Episode 7 - Power Outage

Just before the accelerator blew, a man and a woman were standing in front of an electrical tower, while a second man was climbing it. "Farooq! It's not safe." The man on the ground shouted up to him.

"Come down. Farooq, I'm serious. It's gonna rain." The girl screamed at him.

"Y'all are tripping." The man, Farooq replied. "This is the best seat in the house. Whoo!"

"You know, when I said we should watch the particle accelerator turn on, I just meant we should get naked and howl at the moon." The man on the ground answered him. Farooq laughs at him.

"It's already on." The girl tells them. "Consider me unimpressed. Suddenly there was a distant boom that came from the direction of STAR Labs.

"Whoo! Yeah, baby." Farooq screams in delight. The two friends turn back around and see what he was cheering about.

"Oh." The man said, smiling.

"This is awesome." The girl chuckled.

"Are you seeing this?" Farooq asks. "Oh, man, I think I am tripping. Oh, man." Then Farooq sees that the light that was coming from STAR Labs was actually an explosion that was coming towards them. "Get in the car! Get in the car!" Farooq yells as he starts to climb down. His friends automatically listen to what he said and waste no time in running towards their car.

Farooq starts to climb down quicker as he sees that it is really close.

Sadly though, just as Farooq had thought he was safe, an explosion of light hits the power, causing a surge of energy to course through Farooq's body, causing him to scream in agony and fall off of the tower to the ground below. "Farooq!" The girl yelled, rushing out of the car and over to his body.

"Farooq!" The other boy screamed as he rushed down beside him, checking to make sure that he was still alive.

"Farooq!" They both yell in unison, trying to get his attention despite the fact that they know they might not be able to get it. After shouting at him multiple times the girl gets worried and scared. Not hesitating for even thinking, she lets out a blood curdling scream.

Back to the present time, Wells wheels himself down the hallway. He looks around and sees that no one is looking, and places his hand on the wall opening the door to his secret room. Once the door is closed, and he knows that no one will find him, he gets out of his chair and walks over to the pillar and opens it up. "Good day, Dr. Wells." Gideon, Wells's AI, greets.

"One can always hope, Gideon." Wells replies. "Bring up my log, would you?"

"Certainly." Gideon answers. "Go ahead, doctor."

"New entry." Wells states. "It has now been 311 days since lightning struck. Subject one has begun relying on her cybernetics in everyday life, using her extraordinary mechanics to solve ordinary problems…"

Somewhere else, Atchaco is sound asleep, when suddenly her alarm goes off at 6:00. She reluctantly stands up and promptly face-plants on the ground, as she is still really tired. Triton extends four mechanically limbs out of her back and stands up her person and takes her into the bathroom as Atchaco wakes up properly. As Triton places her feet on the ground Atchaco wakes up fully.

"And has begun to rely on his speed to accomplish ordinary tasks." Wells continues as Barry sharply wakes up in bed to see his alarm read 9:20. He silently curses to himself and screams that he is late as he zooms into his bathroom. "Unfortunately, his penchant for the heroic persists."

Later at Jitters, Barry is standing bored in a long line that led to the bar, waiting to get his coffee. It was the barista's first day so Barry couldn't be angry. "I hate it when they let the new guy train during the morning rush." One of the women complained as she stood in the line. After a bit of time Barry just got bored and uses his superspeed to get his, and everyone else's in the line, coffee and leaves some money in the tip jar. Once he does that he walks out of the coffee shop with a smile on his face.

"He can be a bit of a showoff." Wells admits as Barry walks outside of Jitters. Suddenly he is pulled into an alleyway by a mugger. "Wallet. Now." The mugger ordered as he pointed a gun at Barry, who didn't look in the least bit afraid of what was happening.

"Oh, this is awesome. You've got to be kidding me. Hold on, okay? I'm just gonna... I'm gonna set this down." Barry laughs as he places his coffee down on the floor and smiles. "I mean, this is crazy. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people in Central City, and out of everyone you could have picked to rob, you pick me." Barry points to himself and chuckles.

