Episode 2 - Fastest Man and Woman Alive

"All right, let's get to the good stuff. You see that smoke? That's a fire on Western and 3rd in downtown Central City. And that blur? That's me on my way to it. I'm going 352 miles an hour. And it's a slow day." Barry says to himself as he runs around the city helping people get by another day, a smile always present on his face.

"We're still at least two minutes out. People are gonna die in there." Cisco tells him, hints of worry and fear spread through his voice. Barry shows some anxiety and terror but it is gone from his face as quick as he can run.

"I know." Barry sighes at him, he understands this was just the world, he can interfere with death's wishes but the world will always find a way to try and rebalance their rights Barry is trying to do, and he knows there's nothing he can do about it.

"Barry? Barry!" Cisco shouts in his ear, trying to gain his attention.

"What? Did I miss it?" Barry questioned. He could practically hear Cisco do an eyeroll.

"You overshot by about six blocks." He informs him. Barry looks guilty as he runs to where he was meant to be.

"My bad." Barry sighs as he looks around to see who had managed to escape from the father.

"Paige! My daughter! Has anyone seen my daughter? Paige!" A young mother screams, clearly in shock because of the situation. Barry nods to no one in particular and runs into the building, while thinking how had that many people managed to escape from the fire, he also thought he saw someone else running a inhuman speeds inside the building, there body shiny and metallic looking but he shakes the thought out of his head as he finds a young girl, possibly Paige amongst the wreckage.

"Whoa! You there yet?" Cisco asks, not noticing Caitlin walking into the Cortex, her hands finding their way to her hips when he sees Cisco talking into the com, meaning that there is a big chance that Barry was talking on the other end, and knowing both of the fighting crime.

"What are you doing?" Caitlin hesitantly asks him, looking around the room and noting that Atchaco isn't here either but she passes that off for the fact that she was probably being smart and doing her job.

"Nothing." Cisco tries to defend, but his face shows it all, so why should he even try?

"Who were you talking to?" Caitlin pries.

"No one." Cisco answers just a little bit quickly that it is almost suspicious.

"Are you talking to Barry?" Caitlin guessed. Cisco stayed quiet for a moment.

"Who?" Cisco asks trying to play dumb, even though deep down he knows that Caitlin won't fall for it, she never did for those type of things, that's what made her brillant at some things but lacking terrible in others, for example, social skills, not many people wanted to be friends with her because of it when she was younger, nothing to with that fact that she was different physically that others, or that she seemed colder that most, no, nothing to do with that at all.

"Barry Allen? Struck by lighting? Was in a coma for nine months? Woke up being able to run faster than the speed of sound? Ring a bell?" Catlin

"No. Haven't talked to him." Cisco said, smiling.

"Cisco, there's fire everywhere! Cisco, are you still there?" Barry shouted into the com link, Cisco on the other end with Cailin sending him death glares that he didn't know how to turn down, couldn't mute the speaker quick enough and Caitlin found out what she wanted to know, not that Cisco doubted she wouldn't find out even if Barry hadn't talked into the com.

"Mom? Mommy!" A young girl screamed and Barry scooped her up and ran her outside to her mother. "Whoa! Mommy!" The girl was amazed as she looked at Barry then back at her mother.

"Everybody's out. What else have you got for me, Cisco?" Barry said over the sirens from the emergency services, as he saw the figure from inside the fire, the inhuman one, walk out with two bodies slung over either shoulder, a solme expression on their face.

"Barry, it's Caitlin." She said into the microphone and Barry looked kind of scared, fastest man alive but scared of his doctor, no one was going to let him live this down.

"Hey, Caitlin. How's your day?" Barry asked sweetly, secretly glad that Caitlin couldn't see his face.

"Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Now." She ordered at him, Barry looked around the scene the other person looked like they were listening in on something as they looked in his direction, were they listening in on his conversation.

"On my way." Barry sighed as he ran towards STAR Labs, when he got there he saw Caitlin by the concusle with Cisco in one of the chairs. Cisco looked worried and Caitlin looked like she was about to murder someone.

"Oh. Have you both lost your minds? Who do you think you are?" Caitlin barked as Cisco and Barry shared the same worried looks.

"Well, I'm the eyes and ears, and he's the feet." Cisco joked, clearly finding something about this situation funny.

"This isn't funny. You could have gotten yourself killed. You can't be running around the city like some supersonic fireman." Caitlin retorted, every second coming that little bit angerer.

"Why not? This is what we talked about: Me using my speed to do good." Barry reminded her. She shook her head, clearly he had missed something out, or she would be annoyed like this, right?

"We talked about you helping us contain other people who might have been affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Meta-humans. And aside from Clyde Mardon, we haven't found any." Caitlin informed them.

"People in this city still need help." Barry sighs as runs his hand through his hair. "And I can help them. We can help them. Will you please say something?" He says, almost desperate and disturbed by the eerie silence that Caitlin is giving him.

"I think what Caitlin is saying, in her own spectacularly angry way, is that we are just beginning to understand what your body is capable of. Not to sound like a broken record, Mr. Allen... I do caution restraint." Dr Wells says as he wheels himself into the Cortex.

