32Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
Patty and Jesse were in S.T.A.R. Labs watching TV as they were surprised.
"Wait, Beyoncé is a senator on your Earth?" Patty asked.
"Yeah. I find it hard to believe she's a pop singer here." Jesse said before Barry, Harry, Cisco and Caitlin entered.
"How'd your training go?" Patty asked.
"Well, he's not a red splat on the side of a mountain." Harry said dryly as he took off his jacket.
"That's our new definition of success?" Cisco asked as he sat down.
"It's one of them." Harry said.
"I take it that the canyon jump failed?" Patty asked.
"Yeah, it didn't work. What else can we try?" Barry asked.
"A bigger canyon?" Cisco asked as Barry raised an eyebrow. "OK, fine, no more canyons."
"I know I can crack this. I've just been going about it wrong." Barry said. "I need to find my leg up. Have we factored in drag? Wells, can we rerun the simulation?"
"Let it go for now." Harry said.
"Zoom's still out there. He's terrorizing a whole world full of people, your world." Barry reminded. "You know, I'm not doing this for fun."
"Barry, we've been working on this all week. You're tired, we're tired." Caitlin said.
"I think we could use some rest." Patty said.
Cisco nodded. "Yeah, what we need is some downtime. Downtime leads to increased productivity, ergo we have to have fun." He got up as an idea hit him. "And the best way to have fun is for us to go out to the club. Am I right, Team Flash? Let's get turnt!" He chuckled. "No, but seriously, we need a break."
"You know, I think Cisco's right, and if I'm saying we need a break, then you know it's serious." Caitlin said.
"All right, let's go out tonight." Barry said before turning to Patty, remembering what happened last year. "Patty, do you think you can hang out with us?"
"I think I'll be fine this time. Really. I'm not gonna melt down this time." Patty joked as Barry chuckled.
"Oh, yeah. Can I go?" Jesse turned to Harry.
"Over my dead body." Harry growled but then he noticed the looks they were giving him. "Fine. If you're gonna go, you should take protection." Barry, Patty, Caitlin and Cisco snickered as he rolled his eyes. "No. I meant this protection." He pulled out his metahuman detector.
Later, Central City
Barry, Patty, Caitlin, Cisco and Jesse were hanging out in the nightclub as they toasted but Barry stopped Jesse due to her being underage.
"I might have to bust you for drinking, Jesse." Patty said.
"Or your Dad might murder us, if he were to find out." Barry said.
"Oh, whatever, he's all talk." Jesse shrugged.
"Mm-hmm." Barry nodded.
"Yo, guys, what's up?" Iris called as she entered with Wally.
"Hey." Barry hugged Iris. "Glad you could make it." He turned to Wally. "What's up, Wally?"
"Hey, interesting choice of venue. The tic-tac-toe theme is cool." Wally said.
"Barry picked it."
"Cisco picked it." Cisco and Barry pointed at each other.
"For real?" Cisco raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I picked it. I don't go out much. It had four stars on Yelp, so..." Barry shrugged.
"OK, fair enough." Wally nodded.
"So who's this?" Jesse asked, turning to Wally.
"This is Wally. He's my..." Barry paused, not sure how to put it. "…foster, or step... adopted... My new... this is... he's my new friend. This is Jesse." He introduced them.
"Oh, hi." Jesse smiled, ignoring her watch bleeping.
"Hey. So, Jesse, are you new in town?" Wally asked.
"Yeah, you could say that." Jesse said.
"Yeah, me too. Are you from far away?" Wally asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Jesse joked before her watch started to bleep again. "Oh, you know what? Would you just excuse me? I just need to go powder my... watch." She left as Wally looked at her, intrigued.
"Do you want to dance, Patty?" Barry offered and Patty considered before taking a breath.
"Yeah, I think I can do that." Patty said as they danced before a bolt of lightning passed by them, knocking some people down. "What the hell…"
"It was the Flash!"
"My wallet's gone."
"Someone took my purse." Caitlin said.
