not-so-good news" she tells them.
"The shrapnel in your body has merged with you on a cellular level" Caitlin then says.
"The technology required to unsplice your DNA, it hasn't been inveted yet" Dr Wells then says.
Katrina sees the tears form in Bettes eyes. "Bette," she starts to say.
"It's okay. Roger that I..I just need a minute. Don't worry I'm pretty sure I can cry without blowing stuff up" she says walking away.
"Isn't there anything you guys can do?" Katrina asks them. They just shake there heads indicating they can't, "So what do we do now?" she then asks.
"She joins us. Becomes part of the team" Barry suggests.
"Barry, you have an amazing ability to help people" Caitlin tells him, "She makes things explode" she adds.
"She's the first meta-human not hell-bent on destrtoying the city" Barry tells them.
"It's too dangerous" Wells tells him.
"We are not putting her into the pipeline" Katrina tells them.
"I'm not suggesting she go in the pipeline But were she to remain at S.T.A.R. labs it would put all of us at risk" Wells tells them.
"From who, Eiling?" Barry ass.
"Eiling is a dangerous man, Barry. We do not want him as an enemy" Wells tells him.
"After the lightining bolt, what if you hadn't found us. It could have been us, hunted, on the run, cut off from everyone I know and care about. You guys saved us" Barry tells him.
"And I wanna save her, just as bad as you do Barry. We all do" Caitlin says to him.
"We just can't right?" Katrina asks and doesn't get a response. "Umm, Barry we should probably head to work, I think we have some papers we need to work on" she says to him.
"Yeah, umm we'll see you guys later" Barry says as the two of them then start to leave the cortx.
"I don't know if it's possible but I think I can get Bruce or even Felicity to look into something for Bette" Katrina says as they walk down the hall.
"Thanks Kat, umm want to race to the precinct" he smiles at her.
"I'll get there first" she smiles back as she takes off running.
Katrina and Barry both stop in the back alley way, "I beat you" Katrina smiles at him.
"No way, we got here the same time" Barry smiles at her.
"You tell yourself that, come on let's get inside" she nudges him as they go inside CCPD. Heading in they go toward the stairs and head up for the lab. As they enter they are surprised to see Joe seated looking through files.
"Joe, what are you doing here?" Barry asks him as they go over to him.
"Going over the materials in your mom's case" he says as he puts the files back into the box. "How's it going with you two?" he then asks.
"Stellar, we made friends with a human bomb who we promised we could help then we couldn't" Barry tells Joe. "And I finally diagnosed why Iris is writing about the Streaks" he adds looking at Joe. "She's doing it for me" he says chuckling, "to prove the impossible is possible" he tells Joe.
"How do you know that?" Joe then asks him.
"The red streak may have talked to her" he tells him.
"Barry, don't you think Iris would recognize your voice" Joe says to him.
"No I can do this cool thing with my vocal cords where I vibrate them so I sound like this" Barry says making his voice distorted. Joe just laughs at him "I know" he adds going back to his normal voice.
"Can you do that too?" Joe asks Katrina.
"It's pretty easy" she says doing the same thing.
"It's cool! It's cool!" Barry says smiling at the two of them.
"Whoa" Joe says to her.
"Yeah" Barry says.
"Well, you put that out there now, so I..I want to keep her safe" Joe says to the two of them.
"This is Iris Joe, for as long as I have known her she won't stop till she gets the truth" Katrina tells him.
"Man, you really want to tell her" Joe says to him.
"I tell her and I tell Barry everything." Katrina says to him.
Joe looks between the two of them, "Hmmm, not everything " he then says to them.
"Umm, What are you talking about Joe" Katrina says as she then starts to go about the room cleaning up.
"I think you know Kat, this thing going on between you two" he questions her.
"There's nothing, nothing going on between us" Barry then says.
"Oh I think there is, but you two just keep denying it, although I think Iris might already have an idea" Joe says to them.
"We are just good friends Joe" Barry says to him.
"Yeah, okay, but have you at least told them you grew up in Gotham?" Joe asks her.
"I have but that's not all that I haven't told them, but I'm not ready too" Katrina says to Joe.
"You're gonna have to tell them eventually" Joe says to her. "I gotta go" he then adds as he holds out his arms to hug the two of them. They do so as Joe just laughs about the vocal cord thing.
They watch as Joe leaves the lab, "Do you think he's right?" Katrina asks Barry.
"About..about what, something between us?" Barry then rambles.
"Uhh...no... there's uh nothing. I mean about my Gotham past, I mean I really didn't realize Joe knew" she says to him.
