Katrina and Barry sit at the table, staring into their mugs, not saying a word to one another, "No, No, No, I am having the worst day ever, we all can't be having the worst day ever, okay" Iris says as she sees their long faces, and sits down across from them. "I was really looking forward to getting some good complaining in" she adds.
"Well, fire away" Barry says as he leans back in his chair and wraps an arm around the back of Katrina's chair.
"Okay, well, turns out that the real reason they hired me is because they think I have some sort of connection to the Flash and Bolt, which I don't, not anymore" as Iris says this Katrina tenses up a little, and Barry lightly squeezes her shoulder. "And I've been teamed up with Mason Bridge, who is a legend, who I admired before he told me I was a worthless, talentless millennial" she tells them.
"Well, the people we admire aren't always who we'd like them to be" Barry says to her.
"Well said" Iris tells him.
"So I'm screwed" Iris then says.
"No, way, look if this Mason guy can't see what an amazing talented journalist you are, then he must be a very lousy writer" Katrina tells her as she takes a sip of her hot cocoa.
"He won the Pulitzer, twice" Iris says to her, "I think" she adds.
"Oh, well good for him" Katrina smiles and the three of them laugh.
"Thanks Kat, Barry, having two people who believe in me, it's a small, really, really big thing" Iris says to them.
"Hey it's no problem, you are our best friend Iris, you know we will always believe in you" Katrina says.
"I am going to go get myself a drink, and when I get back you two are gonna tell me what has made your day so bad" she smiles at them as she gets up from her seat and walk away.
As they watch Iris go to order a drink Barry's phone starts to buzz. They both look down to see that it was Dr Wells, "you should answer it in case it's an emergency" Katrina tells him.
"Hey, what's up I'm here with Kat" Barry says as he puts it on speaker.
"Listen to me Hartley escaped, he's loose in the facility" he tells the two of them.
"Okay" Barry says as he hangs up and the two of them just take off.
The both speed to STAR labs, and arrive to see Caitlin laying on the ground slowly trying to get up, "Caitlin, are you okay?" Katrina rushes over to help her up.
"Yeah, Cisco and Dr Wells" she says to them.
"You go find Dr Wells, I will look for Cisco" Barry says to Katrina, and she nods as they split up. Katrina rushes off, to find Wells alone in his chair.
"He's gone" he says to her and she knows he is referring to Hartley.
"Kat, we got Cisco" they then hear Caitlin say over the PA system.
"Are you okay?" Katrina asks Dr Wells.
"I will be fine Miss Ivory, go check on Cisco" he tells her and she can sense more, but doesn't push any further, as she walks away to go check on Cisco. Katrina finds Barry laying Cisco down on one of the hospital beds, and sits down on the other as they keep watch over Cisco. Caitlin gets to work going over his wounds, as they wait for him to wake up.
Cisco slowly opens his eyes to see Barry and Katrina looking down on him, "Hey welcome back Mr. Ramon" Barry says to him .
"Hey, oh ow" Cisco says as he slowly sits up.
"Take it easy" Katrina tells him.
"Caitlin" Cisco asks.
"She's fine" Barry tells him.
"You need to rest, you have a concussion, you're lucky" Caitlin comes over and tells him.
"Please tell me one of you got him?" Cisco then asks the speedsters.
Katrina and Barry both shake their heads no, "The attack on his family's company was a complete fake out, so that we would catch him" Katrina tells him.
"And give him direct access to STAR Labs" Caitlin says.
"But why?" Barry asks.
"Should've known he was up to something, this is my fault" Cisco says as he sits up.
"Cisco, this is on us too, we shouldn't have left earlier" Katrina says to him.
"This is no one's fault but mine" Wells says as he comes into the room. "I earned the blame, I'm not interested in sharing it. Hartley doesn't think I've paid for my crimes, he's right. He won't stop until I do" he says this as he turns away.
"Where are you going?" Katrina asks.
"To earn back your trust" he says as he continues to leave.
Katrina and Barry stand by the staircase at CCPD, as a press conference is being set up, "So is this Well's idea of earning our trust?" Katrina asks Barry.
"I guess so" Barry tells her, as they see reporters gather around, and Katrina smiles at Iris who walks in confused by what is happening.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice" they then hear Wells say as he comes up to the table, "And for those of you that read the 10-volume report issued by the Norris Commission, well, I commend you on your tenacity. You already know, then, the circumstances that led to the explosion of the STAR Labs particle accelerator, or rather you think you do" Wells says to everyone. "Now the commission's finding was that the catastrophe was caused by a chain of events that nobody could have predicted, including myself. The truth is I was warned there was a chance the particle accelerator might fail. I was warned by a former colleague, a friend. I chose to ignore the warning, and in so doing..I let down all of you" Wells says to the reporters before looking over toward Katrina and Barry. "As a new friend pointed out...I failed this city" he says turning back toward the reporters. "I failed this city, and I failed those who trusted me the most. But coming forward today..it's my hope I'm taking the first step toward regaining that trust. And your trust as well" he says as he looks down for a second. "Are there any questions?" he then asks and the reporters start going off asking questions of Wells.