The Flash ran off, chasing the female speedster in red but much to his surprise, she was much faster than him, managing to outrun him as he stopped, panting out. "Who the hell are you?"
"What happened last night? I know you didn't rob these people." Joe asked.
"No, we were bored. Thought We'd have some fun." Barry said.
"Well, look, whoever did this, they got everyone within a ten-block radius in under six minutes. You couldn't catch them?" Joe asked.
"This speedster, whoever it was, was faster than Barry." Patty said.
"Unbelievable. Hey, babe." Joe said as Iris approached them.
"Hey, so I spoke to that girl over there. She snapped a photo of the red blur." Iris showed them a photo on the phone. "Look familiar?"
"This is not good." Barry realized.
Iris nodded. "I know, it looks exactly like the photo I took of you last year."
"If people start thinking that the Flash is mugging people…" Patty trailed off.
"Don't worry, we'll figure it out. We always do." Iris assured before her phone rang. "Oh, it's work. I've got to go. Keep me posted, OK?"
Iris left as Barry, Joe and Patty looked at each other. "I don't want people thinking the Flash is a petty thief."
"Well, we need to get to work squashing those rumors before they spread." Joe said.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"I mean, where did this speedster even come from?" Barry wondered.
Cisco sighed. "I don't know, man. All I know is that blur made 60 smackeroos off of me. Ridiculous."
"Do you think that speedster works for Zoom?" Patty asked.
"The breaches are closed." Cisco pointed out.
"The only other way to become a speedster is from a particle accelerator explosion." Barry pointed out as they entered the Cortex.
"OK, but then why only make yourself known now? You see what I'm saying? We'd have had to seen them in action before." Cisco pointed out.
"I'm not saying it makes sense; I'm just saying that's the only other way to become a speedster." Barry said.
"Actually, there's another way." Caitlin said.
They went towards a locker as Caitlin showed them a vial with some red liquid. "It's called Velocity-9."
"Ooh, that's a sexy-ass name. What is it?" Cisco asked.
"It's a speed drug." Caitlin said.
"When you were on Earth-2, the city was under attack from a meta, Jay took the drug to stop him." Patty explained.
Barry stared in surprise as they returned to the Cortex. "What? How could you not tell me this?"
"We promised Jay we wouldn't." Caitlin said.
"Jay, what do you... why?" Barry wondered.
"Because Jay knew how dangerous this drug is." Harry revealed. "I should know, Barry; Snow and I worked on it together."
Barry stared at them. "Guys, I have been busting my butt out there, pushing myself to the limit, trying to get better, trying to be faster, and you're telling me that there's been something this whole time that could've helped me? This could've helped me take down Zoom. It could have helped me save Jay."
"Jay was sick. The drug that he took to regain his speed was also causing cellular degeneration. It was killing him." Caitlin said.
"I tried to help, I tried to find a cure, but in all my experiments, the effects were just temporary. The V-9 is deadly." Caitlin's voice broke as she looked at the drug.
"Why not tell me this? Why keep me in the dark?" Barry wondered.
"Caitlin." Cisco touched her shoulder but then…
…Cisco was in some dark room, where he saw Zoom.
"Are you OK?" Caitlin asked.
"Did you vibe?" Harry asked.
"What did you see?" Patty asked.
Before Cisco could tell them, the computer beeped.
"Metahuman." Cisco looked at the monitors. "Yeah, social media app for the win. Bad Flash is back."
Later, Central City
"He's coming up on Fifth and Everett. You can use the alley to cut him off." Cisco said as the Flash attempted to catch the speedster but to his surprise, she was much faster than him, knocking him down.
The Flash stared as he saw a woman in red suit with a domino mask before she sped off.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
"A lady speedster? It only took us two years, but we finally got one, a lady speedster." Cisco said before turning to Barry. "Hey, here's a question for you, purely scientific, was she good-looking?"
Joe and Patty chuckled as Barry sighed, while Caitlin was helping with his bruises. "You know, I was a little busy getting my ass handed to me, so I didn't really notice."