"That's your decision, I'm glad that I know about it though I'm still trying to imagine you as Red Cardinal. I mean can I make a slight confession" Barry tells her.
"Sure, and if you don't believe me I do still have the outfit" she says.
"Okay well this is going to make it even more embarrassing, cause now I kinda want to see you in it, which I just realized sounded so wrong, but umm when I was a teen I had a slight crush on well you" Barry tells her.
"Oh God, this is embarrassing now, and maybe if your nice I might let you see the suit" she says and both of their faces flush.
"This whole converstation took a very weird turn" Barry then says to her.
"Yes, yes it did" she says as they start to go back to their work.
The next day Katrina and Barry headed into S.T.A.R lab, wanting to check in on Bette, and to see if they had found any way to help her. They both walk in not saying a word about the night before, both still clearly embarrassed. Walking into the cortext they spot the others seared around, faces looking grim.
"Where's Bette?" Barry asks realizing she was not there.
"She left" Cisco says to her.
"What do you mean?" Barry asks.
"Where could she have gone to?" Katrina then asks.
"She didn't say" Wells informs them.
"Well, where the hell could she be?" Barry asks.
"We aren't einterly sure but I might be able to figure it out" Cisco says as he spins around in his chair and begins typing away. "I got back on the military feed, looks like they've gone to the waterfront to rendezvous with Bette" he tells them. "She's turning herself in" he adds.
"She's not turning herself in" Barry says as he nods at Katrina, and they both race off and change into their suits. The two of them then take off racing to stop Bette from hurting innocent people. As they arrive the see an explsion and run to stop Bette.
"What are you doing here?" she asks them.
"Being a solider doesn't mean you're a murderer" Barry tells her.
"Please don't become one now" Katrina says as a gun shot rings out and Bette falls back. Barry and Katrina rush to her side, Barry pulling his mask back, look at her worried.
"We are so sorry, we didn't see him" Barry apologizes to Bette.
"Don't be" she replies, "It's not your fault, I'm glad you stopped me" she adds.
"We can get you back to S.T.A.R Labs" Katrina tells her.
"Katrina, Barry, Dr.Wells..he..he" Bette tries to say but it's too late, she passes away. Katrina and Barry look at one another, upset that she was gone, when they start to notice her body glowing.
"Guys, we have a problem" Katrina says into her comm..
"Is Bette okay" they hear Cisco ask.
"No.Eiling killed her, she's glowing, she's gonna detonate" Barry tells them.
"Oh, my God, a mass that size, the explosion would be-" they hear Caitlin say, "You have to get her away from the city" she adds.
"But there's no time" Barry says as he looks around "Can I run on water?" he suddenly asks.
"Katrina built up enough speed to run up a building, how fast do I need to go to run on water?" he asks them.
"Assuming your weight 450 pounds of force per step for vertical suspension accounting for fluid drag" they hear Cisco say.
"Approximatly 650 miles per hour" they hear Wells say.
"Ýou have to outrun the blast, or you'll die too" Cisco warns him.
"Barry are you sure about this?" Katrina asks him putting a hand on his arm.
"I have to" he says to her as he pulls his mask back over his face. Katrina lets him go, stepping back as he picks up Bette's body. Katrina watches from the shoreline as he takes off running out into the water.
After a few minutes, she can see an explosion of water, and can just make out Barry rushing back toward the shore.
Katrina goes over to Barry as he takes his mask off and looks back over the water. "Are you okay?" she asks him.
"Not really" he says to her as they then make their way back to S.T.A.R Labs. Once they are changed back into their regular clothes, and gather with others as they watch the cover up news story General Eiling was giving.
"Nothing out of the ordinary occurred, The Military was simply conducting an underwater weapons test. There is no need for panic or alarm. Central City is safe, I guarantee you" they hear Eiling say.
"That man murdered Bette right in front of us, and we can't do anything to him" Katrina says.
"Powerful men have a way of avoiding consequences" Wells says to her.
"You two gonna be okay?" Caitlin asks looking at Barry and Katrina.
"Yeah" Barry answers.
"You can walk on water. Puts you in pretty interesting company" she smiles at him. Barry just smiles as he then walks away. Katrina then follows him out of the cortex.
"Hey you doing okay?" she asks him.
"I'll manage, I was thinking of stopping by Jitters and then I am hoping you will help me talk to Iris about looking into us" he asks her.
"Yeah, I think I can do that" she says smiling at him. As they then head off for Jitters, going in they ordered three drinks then head off for the West household. They enter to see Iris seated at the dining table, working away on her blog. She looks up at them when they enter then back down at her laptop.