"Dr. Wells... I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today." Barry tries to justify.

"In a wheelchair and a pariah. Lack of restraint is what made me these things." Dr Wells remarks back. Barry looks down at the ground, he did have a good point.

"Know your limits. don't expect me to patch you up every time you break something." Caitlin tells him, leaving the room. Barry looks at Cisco.

"Hey, uh... Anything happened out there today? The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like your vitals spiked for a few seconds." Cisco asks, looking at him worryingly.

"Never felt better." Barry replies as his phone rings. He sighs when the caller ID says that it's Joe. "Hey, Joe, is everything all right?" Barry says in an almost unrealistic happy tone.

"Great. I got a fresh crime scene... A dead body... Detectives interviewing witnesses... miles of that yellow tape stretched over everything. I'm only missing one thing. Can you guess what that is?" Joe asks.

"I'll be right there. My day job beckons." Barry said, speeding off and not realising that he hadn't taken off his suit, or told the team about the mysterious figure from the fire.

"When do you think he'll realize he didn't take his clothes?" Dr Wells asks the others, to which they only shrug their shoulders.

"Hmm. Perp made off with a bunch of handguns, at least six Glock 19s fitted with extra ammunition magazines. Somebody's looking to do a whole lot of bad." A cop informed Joe and Captain Singh.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Barry said a little out of breath. He was wearing some clothes he had nabbed from the store at super speed so no one noticed.

"Doing a little fall shopping, Mr. Allen?" Singh asked, indicating the price tag on the back of Barry's clothes.

"Oh." Barry chuckles. "I was going so fast this morning, I didn't even notice."

"Oh. Yeah. I downloaded the surveillance footage off the video camera." Another Cop showed them an iPad with the footage from the shootout to the three. The footage shows 1 guy walk into the store and steal 6 guns from the case before quickly retreating with them in his hands. But what was odd was that 6 different sets of footprints were left.

"Looks like only one perp." Joe said.

"Footage may only show one, but it was six guys. Look, the tracks. They're all crossing each other. Six sets of footprints. Six guns stolen. We should be looking for a crew." Singh replied, stating both the obvious and the confusing. What on earth was going on here.

"Huh... Weird. The shoes, it looks like they're all the same size. Men's tens, I'd guess. Just like you, Captain. Not that you're a suspect, sir. I--" Barry started to say, investigating all the tracks left on the ground.

"Your ability to multitask is truly remarkable. The way you can embarrass me, the captain, and yourself all at the same time." Joe laughs and Barry blushes.

"Joe, I'm sorry." Barry apologies as they walk into the Precinct.

"I'm starting to think "Joe, I'm sorry" is my actual name considering how often you say it to me." Joe tells Barry.

"I'm dealing with a lot right now." Barry answers back, though already knowing that Joe knows fine well what he is going through right now, he is one of the people that does.

"Look, I know you are. Believe me, I'm dealing with it, too. I've always had a very simple set of beliefs. Gravity makes things fall. Water makes things wet. And up until a few weeks ago, I believed the fastest man could run a mile in four minutes. Not four seconds." Joe says looking at Barry with disbelief written all over his face. He believed in the simple things, and thought they could never change, but his son had proved him wrong by disobeying the rules of life and becoming the impossible.

"I could do it in three." Barry corrects him.

"Not relevant. You haven't said anything to Iris about all this, have you?" Joe asks, clearly agitated about what just happened.

"No, I made you a promise. I keep my promises." Barry tells him, Joe eyes him, and Barry fidgets with his hands.

"Keep on lying like that. You're liable to get struck by lightning again. Get up to the lab. Start processing the evidence from the gun store." Joe orders him. Barry wastes no time in running up the stairs, using as little superspeed as possible. I mean, this would be a dumb way for everyone to find out that he is a superhero.

Barry is working at his desk, clearly bored when Iris comes walking in, an angry expression on her face. "This is all of your fault. I could have taken European folklore to cover my sociology requirement, but no. You said, 'take journalism, Iris. Reporters have all of the fun.' Guess what, Barry? Reporters have none of the fun. Journalism is boring. I'm bored. I blame you. What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Iris complains to him.

"You look really nice." Barry states.

"Thanks. Why don't you look nice? This afternoon? Suit and tie? The university is giving Simon Stagg... Simon Stagg. Some big award. And you agreed-- to explain the science stuff for your article. It's all coming back to me now. How fast can you get home and change?" Iris reminds him, Barry looks stupid as he relieses that was the other thing he had forgotten about.

"Uh, pretty fast." Barry tells her, a smile on his face.

"Hey, Allen. Joe asked me to see where you're at on the evidence from the gun store shooting. Oh, hey, Iris." Eddie says while walking, his eyes not moving from Iris's body.

"Detective." Iris says, trying to act professional.

"Please, guys, uh, just kiss already. I already know, remember?" Barry sighed, they didn't have to hide it from him, honestly it didn't bother him as much as it would bother someone else.

"Ah. Thanks for being so cool about this, Barry. I know it's not easy keeping a big secret." Iris thanks him.