"Right, right, right, but, you know, next time, for science?" Cisco asked.
"OK, yeah, next time she punches me in the face, I'll be sure to get her number." Barry said.
"There you go." Cisco joked and Patty shook her head.
"What is it with you and femme fatales, Francisco Ramon?" Patty asked dryly.
"But the question remains, who is she?" Joe said.
Barry sighed. "I have no idea."
"We could run her through the facial recognition." Harry suggested.
"She had a mask on." Barry said.
"What was her suit like?" Cisco asked.
"Hey." Caitlin shot him a look.
"Hey, it's a valid question." Cisco said.
"He's right. There aren't many people, who know how to make a suit fit for a speedster." Patty said.
Harry nodded. "How was her suit constructed?"
Barry sighed as he leaned onto the computer desk "It was good. It was very good. It was like mine. It was made by somebody who understands the needs of a speedster."
"So that would be someone with access to tech and a lab." Joe said.
Caitlin paled. "Oh, no. I'm having a very bad thought." She showed them a profile on the computer. "When I designed V-9, I was having trouble reformatting the extracellular matrix, so I called a colleague of mine at Mercury Labs for some assistance, Eliza Harmon."
"She knows how to make this speed drug?" Barry asked.
"No, I followed the protocols of information compartmentalization. I only gave her three of the eight components necessary for V-9's structure." Caitlin said.
Barry nodded. "OK, so she didn't have the full recipe."
"Unless she reverse-engineered her own V-9." Harry pointed out.
"Eliza's a genius, but that's way out of character for her." Caitlin protested.
"Well, it's worth taking a look." Joe said.
"I'll go see her." Caitlin said.
"Hey, I'm coming too." Joe said.
Then, Barry, Patty and Harry realized what was going to happen next. "Great. I'm gonna go train." Barry muttered.
Later, Mercury Labs
"Knock-knock."
Eliza, who was working on some chemicals, looked behind, smiling. "Am I hallucinating, or is that disgraced ex-Mercury employee Caitlin Snow?"
"Eliza Harmon, burning the midnight oil. Don't you ever take a break?" Caitlin asked.
Eliza giggled. "Well, you know what they say, these thiocyanate ions won't bond themselves. Hi."
"Hi." Caitlin smiled as Eliza pulled her in for a hug.
"Who is your handsome friend?" Eliza asked, turning to Joe.
"Detective Joe West, ma'am." Joe pulled out his notepad and pen.
"Detective? What brings you around these parts?" Eliza asked.
"Well, that's a funny story." Joe said.
"You know how there's a speedster that's been wreaking havoc on the city?" Caitlin asked.
Eliza nodded, working on some chemicals. "Yeah, I heard The Flash went nuts. Fame will do it to you. I guess some people can't handle the limelight, right?"
"Well, we happen to know it was someone else. That's why we're here looking into this." Joe said.
"Wow, how very 'Law & Order' of you, Caitlin." Eliza said dryly.
"Do you remember that formula that you were helping me with a few months ago?" Caitlin asked.
"Yeah, vaguely." Eliza said, taking down notes.
"We think that it was somehow involved." Caitlin said.
"How? What did you have me working on?" Eliza asked, looking into a microscope.
"It's classified, but let's just say it was some kind of enhancement, and we're afraid that my research was stolen." Caitlin said.
"Not from this lab." Eliza sighed before facing Caitlin and looking around. "OK, between you and me, the place is pretty vulnerable. Ever since that break-in a few months ago, some of us think McGee hasn't sufficiently stepped up security, but I kept my research on lock and destroyed the originals when it was given back to you. But hey, you're free to look around my lab if you want."
"I don't think that'll be necessary." Joe said.
"Sorry. I wish I could be more help." Eliza said.
Caitlin seemed to relax. "It's OK. It's actually kind of a relief. Will you call me if you hear anything, though?"
Eliza nodded. "Of course. That's what friends are for."
"Thank you." Caitlin nodded before leaving and turning to Joe. "So what do you think?"