"What, are you sick? Money, now." The mugger ordered again, not understanding what Barry was trying to imply.

"I just... You're really gonna be kicking yourself, man. I mean, if there was an Olympics for bad luck, you didn't just medal, pal. You Michael Phelps-ed." Barry tells him.

"I'll count to three. Then I'm gonna shoot you. One…" The mugger started, not messing about.

"Yeah." Barry chuckles with a smile on his face for he already knows how it is going to play out.

The mugger cocks his gun as he points it as Barry's chest. "Two." He continues counting. Barry suddenly enters the speed force and strips the mugger down to his underwear and zooms a police officer next to them and runs away.

"And while his desire to help others is commendable, it is impeding him from realising the full scope of his abilities." Wells continues. "But there's still time, as the future remains intact." Wells finishes as he rolls into the lab where Caitlin, Cisco and Atchaco were all sitting and waiting. "Where's Barry? He's late." Wells realises.

"Late is kind of his signature move." Atchaco jokes.

"Hey, you guys want to see my signature move?" Cisco asks.

Suddenly Barry comes zooming into the room and he leans against the wall, drinking his coffee with a smile on his face. "Sorry, guys, I got a little held up." They all stare at him blankly. "You had to be there." He tells them.

"I'm gonna need a moment or two alone with Barry and Atchaco." Wells informs them. Caitlin picks up her tablet from the desk and walks away from them.

"Ooh, you're in trouble." Cisco says as he quickly walks out of the room.

"Now, may I remind you, Mr. Allen, Lady Macanese, we had an agreement." Wells reminds them. "We would help with your heroics out there while you both would help us research and develop your abilities here, right?" Wells raises one of his eyebrows, studying their looks at one another.

"Yeah. No, I know. I... I guess I've just gotten a little caught up with being able to help people, you know, put bad guys away. It feels good." Barry replies with a smile on his face.

"Imagine how good it will feel to cure diseases, stop ageing, reverse paralysis." Wells asks him as he looks down at his own legs, ones that have been useless since the accelerator went.

"All good causes." Atchaco tells him.

"So how can we help you do that? You need more MRIs, more blood, or…" Barry questions.

"I need more speed." Wells answers.

"Okay." Atchaco and Barry said in almost perfect sync.

"Speed is the key to progress." Wells replies. Suddenly Barry's phone vibrates, he takes it out and shows it to Atchaco. "You two need to kick it up a notch."

"There was a homicide." Barry told him.

"I'm sorry. We've got to go." Atchaco says as the two of them start to back out of the room.

This is not just about you two. Remember that." Wells reminds them as they leave the room.

Later, at the crime scene, Barry and CyAmze were looking at the dead body, which had appeared to be burnt to a crisp. CyAmze scrunches her nose a little bit, cursing the fact that she has enhanced senses as Joe and Eddie walk over to them. "I hope you both skipped your breakfast." Barry tells them. Joe and Eddie hesitantly step a little closer and see how bad the body really is.

"Whoa." Joe exclaimed.

"What the hell could do that?" Eddie asked.

"2,400 degrees, give or take." CyAmze told them.

"This area's filled with combustibles. How come nothing else burned up?" Joe asked as he pointed towards the gas canisters. He sees CyAmze walk over to the railing next to the crime scene. "Where are you going?"

"You see the soot on the ground where the cement is burnt?" CyAmze asks him.

"Yeah." Joe answered.

"That's evidence of arc blasts. Happens when high-amperage currents travel or arc through the air." CyAmze informs him.

"There's no live wires." Joe reminds her. "There's no utility poles."

"So how was this guy electrocuted?" Eddie asks. CyAmze and Barry share a glance but just shrug their shoulders.

"Well, the first thing we need to do is ID him." Joe says.

"Yeah." CyAmze agreed as Barry took a picture of his face.

"His face melted off. How's that picture gonna help ID him?" Eddie asked as curiosity got the better of him.

"I got mad skills." Barry replies with a smile on his face.

"Please don't ever say that again." Joe told him.

"Like… ever. If any of us have 'mad skills' in this situation, then it's me." CyAmze replies, eyeing Barry.