"I'm getting used to it." Barry replied, if only they knew, if only they knew the secrets that he was actually keeping from them, then they would understand his full extent.

Later they are both standing at the conference of Simon Stagg accepting a big award. "I find it quite remarkable, having once been a timid freshman at Central City University, to be standing before you now, the regents' choice for man of the year. While I very much appreciate the award, the real honor for me is knowing that my work in organ transference helps give people a second chance at life. Thank you all very much for coming." Simon Stag announced to the ever growing crowd of fans.

"Okay. All right, first things first... Simon Stagg's work in cellular cloning has led to huge advancements in the future of organ replacement…" Barry explained to Iris.

"Are journalists allowed to drink on the job?" Iris questions Barry.

"Okay. If you are bored already, just wait till we get to the science behind cellular regeneration." Barry says, full of excitement.

"I've missed this, Barry. I feel like we haven't spent any quality time together since you woke up from the coma." Iris said truetly.

"Yeah, I've had a crazy few weeks, I know." Barry subtlety admitted.

"I thought maybe you'd been avoiding me because of Eddie. I know you think it's wrong, me dating my dad's partner, and I just--" Iris started to admit, not really aware of the words that she was saying.

"No. That is not it. At all." Barry reassured her, he really didn't mind if she was going to date Eddie, maybe in some other universe, maybe, but in this universe his eyes are set on Atchaco, and Atchaco only. Not that Iris knew that yet.

"Oh! Oh! Mr. Stagg, I was wondering if I could get a quote from you for my article." Iris says running up to him, a security guard stopping her.

"Not now, miss." Simon said walking off. She just sighed.

"I'll just make something up." Iris laughs. "So... What were you gonna tell me? You looked like you were about to say something." Iris asked, looking up at

"Yeah--" Barry was about to continue when he heard gunshots come from behind him, a crew of men, possibly the ones from his crime scene earlier, were standing there, menacing looking guns in hand and bags in the other. The one with his gun raised to the sky, possibly the leader, glared at them all before opening his mouth to speak. Barry sighed, why him, why did everything always go wrong around him.

"Ah! Quiet down! All of you! Oh, my God. Quiet! How considerate! You're all wearing your finest jewelry! Almost like you knew we were coming to rob you! Now everybody line up!" The leader said. His voice was deep and commanding, and everyone didn't waste a second to follow their orders.

"Don't. Don't. Freeze! D-d-drop your weapons!" A guard said, raising his gun to the leader, he clearly didn't want to be here either, he looked so scared about it all. The leader and his identical crew ignored him and everyone, in their two different lines, in turn placed the valuables into their bags. Barry and Iris were a few people down, Barry was actually debating giving his valuables to the thief, especially after the one guy that tried to stand up to him was just beaten and forced to hand them over. But then Barry saw the guard have a gun aimed at him and Barry ran him outside before the bullet could hit him. As he was outside he started to feel a little bit dizzy and he promptly passed out on the ground, a metal hand catching his head and lowering it slowly to the ground.

Barry slowly regained consciousness, the figure from the fire was looking straight at him. Their face was dark and their body was covered in metal. They smiled at him. "Be careful next time, mate." They said, in a voice that he could slightly recognize, he just didn't know from where. "Don't want ya getting a concussion now, and don't worry, ya secrets safe with me." They stood up fully as the dark spots started to infest Barry's vision again and they ran away, possibly after the car. He then surrendered to the darkness.

The next time he regained consciousness was to Iris's voice as she stood in front of him, concern written all over his face. "Barry. Barry. Barry! I turned around and you were gone. What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I... I went after them to try and get the plates. Wha--? And I... I fainted." Barry said quickly, forming an excuse as he spoke.

"Hi. Iris. Where were you?" Joe asked sternly.

"Dad, go easy. I found him outside. He fainted." Iris tries to push Joe off of his usual leadership and father figure role.

"You want me to get you a paramedic, Allen?" Eddie asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, Eddie." Barry answered, he obviously couldn't tell him the real reason that Eddie couldn't do that. He will just go and get checked out later, but the thought was nice.

"I thought I was dead. I saw the gun go off, and then-- boom. Suddenly I'm outside. I have no idea how I got there." The security guard told one of the detectives.

"Let me talk to you for a second." Joe singled Barry to come over to tell him. You chased those gunmen, didn't you?" Joe asked him, clearly already knowing that answer, he just wanted to double check.

"Yeah, they must be the same guys that knocked over the gun shop earlier today." Barry informed him.

"And what were you going to do when you caught them? Huh? Ask them nicely to pull over? You're not bulletproof. Wait. Are you?" Joe asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"No, but--" Barry tried to finish.

"Okay. No more heroics. Chasing bad guys is not your job. It's mine. You're not a cop. Promise me." Joe told him.

"Promise." Barry replied, not really going to hold up to the promise.

"And you know Iris is not stupid. Start making better excuses than 'I fainted.'" Joe tells him. Barry sighed, it wasn't an excuse, he really had fainted.

Later Barry ran to STAR Labs, as soon as he told Catlin what was happening her face turned angry. "You lied to us. How could you not tell us you're experiencing dizzy spells? We're your doctors. God knows what's going on inside your body. Your cells are in a constant state of flux. You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure or a transient ischemic attack. Mini stroke. Probably not. You of all people should know that in science, we share. We do not keep secrets." She yelled at him.

