This is a story that was inspired by many conversations with Philippe 363, as well as some of his recent Flash stories. For more on that, wait until the end of the chapter. This won't be a long story, likely only one or two more chapters.

Welcome to Earth-16. It's an earth almost identical to Earth-1, near identical history with one difference: Joe West had actually looked for his wife when she ran and taken his daughter with him. The West family eventually settled in Keystone City, far from the chaos that Central City seemed to bring.

This had a lot of ripple effects on the citizens of Central City, particularly one Barry Allen.

Central City Police Department

Morning

"Alright, so explain this to me again?" Detective Ralph Dibny said as he took a sip from his coffee, sitting across from the department's head CSI.

"The victim was killed from third degree frostbite, the kind you'd only get from being exposed to forty below," Barry said as Ralph looked at him puzzled.

"It's summer, nights don't drop to sixty," Ralph said and Barry nodded.

"Which is what makes this so strange," Barry said and it was silent between them.

"Think your contact can help us out?" Ralph asked and Barry shrugged.

"I'm heading over to Star Labs later, so we'll see," Barry said and Ralph nodded.

Later, Barry walked into the morgue where the ME was going over some reports.

"Hey," Barry said, startling her.

"Barry, you startled me," Caitlin Snow said as she put a hand on her racing heart.

"Sorry," Barry said with an apologetic smile. "Was I interrupting?"

"No, I was just going over some reports. So, what's up? You usually don't visit me down here," Caitlin noted.

"What, I can't come visit my favorite ME?" Barry joked and she shot him a look. "Okay, so I was wondering if you had anything more on what happened to the victim."

"Nothing more than the last time you asked, his name was Hartley Rathaway and, for all intents and purposes, he just dropped dead of frostbite for no reason," Caitlin explained and Barry frowned.

"That shouldn't be possible," Barry said, scratching his brain for answers.

"I think we threw out impossible when the accelerator blew up," Caitlin pointed out and Barry nodded with a grimace.

About two years ago, Star Labs had turned on their Particle Accelerator, which had worked perfectly…at first. Then, it had exploded, sending a wave of dark matter through the city. The wave had given certain people powers; people the citizens of Central City had dubbed 'Metahumans'.

"So you think this is a Meta?" Barry asked and Caitlin shrugged.

"I can't see another explanation, can you?" Caitlin asked.

"No," Barry admitted. "But I'm gonna stop by Star Labs anyway, see if I can find out anything."

"So are we still on for tonight?" Caitlin asked and he smiled.

"Wouldn't miss it," Barry promised before, after making sure there was no one around, pulled her in for a kiss.

Star Labs

Afternoon

Cisco Ramon was hard at work in his lab when someone else walked up behind him.

"Do you ever stop trying to change the world?" Barry asked and Cisco grinned.

"Do you?" Cisco asked and Barry shrugged.

"Fair point little brother," Barry acknowledged.

When Barry was eleven, his mother had been murdered. Someone had broken into the house in the middle of the night, shots were fired and his mom had taken a few rounds to the chest. His father had called 911 but by the time they arrived, she had already passed away. In his grief, his father turned to alcohol and had been deemed unfit by child services. Barry had been placed in foster care, bouncing around for a few months before being placed with the Ramons. The oldest, Dante, was a bit of a dick but he was alright deep down. The parents treated him more like a guest than anything, which is what Barry preferred to be honest. But he and Cisco had bonded quickly and, seeing how happy their youngest son was to have a friend in the house, his parents had decided to let Barry stay, so long as there were no real issues. They'd paid his bills, they'd put him through school, even paid his college tuition. And even though he didn't keep touch with the rest of the family aside from the occasional phone call and Christmas card, he and Cisco were still close.

"So, is this a social call? Did we have lunch planned that I forgot?" Cisco asked and Barry shook his head.

"No, it's business," Barry said and Cisco raised an eyebrow. "A body was discovered this morning; the victim was killed from third degree frostbite."

"It's summer though," Cisco said confused and Barry nodded.

"Which is why Detective Dibny and I were so surprised. I was thinking a Meta, but is there anything going on in Star Labs that might explain it?" Barry asked and saw Cisco look thoughtful. "I know that look Cisco. What are you thinking?"

"The victim, is it Hartley Rathaway?" Cisco asked, taking Barry back.

"How'd you know that?" Barry asked as Cisco sighed.

"I was afraid of that. A few weeks ago, Rathaway and another scientist were working on a new invention, something that could simulate cold, like tundra cold. But Rathaway realized that the other guy was planning on turning it into a weapon, so he reported it to Dr. Wells and the guy was fired. This morning, Rathaway didn't turn up for work," Cisco explained and Barry nodded.

"And you think the other guy is the one who did it?" Barry asked and Cisco shrugged.

"I don't know. But the device went missing a few days ago, and he has a criminal history from when he was a kid," Cisco explained and Barry nodded.

"What's the guy's name?" Barry asked as he crossed is arms.

"Leonard Snart," Cisco said.

"Well, Snart just became the number one suspect," Barry said as he turned to leave.

"Barry," Cisco called out and Barry paused. "Just…remember, speed and cold are opposites."

"I'll be fine Cisco," Barry assured him before walking out, leaving Cisco staring after him worriedly.

One thing that has annoyed me about the recent seasons of Flash is that they keep nerfing and dumbing Barry down in order to justify the forced importance of Iris and the ever expanding roster of Team Flash. In the comics, Barry never had this huge team, no Flash has. The Flash, whatever version, has usually been a solo hero with the occasional sidekick like Kid Flash or Impulse.

Barry was shown to be intelligent in the early seasons, but that seems to have waned as seasons have gone on in order to make it seem like he needs this huge team. So I wanted to do a story where I got rid of the team all together, where Caitlin was an ME and Cisco was basically Barry's Lucius Fox. Joe was originally in Ralph's role but I decided if I was getting rid of Iris, I might as well get rid of Joe as well.