"All right." Barry said.

CyAmze notices something off with Joe's behaviour and walks over to him. "Hey, are you okay?" She asks him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Joe asked as Barry walked over.

"I don't know. You seem a little off." Barry told him.

"No, I'm fine." Joe says, trying to forget the man in yellow that came to his house and threatened him last night, threatened to harm Iris if he continued to do the right thing for Barry.

"All right." CyAmze said, looking at Joe's face and knowing that he doesn't want to talk about it any further.

Later, Atchaco and Barry sit at the desk in the Cortex at STAR Labs with Cisco, Wells and Caitlin. "Facial recognition software... it's designed for archeologists, and it should help us ID your crispy corpse." Cisco said with a small smile as he looked at the picture of the victim on the screen, burnt beyond recognition.

"The question is, how did he get fried in the first place?" Barry asked.

"Is there a metahuman out there that can control electricity?" Atchaco asks. Barry and Cisco sharpley turn their heads. "I manipulate electricity, not control it. Besides, mine is a cybernetic ability, not a metahuman one. I don't even know how it would work as a metahuman ability."

"It'd take a serious electrostatic discharge to cause that level of tissue damage." Wells informed them.

"Guys, according to the software, there's an 82% chance your victim looked like this." Cisco said as he showed them the picture of what the victim probably looked like.

"82%?" Barry asked.

"Hey, it was zero when you walked in here, pal." Cisco reminded them.

"Can you cross-reference that with the DMV database, maybe get a name?" Atchaco asked, too lazy to do it herself.

"Absolutely." Cisco beamed. "This software can do just about anything now that Felicity reprogrammed it." He stopped for a bit and waited for the results. "Casey Donahue. No wife. No kids. Used to work at the Petersburg electrical substation." Cisco looks up at them.

"That can't be a coincidence." Caitlin said.

"That's weird. Someone just used his ID To enter the substation." Cisco told them.

"The Petersburg grid is experiencing a power drain right now." Atchaco said as Triton patched into their controls.

"Barry, Atchaco, be…" Wells started to say but Atchaco and Barry were gone. "Careful." He sighed.

Macanese and Barry were zooming through the city until they stopped at the Petersburg Grid. They saw a man literally sucking the power out of the electrical panels. "I'm pretty sure this is a restricted area." Barry told them. The man suddenly stopped sapping electricity and turned around with a snarl on his face. Then without warning, he shoots electricity towards them but they both easily dodge it.

"Easy there, Zappy." Macanese said, trying to thame him like a vicious lion.

"I have to feed." He growled. He shoots at them again and they both zoom away. But suddenly Barry gets hit and he looks like he was being sucked by something. Macanese runs and covers him.

"Whoa, what was that?" Cisco screamed into the mic.

"More of that. I need more." The meta growls as he runs towards them. Macanese zooms Barry to a hiding spot so they can buy some more time.

"Barry, Macanese, what's happening?" Wells asks them through the comm as the guy finds them. Barry smiles at him but then he sees that he is about to attack and they both get out of the way. He strikes Macanese and she groans as she feels the electricity from her cybernetic body flow out of her. Barry slowly stands up and she screams and pushes her out of the way, causing the meta to take the electricity out of Barry instead.

"Too much. Too much." The meta complained as he went away.

"Get out of there." Wells tells them. Macanese was going over to him, limping, but stopped when he stumbled over to her. "Run, Barry." Wells repeated.

"I can't." He tells Wells. Barry looked back at Macanese. Her cybernetics had dimmed dramatically, to the state that Barry was surprised how she was still standing up. "My speed... is gone." He sighs. Macanese weakley smiles at him as her cybernetics finailly fail and she collapses into his arms.

Later, back at STAR Labs, Barry was running on the treadmill in the training room, just not as fast as he should be able to. "He runs slow even for a normal person." Cisco states with a frown on his face. Barry suddenly stops running and steps off of the treadmill and through to them.

"You can't just lose your powers, okay?" Caitlin reassured him. "Your DNA was transformed by the particle accelerator blast. There's no way to untransform DNA."