"Wow... I haven't seen anyone make her that angry since Ronnie." Cisco said, his eyes on the ground as he said it.

"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiance? The one that died the night of the accelerator explosion?" Barry asked. Caitlin glared at him harder.

"Yeah. He is... missed." Cisco had found it hard to say.

"Now... Let's figure out why this is happening to you." Caitlin said, changing the subject so she wouldn't have to talk about what seems to be such a hard topic for her, and Barry doesn't blame her, he knows what it is like to lose someone that you love so dearly. A little while later Barry walks into an observation room with a treadmill in it. He looks behind to see a stack of boxes and he looks at Cisco, who just smiles.

"We're all set. A little padding. Just in case." Cisco tells him.

"Yeah. You're sure about this, Cisco?" Barry asks, he is unsure about the treadmill being able to handle his speeds.

"Most home treadmills have a maximum speed of about 12 miles per hour. This one has been Cisco'ed. Trust me. It can handle your speed." Cisco replies, almost proud of his work, before walking to where Caitlin and Dr Wells are sitting. Barry shrugs and starts running, if Cisco says it can handle it, then it can handle it, Cisco knows what he is doing after all.

Caitlin looked at the vitals and readouts. "Okay. Heart rate, blood pressure, nerve conduction are all normal. For Barry. Brainwaves function within standard limits." Caitlin tells them all.

"I told you the treadmill could take it!" Cisco laughs.

"Caitlin. Look at the glucose levels." Dr Wells suggests.

"Oh, my God. Of course." Caitlin releases.

"Right?" Dr Wells agrees as Caitlin goes over to the microphone to tell Bary.

"It was so obvious. Glucose levels. Barry! We think we know why you keep--" She starts to say just as Barry goes flying backwards and crashing into the boxes that had been placed behind him. "Passing out." She and Cisco go into the room and kneel down, Barry is out like a light. They waste no time moving him into the medbay.

"I passed out again?" Barry asked, stating the obvious as he began to sit up with the help of Caitlin.

"Total metabolic failure brought on by acute hypoglycemia." Caitlin informs him.

"I'm not eating enough. So an I.V. bag and I'm good to go?" Barry questioned.

Cisco chuckles bring forward the I.V. stand with all the empty I.V. bags on it. "Try 40. Guess you were thirsty. We're gonna need to fashion you a new diet based on your metabolic changes. I've done a few calculations. You need to consume an amount equal to roughly 850 tacos. Unless we're talking cheese and guac, which is like a whole other set of equations." He tells him.

"For Mexicans, I recommend Tito's. On Bruckner Avenue? Best burrito in the city." Joe interrupts him, walking into the Cortex.

"Detective West. What brings you to S.T.A.R. Labs?" Dr Wells asks.

"When I couldn't find you at your lab, I started doing a little research. Turns out there's been reports of a red streak around the city, stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings." Joe tells them all with a smile on his face.

"You didn't tell him we were working together?" Cisco asks Barry.

"Joe, I can explain." Barry tried to reason with him.

"You already have a job in law enforcement, Barry. I suggest you get back to it." Joe orders him, a non-pleased look on his face.

"Mm-hmm. Don't look at me. I'm on your side." Caitlin tells Joe when he looks at her disappointed too.

"Detective. We all want what's best for Barry." Dr Wells informs him.

"If you wanted what was best for Barry, you'd try to talk him out of this lunacy instead of encouraging him to go out there risking his life." Joe shouts at him.

"You saw a man control the weather. What are the police gonna do against someone like that? Since the accelerator explosion we suspect there may be more like him, and I have seen one, this morning, when I was stopping the fire, I saw someone in that building helping to get people out. I saw them again at the Gala after the shooters came. And just by looking at their body, they're not human. If they were to turn bad there would be nothing the police would be able to do." Barry argues with him.

"And you're gonna do what? Catch them? Are you insane? You think because you can run real fast that you're invincible? You're not! You're just a kid. My kid." Joe argues back.

"I'm not your kid, Joe. And you're not my father. My father's sitting in Iron Heights. Wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him. And you're wrong about this. Now I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building or stop some armed thieves, I'm gonna do it. And you can't stop me. So don't try." Barry told him.

"You think you're so smart. All of you. But you don't know what you don't know. And I hope that you're clever enough to figure it out before somebody gets killed." Joe snarls at all of them, and with that Joe leaves the building, Barry following closely behind, guilt written all over his face.

"Simon Stagg's head of security was murdered last night. The coroner took some skin samples. Hopefully they belong to the killer. See if you can find a match." Captain Singh tells the two.

"Can't be a coincidence that Stagg's benefit was attacked last night. I'm going to interview Stagg now." Joe says.

"I'll come with you." Barry walks over to him.

"Your job is here. Stay in here and do it." Joe walks into his car but stops when Iris walks over to him.

"Hey, Dad." Iris greets.

"Hey, baby. Gotta go." Joe closes the door of his car and drives off.