"For now, we take her at her word." Joe said.
Later at night, Eliza seemed to be closing her eyes as she kept working. "I'm so tired."
"Oh, well, you've been pushing yourself too hard." The voice in her head said.
"No, not hard enough. I'm sick of always being passed over for the grant, for the promotion. I'm underpaid and understaffed and six months behind on my research. That's why I started all of this." Eliza said.
"Your problem is you're too much of a perfectionist. You don't have to be. There's beauty in chaos." The voice in her head said.
"I don't have time for chaos." Eliza snapped, walking down the lab. "This was supposed to fix things, and it ended up making it worse."
"Oh, silly girl. You know it makes you feel better to blow off some steam."
"You will say anything for a fix. It's your fault we're hooked."
"It's Caitlin's fault; if she didn't want us to find out what she was working on, she shouldn't have made it so damn easy."
Eliza looked at the vial with red liquid in the glass case as she pulled it out. "There's not enough for both of us. We... we need to save it for an emergency."
"You take it now; worry about getting more later. You'll thank me."
After some hesitation, Eliza injected herself with the drug, feeling empowered as she looked into the glass and saw the female speedster in the reflection.
"I know what's best for us and where to get more."
S.T.A.R. Labs
Barry was entering the Speed Cannon room as Harry and Patty followed him.
"Whatcha doing?" Harry asked.
"Training." Barry said.
Harry scoffed. "Training? Allen, don't be stupid."
"Barry, we know you took the V-9." Patty said.
"No, I haven't." Barry protested.
"Oh, no?" Harry asked.
"No." Barry shook his head. "I took it, but I haven't taken it yet."
"Good." Harry nodded.
"Tell me why I shouldn't." Barry asked.
"Barry, I get it. If everyone else is cheating, you want to level the playing field, when the game is already rigged. You want to be faster than any speedster, who tries to hurt anyone you care about, no matter what." Patty said. "But the moment you go with it, no matter the cost, you're gonna risk becoming someone you don't even recognize anymore."
Harry nodded. "You want to take a shortcut; is that right? You want to take a shortcut? Remember this. You lose a chunk of your humanity every time you compromise your values."
Barry snorted. "Sorry, that's really good coming from you."
"So don't be like me. Be better. Be like Jay." Harry said.
"Barry, if you want to beat Zoom, beat him on your own terms, not his. Otherwise you're no better than him." Patty pointed out as Barry considered. "Come on." Barry handed her the drug as she pocketed it but the next thing they knew, Patty was knocked down on the ground and Barry was locked in the Pipeline cell.
"Hey!"
"Time to have some fun." The speedster smirked before running off.
"Hey! Cisco! Hey, Joe! Hey, she's got me in the Pipeline!" Barry called out.
Before Joe could react, the speedster sent him crashing against the glass and aimed Joe's gun at Harry.
"What do you want?" Harry demanded.
"Where's the V-9, Caity? I need a fix." The speedster demanded.
Caitlin stared, recognizing the voice. "Eliza, is that you?"
Eliza rolled her eyes. "Oh, Eliza's not here right now. My name is Trajectory."
"Oh, why do the crazy ones always name themselves?" Cisco muttered.
"Look, Eliza, Velocity-9 is very dangerous, OK? It made a friend of mine very sick, and he already had the Speed Force in him." Caitlin pleaded. "Look, your cellular system—"
"Enough!" Trajectory snapped. "You are boring me to death. Hand over the V."
"I'm a physician. I took an oath. I can't give you anything that will hurt you." Caitlin begged.
Patty tried to sneak in but Trajectory noticed her. "Well, well, well…"
Patty raised her hands. "Listen, no one has to get hurt, OK? Leave them alone. You want the V-9. Here. It's the last batch we have." She showed Trajectory the vials.
"Patty, no!" Caitlin protested.
"Here. Take it and don't hurt anyone. OK?" Patty asked as Trajectory smirked.