"DO you have any intention of building the particle accelerator?" one reporter asks, but Wells doesn't answer as he looks past the man, and at Iris.
"Ms. West..Do you have a question for me?" Wells then asks her.
"I don't believe you answered my colleague's question, Dr. Wells, so I'll ask it again. Do you have any intention of rebuilding the particle accelerator, either now or in the future?" Iris asks Wells.
Barry and Katrina smile at one another impressed with Iris's handling of being put on the spot.
"Of course not" Wells answers her.
"Thank you Doctor Wells" she says to him.
"It's my pleasure" Wells responds.
"Dr. Wells. Dr. Wells" other reporters start to call out to him.
"No further questions" Wells answers as he leaves the press conference.
"I'm impressed with Iris" Katrina says to Barry.
"Yeah me too, we should head back to the lab with Wells, see if Harltey has tried anything" Barry suggests as they grab their coats and leave.
The two of them follow Wells into the cortex of STAR Labs, where Wells asks Caitlin and Cisco if Hartley had tried to make contact.
"What makes you so sure he will?" Caitlin asks him.
"Because he's Hartley, and he'll wanna have the last word" Wells tells her.
"Cisco, you should be resting" Barry calls out as Cisco moves around the cortex.
"The answer to why Hartley fooled us into catching him is in here, and I'm gonna find it" he says as he takes his tablet and sits down in another area. Barry and Katrina both look over at Wells who just sighs as he wheels himself over to Cisco.
"You have nothing to prove" Wells tells Cisco.
"Not true" Cisco says and Wells scoffs at the remark.
"Do you know why I hired you, Cisco?" Wells asks him.
"You said you saw something in me, I know" Cisco says to him.
"What I saw was humanity. You and Hartley, Cisco, you're both brilliant. You both have mental" Wells snaps his fingers, "sparks, but his brilliance subtracted from the experience of working here...where as your brilliance, your heart...your warmth, your humour, it just adds to it" Wells tells Cisco, "There's no chosen one, Cisco. There's no second or third favorite, never was, it's just us" he adds. Barry and Katrina smile at one another after listening to the kind words Wells has said to Cisco. Katrina is about to say something to Barry when they hear a nose on the ceiling.
"What's that?" Caitlin asks as the lights begin to spark in the room.
"Nice gambit, Harrison, but this isn't over" they then hear Hartley say over the PA system.
"Hartley, what do you want? What do you want Hartley? I already gave my culpa today" Wells shouts out at him.
"The city already hated you" they hear Hartley responds, "You don't think I noticed that press conference was a pathetic bishop sacrifice. No, no, no I've played with you too many times to let you get away with that. This is between you, me, and the Flash" they hear Hartley say.
"You don't wanna play for those kind of stakes with me, Hartley" Wells tells him.
"Actually, I really do. What do you say? One last game of chess?" Hartley asks.
"You and I both know that the winner of the game is the one who makes the next to last mistake and you clearly have a move in mind" Wells says to him.
"You're right, and I'm already at the board. So why don't you move your precious scarlet Knight....while I take out a few pawns" Hartley tells them and they lose the connection.
"Why is he only interested in Barry, I am just like him" Katrina asks.
"He's playing chess and probably sees you as the queen piece. Both of you get changed Cisco work on finding where Hartley may be" Wells informs them and they both nod at Wells as they grab their suits and get changed.
"All right, all right, Cisco where do we go?" Barry asks once him and Katrina are in their suits.
"I can't trace his signal. He could be sending messages from anywhere" Cisco tells them.
"Cisco, scan for seismic activity" Wells tells him, "If Hartley's using sonic blasts, the vibrations could cause tremors" Wells suggests to him, and Cisco begins to look on the computer system.
"Look, over here" he says as he displays his findings on the monitor. "Quake activity but no fault line" he adds.
"The Keystone Cleveland Dam" Caitlin tells them.
Barry and Katrina start to walk away, "Barry, Katrina, don't underestimate him, he's brilliant" Wells warns them.
"Well good thing we'll have you in here" Barry says motioning to their comm. Links.
Barry and Katrina take off right away making their way toward the dam, when the rush there they see a car flying over the dam, and Katrina runs to it, saving the woman inside and bringing her back up on top to safety.
"Barry, Katrina, you need to disarm Hartley immediately, do you hear?" They hear Wells tell them. "He is a master of distraction. He is a master of hiding his true endgame" Wells informs them. They stand there watching Hartley as he blasts away at more cars, and the two of them rush around saving the people inside. They bring them all back to safety when they hear Well's in their comm. Links. Again, "Barry, Kat you need to get out of there, get out immediately" He warns them but Barry doesn't listen as he tries to attack, ducking every blast Hartley sends. He eventually gets to Hartley and tosses him to the ground.
"It's over, you lose" he tells Hartley.