"Why is my dad mad at you?" Iris asks Barry.

"Work stuff. Why are you mad at me?" Barry replies, being vague on what work stuff he is talking about.

"You were supposed to meet me at Jitters to give me some scientific background for my article." Iris reminds him.

"And I didn't show up." Barry sighs.

"And now I have to come up with a new article topic in 24 hours or I fail the assignment." Iris complains.

"Iris--" Barry tries to say.

"Don't say that you're sorry. Okay, I know that you are. What I don't know is what is going on with you." She sighs. "We grew up one bedroom down from each other. Do you honestly think that I don't know when you're happy? Or sad or depressed or lost? I'm gonna ask you one last time, Barry Allen, and you better be honest with me. What the--" Barry makes time slow down so that no one can notice anything different, even Iris, who is standing right infront of him.

"You want to know what's happening. I'm fast now. God, I just want to tell you. How I feel. How you make me feel. But I can't." Barry complains to himself before resuming everything at the correct time.

"Hell is it going on with you?" Her phone beeps, indicating that she has a new notification. She points sternly at Barry. "We are not done talking about this."

Inside Stagg Industries on the other side of the city Joe is sitting on a chair facing Simon Stagg himself who is sitting proudly at his desk, reviewing the information that has been collected. "That's impossible. There was a murder last night. These skin cells belong to the murderer, but these cells are naive. Stem cells that they can replicate and become any cell the body needs. They only come from babies." Simon tells him.

"This means your killer is a newborn?" Joe questions, knowing that it can't be possible, but what other explanation can it be, then again Central City and it what it has become, it can be a whole lot of things previously thought to be impossible.

"You honestly think that someone wants to kill me?" Simon giviers.

"Well, we're not sure, Mr. Stagg, but... An event you were being honored at was robbed at gunpoint. And your head of security was found murdered this morning." Joe informs him.

"I am a scientist and a philanthropist. We're not often the targets of assassins." Simon states, while showing he doesn't want to believe it.

"Well...What about lawsuits? You got about 20 of those pending against you." Joe reasons.

"It is a sad fact of life, Detective, that when you earn a lot of money, people who haven't, think they can take yours. People like this guy, for example? Danton Black?" Simon questions.

"Danton Black. You fired him. Now he's suing you." Joe smirks.

"Unfortunately, our working relationship wasn't successful, but I can assure you of one thing. Danton Black... Is not a killer. He's a clinical researcher, not a criminal mastermind. Now, if I can help you in any way, please let me know. I want these people caught as much as you." Simon places his hands on his desk and looks directly at Joe.

"Then here we are!" Joe looks surprised for a moment before realising that something is seriously wrong. He hears a small pitter patter of footsteps on the marble floors."Down!" Suddenly he hears gunshots as the shooters search everywhere for their target, Simon Stagg.

At the precinct Barry walks over to Captain Singh. "Captain, what's going on?" Barry asked Captain Singh when he heard him talking into the radio after getting a notification about a shootout.

"Not now, Barry. An armed gunman is shooting up Stagg industries." The Captain throws him off.

"Joe's there. Get him out of here. I'll cover you. Ready? Go." Cisco said through the ear piece he always wore, he was surprised no one had found it out, and in any other way he was glad.

Barry super speeds into the Stagg Industries and he sees Joe on the ground with Simon Stagg, but trying to hide from the shooter, who he can see come closer to finding out their hiding place. "Go!"

"No." Joe says sternly. Barry turns around and looks at them.

"Whoever you are, give yourself up." Barry ordered.

"Sorry. We are not going anywhere." He then duplicates himself, so another metahuman, just great. "Until Simon Stagg is dead." He runs at Barry, but Barry, being a speedster, manages to dodge whatever throw he was going to throw at him. Then suddenly the clones run at him too, rather than just standing around in a circle around the pair of him. They try to overpower him and only just manage to land a few punches onto him, but lucky for them, and unlucky for Barry they manage to do some damage.

"The abrasions are already rapidly healing." Caitlin tells Barry threw the comm system. Barry just rolled his eyes, thank you for stating the obvious.

"Yeah, I got my ass handed to me." Barry sasses back, he didn't need some to tell him he was hurt when he knew fine well that he was.

"You got blood on my suit." Cisco complains. Barry sighs, that was one of his biggest concerns right now, really, it wasn't the big powerful and dangerous meta-human that he was facing off against.

"I think some of it belongs to him. Another not-so-friendly meta-human." Barry retorts, trying to get him back on a track with the task at hand.

"Danton Black." Cisco sighs as he stares at the computer beside him. "He's a bio-geneticist specialized in therapeutic cloning. Growing new organs to replace failing ones. Apparently Stagg stole his research and then fired him. I saw Black create duplicates from his own body. That's pretty ironic. The guy specialized in cloning and now he can make xeroxes of himself. If he was experimenting on himself when he was exposed to the dark matter wave released by the particle accelerator explosion-- Meet Captain clone. Don't worry. I'll come up with something cooler. Where are you going?" He finishes as sees the tracker in the suit indicate he is running away from where he was originally.