"Yeah, tell that to the uber driver who charged us 65 bucks to take us here." Atchaco complained as she walked into the room. Caitlin and Cisco walked over to her and helped support her body so she didn't fall over… again. "I had to tell her we were coming from a cosplay party."

"Your cybernetics completely failed." Cisco reminded her. "You shouldn't be on your feet, in case they fail again."

"I don't care." Atchaco replied. "Barry pushed me out of the way when he noticed that I was about to fall over. If he hadn't I would be as good as dead, only my secondary and weaponry systems failed. None of my primary operating systems did. That wouldn't have been the case if Barry didn't push me out of the way. And now, Barry doesn't have his powers. I'm going to help, and you can't stop me."

"So we were wrong." Wells tells them. "This metahuman doesn't electrocute people; he syphons electricity, thereby removing your powers." Wells looks at Barry sitting with a tired and sore look, and Macanese, leaning on a pair of crutches, and by the way the

"All right, do we think this is temporary or…" Barry sighs as he breathes heavily.

"We have to run tests." Wells tells him.

"Yeah." Barry nods.

"We've got to warn Joe." Atchaco reminds them.

"Barry, we will find a way to restore your speed. I promise you that." Wells promises. Barry smiles.

A wee while later, at the precinct, Barry and Joe were sitting together. Barry had just finished telling Joe what had happened. To test it, Joe looks at Barry and picks up the mug that was on his desk and throws it on the floor. "You didn't catch it." Joe observed.

"I loved that mug." Barry complained. "And what part of 'a metahuman stole my speed' didn't you understand?"

"Barry, there's no part of anything you can do that I ever understand. What does Dr. Wells say?" Joe asks him.

"He's working on it." Barry answered.

"Barry, you have to get your speed back. Especially if Macanese can't do things properly currently. People in this city need protecting, and if you don't get your speed, how the hell are we gonna keep them safe?" Joe questions him.

"Joe, the meta who stole my speed, he burned up the body we saw in the alley today." Barry informed him. "You need to tell the police not to confront him. He's dangerous."

"Who's dangerous?" Iris asked as she walked into the room, Atchaco slowly limping in behind her.

"No one, just some thief." Joe said, diverting her attention.

"Well, criminals better watch out. Cops in Central City are the best there are, and if you can't protect this city, dad, I know The Flash and Thunder will." Iris assures them.

"What if he can't?" Barry asked.

"What if he's gone, and Thunder isn't at their best currently?" Atchaco asks with a smile.

"Gone?" Iris questions.

"Yeah, or maybe he's just done, or maybe it's like whatever he could do before, he can't do anymore." Barry said.

"Huh?" Iris looked confused.

"Barry, Atchaco? Don't you two have someplace to be?" Joe asked, trying to get to talk to Iris and solve this.

"Yeah, going." Barry said as he helped Atchaco out of the room.

Iris looks down and sees Barry's mug shattered on the floor. "Aw, Barry loved that mug."

Downstairs, Barry and Atchaco were walking towards the elevator. Barry was looking down at the watch on his wrist when the elevator doors opened up and two officers were walking in with a prisoner in the grasps. "That's a quality timepiece, young man." The prisoner said as he walked past them.

"Oh, uh thanks." Barry mumbled.

"They took mine, all of them." The prisoner complained.

"I guess you shouldn't have done whatever it is you did." Atchaco tells him.

At STAR Labs, Wells was in his secret room. "Gideon, show me the future." Wells tells his AI.

"Certainly, doctor." Gideon replies. A newspaper comes into his view, the same one that he has seen a dozen times. But this time it has changed. It normally said that both The Flash and Thunder disappeared during the crisis, but this time it only says that Thunder disappears in the crisis.

Wells gasps at what he sees. "Run a complete search. Show any references to The Flash." He orders.

"Zero references to The Flash." Gideon replies.

"Look again." Wells growls.

"Zero references." Gideon solemnly replies.

"Show any references to Barry Allen." Wells asks, sighing.

"Zero references to Barry Allen." Gideon said.