"Well, thank you." Trajectory said but in that instant, Cisco unlocked the Pipeline cell and Barry sped out from the Pipeline. Realizing what happened, Trajectory injected herself and sped off.
Central City
The Flash was chasing Trajectory as she was on the bridge, terrorizing people and causing tremors before she knocked the Flash down. "You're ruining all my fun."
The Flash helped people to safety before he chased after her as they crashed against a power transformer box as Trajectory panted out.
"It's over, Eliza." The Flash said.
"It is never over." Trajectory sneered, about to inject herself with more Velocity-9.
"Wait, hey! Stop doing this to yourself. You don't actually want to hurt anyone." The Flash pleaded.
"You don't know anything about me." Trajectory shook her head.
"No, I know you're not a bad person. This is the V-9 in your system. I also know what it feels like to want to be the best. It makes you feel like there's not enough time to accomplish things the right way, but it's a cop-out. And this is killing you. Look at yourself, Eliza. You're not well. Let us help you, please."
Trajectory jammed the syringe into her leg as she felt intoxicated before getting up, lightning surging through her. "That is all the help I need. How does it feel to know that I am faster than you will ever be? See you around."
Trajectory sped off, the lightning turning blue.
"The lightning, it's turning blue." The Flash said.
Eliza screamed as she kept running until she evaporated into nothingness, leaving behind only a mask.
Later, S.T.A.R. Labs
After finding out that Jesse had left, Harry met with Barry, Patty, Joe, Iris, Caitlin and Cisco in the Cortex.
"So Eliza just evaporated from running too fast?" Iris wondered.
"Looks like cellular degeneration, same as Jay's." Caitlin nodded.
"Jay warned us V-9 was dangerous. At least now we know why." Joe said.
"Where's Jesse?" Patty asked.
"She went out." Harry said.
"Barry, what is it?" Iris asked as Barry kept staring.
"It's just right before Eliza disappeared, her lightning, it turned blue." Barry said.
"Like Zoom?" Patty asked and Barry nodded.
"What if it's a side effect of the V-9?" Cisco said.
"Yeah, but Jay took Velocity-9, and his lightning didn't turn blue." Caitlin said.
"About how fast was he running?" Barry asked.
"Not as fast as Eliza." Iris noted.
"All right, so what if V-9 is what turns your lightning blue? I mean, that would explain why Zoom is so much faster than me." Barry said.
"If that's true, then that means he's sick, right?" Cisco realized.
"He's dying." Harry realized as he turned to Barry. "That's why he wants your speed. He's dying, and he needs a cure."
"Same as Jay." Barry said softly.
"Wait, let's not jump into conclusions just yet." Patty intervened.
"I think it's a good time to tell you I've been vibing Zoom." Cisco said.
"For how long?" Harry demanded as they turned to him.
"It started, when we closed the last breach. And every time it's happened, I've been near that drug." Cisco said.
"Well, there's only one way to know find out our answers." Barry said. "Do we still have some of the drug?"
"One last vial." Caitlin showed them the vial with Velocity-9.
Cisco took a breath.
"There's only one way to find out." Harry said as Cisco touched the vial.
Cisco was back in Zoom's lair and Zoom pulled back his mask and Cisco recoiled in shock as he saw the face of Eddie Thawne underneath.
"Cisco, what did you see?" Caitlin asked as Cisco stepped back in shock.
"I saw Eddie. He's Zoom." Cisco revealed as everyone, especially Barry, Iris, Joe and Patty, had shocked looks on their faces.
Honestly, Trajectory was another one of the cringeworthy B-list villains that could've been taken down easily if not for the stupid writing and I wanted to cut shorter the mess in S.T.A.R. Labs. Hope I did fine.
Well, the Team Flash is in for mind blow. As for Zoom, well, all I will confirm is that he has Eddie's face, not saying anything else beyond that. I've never confirmed that it's Earth-2 Eddie or anything like that. His backstory will be explained once we get to 2x18 where Zoom's backstory is revealed.
But well, it's gonna be a bit uncomfortable for Barry the next chapter, huh.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.