"Joe was right. I'm way over my head. Yeah, I'm fast, but I am no warrior. Man, I could barely fight one meta-human, let alone six." Barry tells them the truth to Joe's words, finally setting it after this time, he understood what he meant, he understood that he was right. Central City did well before he arrived, in that time when they had meta's and he was in a coma, that meant that they could find without him, he was an unneeded accessory that he had given them, so what difference does it make if he goes.

"Barry. I understand. Today was a setback. But any grand enterprise has them. And we can never learn to fly without crashing a few times." Dr Wells tries to encourage him, but to no effect as he doesn't turn to head back to Stagg Industries.

"This wasn't a grand enterprise, Dr. Wells. This was a mistake." Barry tells him.

At the front of Stagg Industries, Eddie was standing looking over a sea of Reporters all with microphones and recorders pointed his way. Detective, was the gunman apprehended?" One of the many reporters asked.

"The shooter's whereabouts are unknown at this time. We consider him armed and extremely dangerous. Thank you. No more questions." Eddie ends walking over to Joe as the Reporters all leave the area and go off to write whatever reports or articles they can on this case with the very little information that they had been allowed to hear.

"Nice work, Eddie." Joe tells him.

"Nah. Right place, right time." Eddie replies.

"No, you were a hero today." Joe compliments him.

"CCPD still has a killer on the loose. I should get back to the precinct. Okay." Eddie reminds him as he heads off. Joe heads of to the Precinct as well to see Stagg.

"Are you finally gonna tell me what's going on with you? Mr. Stagg, I wish you would reconsider our offer for protective custody. Danton Black has proven he is willing to kill, and he's got uh... Friends. And trust me, they're all dangerous." Joe tells him, trying to get the truth to finally seap in and take hold like it had to Barry.

"I've increased my security, Detective. I hope Black comes looking for trouble. 'Cause he'll find plenty." Stagg warns leaning forward as Joe doesn't finch.

"Spoken like a true philanthropist. Or is it humanitarian? Ah. I'm sorry. I can never remember which one you're pretending to be, Simon." Dr Wells says as the elevator doors open and he wheels out.

"Harrison…" Simon says surprised. "Don't get up. Ha-ha! Another fan of yours, Doctor?" He jokes, by the monotone look on Dr Wells face it has done nothing to lighten the mood at all.

"Can we talk, Detective?" Wells asked Joe to move out of earshot of anyone else.

"So you were right. Barry's not the only one who's special. This guy that tried to kill Simon Stagg today, he could-- Replicate spontaneously." Joe told him.

"Yeah, we know." Wells sighed.

"Did you know about Barry? When he was first in his coma you came to the hospital, and you asked me if you could take him to S.T.A.R. Labs. Did you know what he could do?" Joe asked.

"I had my suspicions that he was... affected. Mm-hmm." Wells laughs, placing his hands on his lap and looking towards the ground. He was confused but didn't show it, it was just hard to keep up an act like this.

"I was never looking to become the senior member of a secret crime fighting unit." Joe replied looking at him sternly, Wells looks up and smirks.

"You and I both know we are the only ones equipped to protect Central City." Wells retorts.

"Maybe I'm more interested in protecting Barry. But of course he's all set to fly into the fire right along with you." Joe accuses him.

"No, he's not. Not anymore. He quit. He didn't tell you? I haven't seen him."

"Well I'm sure it's only temporary. From what I know of Barry, when he sets his mind to something... No one's gonna talk him out of it." Joe informs them.

"But the next time he suits up... Fshh! Runs headlong into danger... He will fail. Why? He doesn't think he's capable. Doubt... Is his real enemy. Joe, not whatever's lurking out there. And as long as you continue to doubt him, he'll keep doubting himself. And for the record... I care about him, too." Wells tells him.

"Guess you were hungry." Iris says as they sit at one of the tables at CC Jitters

"Stress eating. Ah. I came to say I'm sorry. And you're right. I have been distant. Correct. Kind of a jerk." Barry tells her, a small smile on his face.

"You should apologize more often. You are really sensational at it. Hmm. Hmm. So... What were you going to tell me the other day?" Iris asks him.

"I thought I had to do something. Something I thought was important, but it turns out that I'm not very good at it. But what I am good at is being your friend. So if you need help coming up with a new topic for your article--" Barry begins only for Iris to interrupt him.

"I found one. Something that actually interests me. I know this is gonna sound crazy... It's been all over the Internet this week. At a building fire... At a bank heist... Even the other night when those robbers shot at the security guard, he said he was whooshed outside. Something out there is saving people." Iris tells her.

"I thought you were taking journalism. Not science fiction writing." Barry retorts, he doesn't want her to be doing her topic on his activities, especially as he is not doing it anymore, it would just disappoint her when she won't be able to get any updates on the topic and he couldn't do that to her.

"Ever since I have known you you have believed in the impossible. What if you were right? What if you were right about the night that your mom died?" Iris questions, Barry just sighs, he doesn't know how to word what he is going to say next so he is momentarily happy when he hears his phone ring, only for that happiness to disappear when it says STAR Labs as the contact that is trying to contact him.

"Look, I told you I'm through." Barry shouts into the phone as he walks outside, leaving Iris to be all alone.