"Amazing, he replaced me with you, a total moron. I got you with the same trick twice" Hartley says as he smiles at Barry. Suddenly there is a high whirring noise and both Barry and Katrina can feel their bodies pulsing, and Katrina starts to fall to the ground. "I got the idea watching you and Harrison chit-chat. To use your suit's own speakers to kill you" Hartley says to the two of them as Barry falls down, and Katrina tries to crawl toward Barry. "That feeling, that's your organs shearing apart. And you activated the frequency when you disarmed me. In chess, we call that a discovered attack. You don't see it until it's too late, right Harrison" Hartley shouts out as they both wither in pain on the pavement.
"You two don't seem so special anymore, given how easy it was to bring you two down, I wonder if Harrison well even miss you two" he says to them.
As they lay there, they start to feel the pain slowly stop, and Hartley shouting no, as he goes over to his gloves. He screams out in pain and frustration, as he drops the gloves, his hands bleeding from them burning. Barry and Katrina slowly get up, looking at one another to make sure they are okay before walking over to Hartley.
"Barry, Kat, can you hear me" they barely hear Wells says through the comm. Links.
"Sort of" Barry responds as they look down at Hartley.
Once back at STAR Labs, Barry and Katrina change out of their suits, "How do you two feel?" Caitlin asks them.
"Other than the constant ringing in our ears, I think we're good" Katrina shouts at them.
"You're speaking very loudly" Caitlin comes up to her, placing a hand on her arm smiling at Katrina.
"Sorry" she smiles at Caitlin saying that quieter.
"It's okay, it'll pass" she assures her.
"Nice moves" Cisco says as he stands up and shakes Barry's hand.
"Thank you "Barry responds.
"Anytime" Cisco says, "I think I'm gonna take my doctor's advice and go lie down" he adds.
"What a great idea?" Caitlin smiles at him, and they both start to walk away.
"Man, I feel like I'm hungover times 10" Cisco says as they leave.
"Not surprised" they hear Caitlin remark.
Katrina and Barry look at one another, then look over at Wells, "It's difficult for me..to admit when I'm wrong. Certainly in front of an entire city, but also...also to my closest friends" he says looking at the two speedsters. "So I hope one day..to restore both your trust and faith in me" he adds.
"That day was today" Barry says as he reaches out to shake Wells hand, and they do so.
"You reminded me of someone I know, someone who also has a hard time admitting when they are wrong. But you put yourself on the line to admit your wrongs, and I think I can forgive that too." Katrina says smiling at Wells, as she takes out a picture frame and hands it to Wells, it was the picture Barry had taken of the five of them.
Katrina and Barry leave STAR labs, and head to CCPD, where they spot Joe seated at his desk, "Hey" Barry says as they walk up to him.
"Hey, man that press conference today was something else. Dr. Wells, took a lot of guts to do that, I have to give him that" Joe says to the two of them.
"He has his moments" Barry says to Joe.
"What's up?" Joe then asks seeing the look on Barry's face.
"Must have been hard for you" he says to Joe.
"What, to be this handsome?" Joe jokes with him.
"Raising me" Barry says.
"Oh, no" Joe says.
"Well, a kid who loved math and chemistry, whose idea of a fun afternoon was doing experiments in the garage" Barry says making Joe laugh. "It couldn't have been easy. Soon as I started AP classes, you had no clue how to help me with my homework" Barry says.
"No" Joe says to him.
"You must have always felt like you were competing with Richard Dawkins and Neil Tyson..and Henry Allen too. But look, none of them, no one, could ever replace you, not even Wells" Barry tells him.
"Aww that was so sweet Barry, I think I got a tear in my eye" Katrina says to the two men, and they both laugh, as the men hug.
"All right I'll see you at home" Barry says to Joe.
"Are you gonna be there too, Kat?" Joe asks her.
"No, I think tonight I am going to stay at my place, alone it's been a rough day and I need some alone time" she says.
"Have a good night then" Joe says to her as her and Barry walk away.
"Hey Eddie" Katrina says as they see Eddie walking toward Joe's desk.
"Hey, Kat, Barry" he replies as they leave.
"So you want to be alone tonight after what we just went through?" Barry asks Katrina as they leave CCPD.
"Yeah, I just want to go home, have a nice hot bath, and a glass of wine. You don't mind if we spend tonight separately do you?" she asks him.
"No..no...not at all." He says to her.
"Okay, but you can still walk me home though" she smiles at him.
"Walk, or run" he smirks at her and takes off running. Katrina takes off right after him, racing toward her apartment. She arrives at her door to see Barry leaning against her door, a single rose in his hand.
"My lady" he says bowing to her, and passing her the rose.
"Why thank you kind sir" she smiles at him before placing a hand around the back of his neck, and pulls him close kissing him.
"You sure you don't want to come back to Joes?" Barry asks her.
"Yes, go have a nice night with Joe, I'll see you tomorrow, for another day of saving Central City citizens, and doing our usual day job" she smiles at him.
"Tomorrow then" he smiles at her.
"Tomorrow, Barry" she says as she then unlocks her door, and goes inside. Katrina turns back around and smiles at Barry as she closes the door behind her.