"If you came to do laundry, I already have a load in" she tells Barry, as he closes the door behind him and Katrina.
"Um, no, we came to talk" he tells her as they walk over to her, they both look at one another and take a deep breath before Barry starts to talk, "We were working on a case, someone I really thought we could help befriend but they died" he tells her.
"Barry, Kat I'm really sorry" she says to them.
"We didn't know her that well, but it still hurts" Katrina says as she places a hand on Barry's arm.
"And as bad as it feels right now, I know how much worse it is to lose someone who's family" Barry adds.
"Which is why, we are worried about you writing about this stuff, and putting your name out there, it can end up being dangerous" Katrina tells her.
"That's why we are asking you one last time, please stop" Barry tells her.
"And I am asking you two one last time to tell me what is really going on with the two of you?" she asks them. "Why am I the only one who's interested in this?" she asks.
Barry looks at Iris, then at Katrina, they can see the frustration on his face about this whole sitiation. "I guess just all this stuff with my family I finally just put it behind me" he tells her. "I'm asking you to also" he adds.
"That may have been how this all started but it's about something more than that for me now" Iris tells them, "Whoever these Streaks are, wherever they come from I am not stopping until the rest of the world believes in them." She tells her.
Barry looks at her, then down at the table, "Maybe we shouldn't see each other for a while" he then says as he gets up from the table and walks away and out the door.
"Iris, he just wants you to be safe, we both do. I grew up in Gotham I know how writing about people like these Streaks can be dangerous" Katrina tells her.
"I'm sorry Kat, I need to do this, these people aren't like the ones of Gotham, or even the Arrow in Starling City. I know they are" she says.
"I'm not so sure" Katrina quietly says to herself. "Iris, what Barry said I think I can agree with him too. We just think this is a dangerous situation you are getting into , and taking a step away is protecting us" Katrina says as she then gets up and starts walking away, before turning back to face Iris, "I'm sorry Iris, but maybe one day you'll understand" she says as she then leaves the West home.
Katrina walks down the street thinking over how she just hurt her closest girl friend, but she knew Barry was right, being too close to Iris right now was hurting all three of them. She felt the hurt in her body and decided to take a quick trip somewhere that she hoped would help clear her mind. As she arrived where she was thinking about, she watches papers go flying across the person's desk.
"Well, that was interesting" she hears a familiar voice say.
"Sorry I didn't give you a warning call Bruce" she says to him as she helps clean up the papers that she caused to go flying.
"I guess that is part of your new abilities" he says as he takes the file from Katrina.
"Yeah, it is , so looks like Riddler is giving you problems again, need any help?" she asks.
"Aren't you a little busy with your what is it meta-humans?" he says to her.
"I need something else on my mind right now" she tells him.
"Having problems already?" he asks her.
"It's just being a hero again with an extra add on, has been rough, and now I just had to tell my new best friend that I need space from her" she tells him.
"Is that because of the blog she's writing?" he then asks taking her by surprise. "I keep up with things Katrina. You don't want to be close to her incase you slip up right?" he asks.
"Yeah, I think it's more Barry is worried, he wants to tell her about our abilities, but Joe is scared. Plus I think there's something that might or might not be going on with Barry and I" she explains as she leans against his desk.
"Oh really?" he asks.
"Yeah it's just weird little moments that's all but I don't want to get my hopes up" she explains to him.
"I know what it was like with you and Dick, you two were unsure about your feelings at first as well, but once you finally admitted your feelings you two were great together" he tells her.
"Yeah, until I ditched him here in Gotham" she says to him.
"You chose to leave , and he understood that just as I did. Katrina you wanted to leave this all behind, but as you can see this life never really leaves you behind. So tell me about Barry Allen" he asks her.
"He's nice, still trying to get a grip on this who hero thing, and I umm told him about my time here, but I didn't mention who everyone was" she tells him knowing he would want to know.
"That's good, how did he take the news?" he asks him.
"Well turns out Barry had a crush on the Red Cardinal apparently, which made it that more embarrassing " she says feeling her face flush. "But telling him helped him to understand things a bit better" she adds.
"That's good, so are you are going back there or are you going to stick around here for a bit?" he asks her.
"I am going to head back but I want to know about you, how are you doing since Dick quit?" she asks him.
"Doing the best I can, not like I didn't do this before on my own" he tells her.
"Well if you need anything, I'm just a call away" she says as she then gives Bruce a hug, "Thanks Bruce for everything you've done for me" she says as she pulls away.
"Just be safe" he tells her.
"I'll try to" she smiles as she runs off back to Central City, Bruce holding done his files as she takes off.