"I know, but you need to get to S.T.A.R. Labs right now." Cisco tells him. Barry sighs and tenses a bit before going into an alley and speeding off to STAR Labs. As he walks in he sees Danton Black just standing in the middle of the Cortex but something seems off. He stares at Danton, ready to run at him at any moment if needed, though it might not need to happen as Joe, Dr Wells, Caitlin, Cisco and even Atchaco are unaffected by him standing there.

"Barry, it's okay." Atchaco reassures him, not that it does, he just looks at her before looking at the rest of them.

"It is not okay. Black is here, and he's just...standing there." Barry tells them before stopping. "That's not him, is it?" He asks skeptically.

"It's one of his replicates." Cisco informs him.

"How did you get it?" Barry questions, it would be really hard to be able to get access to one of the clones and be able to keep it away from Danton so that he can't absorb it, if not impossible.

"I grew up with him. I isolated a sample of Black's blood from your suit to see if I could trigger the in vitro cultivation process and learn how Black multiplies. So I exposed the target cells to a protein gel, and they began replicating... Into that." Caitlin replies, clearly really interested in the subject at hand.

"Why isn't he... It doing anything?" Barry corrects himself.

"We did a brain scan. Involuntary motor functions are active, little else. We think it's acting as a receiver." Dr Wells adds.

"The clones are an empty shell without Black. Shut down the real Black, and you might shut them all down." Cisco smiles.

"But how do we know which one's the real Danton Black?" Barry asks, even if they know how to stop him, it means nothing if they can't find out which one is him.

"That occurred to me given your own passing out. Black has limits, just like you. Controlling all of those clones must require a tremendous amount of physical strength. So, look for the one showing signs of weakness or fatigue. He's the prime. Just a theory... But one you might want to put to the test, Mr. Allen."

"Plus, I whipped up these high- calorie protein bars for you to keep your metabolism up." Cisco tells Barry who smiles a little bit.

"Ah!" Joe shouts as he sees the clone move as someone shoots it, making it fall to the ground motionless. "Ah! Any more of them?" Joe asks, looking around the room, his gun raised and Atchaco's body in a fighting stance.

"Nope." Cisco replies.

"Why did it start moving?" Joe asked.

"The prime. My guess is, the prime is on the move. This one heard the summons to battle. And I know where he was summoned to. Stagg Industries." Cisco answered.

"You should call it in." Atchaco responded, already knowing herself that it might not really do anything to stop him.

"Police can't fight this. What Black's become, like Mardon... Beyond me. Maybe way beyond them, too. The only person it's not beyond is you. You gotta do this. I get it. So for once in your life, do what I tell you to do. Go stop him. Just get me those figures by morning, okay?" Joe asks, Barry nods and runs off, Atchaco disappearing closely behind him.

He stops inside the lobby of Stagg Industries where Simon Stagg is standing on the top of the staircase, the inhuman figure from earlier that had helped him was standing beside him, so this was part of his upgraded security then. They raised their left arm, a gun forming from it as a Security Guard did the same thing, only he, unlike the emotionless figure, showed fear. He didn't really want to be here.

"Freeze. Don't move." He shooted, his gun trained at Danton. Danton only smirked before raising his own gun and shooting it at the Guard who is taken to safety by the figure before they come back within seconds, is the figure a speedster too?

"Hello, Danton." Simon greets him as though he is greeting an old friend.

"Goodbye, Simon." Danton taunts. Barry spends no time and moves Stagg outside so that police can take him to safely.

"Stay here." He tells him before running inside. "I know Stagg stole your research, but that doesn't give you the right to murder." Barry shouts at Danton, unaware that the figure has planted a few punches on him making him a little bit weaker.

"You think this is about my job. Aah!" He grunts. "This is about Elizabeth. She was my wife. Gah! She had a degenerative coronary disease. She'd been on the transplant list for years, but... Time was running out. So if I couldn't get her a new heart…" He starts.

"You were gonna grow her one." Barry finishes, then makes sense, if he was in his situation he would have done a similar thing.

"I was so close. Until Stagg stole my research. So he could reap the glory. And I got to bury my best friend. Now... I'm alone. Gah! Ah! Ah!" He grunts, showing the pain that had locked inside, both physical and mental pain.

"Remember, Barry. Find the prime." Dr Wells says through the earpiece, the figure obviously hears it too as they turn their head left to right and looks around the crowd of figures, almost as if they were scanning them.

"There's too many of them to fight." Barry tells him.

"Barry, you need to isolate the prime." Atchaco says, and he swears he saw the figure's mouth move in the same pattern of speech.

"I can't. It's impossible." Barry tells him, already wants to give up.

"Nothing's impossible, Barry. You taught me that. You can do this." Joe tells him, Barry nods not that he can see it and runs into the crowd of clones as he knocks and destroys the clones of Danton, trying to find the real one, the figure not moving from the stairwell to fight any of them before suddenly jumping over the banister and running forward and grabbing one by the neck and then chucking it off to the side when they realize that it wasn't the prime.

He looks at them in shock before they go back up stairs to where more have gathered. By quickly joins them when he realizes none of the ones downstairs are the one he wants. All of them run at the two and they both take down the clones with ezee before they see one of the Danton's looks weak and tired, so that must be the real one. When he sees that their eyes are trained on him he runs forward as the clones try to punch them, only succeeding a few times. Danton himself throws punches at them which they dodge.

He growls at them before continuing to fight despite him deteriorating fast. The figure holds him as Barry punches him in the stomach and looks him dead in the eyes, only a small amount of sympathy showing through. Then suddenly he kicks the figure and they fall onto the ground as Barry continues to fight, then without warning one of his punches pushes Danton against the banister and he falls back only for Barry and the figure to catch his hands, all of the clones going back into his defeated and weary body.

"Barry. Barry, are you all right?" Joe asks.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. It's done." Barry tells him before facing back to Danton. "Hang on!" He tells him but he just shakes his head.

"No! Don't. Ah!" He screams in pain before his hands slide out of their grips and he falls to the ground in a heap, his eyes open but unseeing, his chest no longer raising and falling with every breath. His soul is no longer burdened by the harsh and natural elements of the world. But Barry, and by the look on the figures face and the tear stained metal on their check, were upset and quilt reden. They were going to have to carry this burden.

"Central City police officials are now confirming former employee Danton Black--" A reporter on the television says into the camera.

"I tried to save him." Barry tells everyone, tears still falling down his face, and the same quilty look is plastered on Atchaco's face as well. "Me and the mysterious figure tried to save him."

"Doesn't sound like he wanted to be saved. Some people, when they break... They can't be put together again. Some people heal even stronger." Joe points to him.

"I hope so." Barry replies, Atchaco nods.

"Well, at least multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else. Told you I'd come up with a cool name." Cisco says trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I may be the one in the suit doing all the running... But when I'm out there helping people, making a difference... You're all out there with me. Finally realized something, we were all struck by that lightning." Barry admits, a small smile donned on his face.

Later at the west household Barry places Pizza boxes down on the table in the living room where Joe was already sitting, his face showing that he had clearly super sped somewhere to get them. Hungry? Pepperoni, olives... And jalapeño. Just like you like it." He tells Joe as they both reach for the many boxes.

"Thank you. You were wrong. I have been wrong a lot this week." Joe says Barry looks at him confused, if any of them were going to have to be sorry for something then it was going to be him, Joe hasn't done anything wrong.

"You're gonna have to be more specific." Barry says, wanting to see what Joe thought that he had done wrong that required him to have to apologize to Barry.

"You said that one of the things driving you to run around out there was that you couldn't help your dad. You can help him. We can help him, as a team. We're gonna figure out who or what killed your mother that night. And then we're gonna get your father out of prison. Together." Joe told him.

"Joe, what I said about you not being my father--" Barry tried to say.

"Barry, I know. I know I'm not your father." Joe admitted.

You're right. You're not. You're just... The man who kept me fed and in clothes... Who sat beside my bed at night until I fell asleep because I was afraid of the dark... helped me with my homework... You taught me how to drive and shave... And you dropped me off at college. Sounds a lot like a dad to me. Every kid dreams of being a superhero. Having powers. Saving people. But no kid thinks about what it's like when you're a hero and you're not saving people. Truth is... [Phone rings] Not much else changes. You still hurt. You still love. You still wish and hope and fear things. And you still need people to help you with all of it. In some ways, that's the best part." Barry says, sighing and looking up at Joe.

"Barry, an armored car was just hijacked on Griffin Avenue. Get your ass over there." Cisco shouts from the Cortex. Joe sighes and smiles nodding, signaling to him that it's okay and that he can leave.

"I got it. Actually... The best part? It's this." Barry super speeds into his costume and looks at Joe, then in a flash he leaves the building off to save the day like he was always born to do.

The elevator dings as it comes up to the Cortex floor, Dr Wells turns his chair to face whoever was going to come out of it. "Wells…" They said standing into the light.

"Who the hell let you in here?" Dr Wells asks him, leaning forward.

"You've been having a party out there? I'm sure you saw it on TV. A former employee of mine tried to kill me. Former employee with the ability to replicate... Faced off against a man who could move at super speed. You've seen him too, haven't you?" Simon questions him, a smirk all over his face.

"Indeed, I have." Dr Wells replies, he wasn't going to tell him that he worked with him.

"Extraordinary. The power he possesses, it's like the-- it's like the Gods of old. It's like Mercury on earth. Can you imagine if you could control his power? If you could--if you could harness it? You could change what it means to be human. The man in a red mask is the key, and I'm gonna get him." Simon admits

"The man in the red mask. He's called the Flash. Or at least... He will be one day." Dr Wells smirks before standing up out of the wheelchair.

"What the hell?" Simon screams before Dr Wells kills him quick and swiftly before sitting back down.

"Forgive me, Simon. I worry you think that you will think this is personal, and it's not. It's just that the man in the red mask... The fastest man alive... he must be kept... safe." He apologizes, and makes his glasses look neater before looking out of the window. They can't know yet, he needs to make this perfect. And to do this he can't have any loose ends so he hopes that someone like Simon Stagg would pop up on the radar again.