"Look again!" Wells shouted, his voice filled with anger.

"I've searched 3,452 times, Dr. Wells. There's nothing." Gideon tells him. Wells looks up and sighs. This isn't good, this isn't good at all.

Back up in the cortex, Barry was leaning on the monitor as he looked at his suit. "You think I'll ever wear it again?" Barry asked Caitlin as she walked into the room.

"I hope so." Caitlin answers him.

"I didn't have my speed for very long, but now that it's gone, it feels like part of me is gone too." Barry tells her.

"With or without your speed, you're still you, Barry." Caitlin reassures him.

"But I'm not. I'm not the best version of me. I love being The Flash." Barry chuckles. "I love everything about it: The feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people. I'm not sure I can live without it, Caitlin. And I don't know how I could live with myself if something happened to Atchaco because I am not there by her side when she saves the city."

"Farooq Gibran." Cisco says as he and Atchaco walk into the room.

"Who?" Barry asked.

"The power vampire who jacked your speed." Cisco tells him. "I hacked into the surveillance footage from the Petersburg substation. Once I got his face, it was easy to find a match."

"He climbed an electrical tower the night of the accelerator explosion." Atchaco informs them.

"No surprise where his powers came from." Caitlin retorted. Suddenly an alarm started to go throughout the building, Cisco went to check what was going on and pulled up the live surveillance feed with a scared face, they all looked and saw that Farooq was standing outside the building.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. This is not happening." Cisco panicked.

Outside of STAR Labs, Farooq walked closer to the building but didn't attack to the surprise of everyone else. "Dr. Harrison Wells, I need to see you!" Farooq ordered. "Come on, I know you're inside. Open the door. I just want to talk, Dr. Wells. Well! Let me in!"

Back at the precinct, Joe and Iris were talking with each other when Singh walked over to them. "Joe. Hello, Iris. I am out. I need you to cover for me until the shift changes." He hands Joe a file with what he needs to know. "Only one headline, prison transfer, William Tockman." He looks at the prisoner then walks away from them.

Back at the precinct, Joe and Iris were talking with each other when Singh walked over to them. "Joe. Hello, Iris. I am out. I need you to cover for me until the shift changes." He hands Joe a file with what he needs to know. "Only one headline, prison transfer, William Tockman." He looks at the prisoner then walks away from them.

Back at STAR Labs, Farooq shoots electricity at the power box and it opens up. He pulls out the electrical wires and starts sucking up all the electricity from both STAR Labs and the whole city. Atchaco falls unconscious inside the Cortex while at the Precinct, Tockman's cuffs fall from his wrists, he looks up at all the officers and smiles and he quickly steals a gun from one of the officers. Tockman points the gun at everyone with a smirk. "Guns on the floor! It should take you less than three seconds to discard any thought of rebellion and comply. I take it I don't need to count out loud." Then another officer was about to take his gun out but Tockman doesn't hesitate and shoots him too. He walks over to Joe and Iris. "Hmm. Striking resemblance."

Back inside, electricity was crackling around Farooq as he finished the city wide blackout. Cisco and Caitlin were coming back from placing Atchaco into the medbay when the whole building shook as Farooq finally walked into the building with a deadly grin on his face. "He's inside." Barry gasped, what were they going to do, Barry didn't have his powers and Atchaco was unconscious.

Later, at the precinct a SWAT team arrived outside of the precinct along with Singh. "Captain Tockman has at least ten hostages. Two officers down."

"Copy that. When is the power back?" Asked Singh.

"We're on gennies for now." One of the members of the SWAT team informed him.

Singh's phone rings and he picks it up after he sees it's Barry. "Not now." He tells Barry.

"Wait." Barry stops Singh from hanging up. "Captain Singh, I've been trying to get in touch with Joe or anyone at the precinct."

"There's a hostage situation, Barry, and Joe's inside. So's his daughter. I'll call you when I know more." Singh informs him.

"Wait…" Barry tries to say but Singh hangs up on him. Barry turns to Wells, Cisco and Caitlin. "Joe and Iris are in trouble. I need my powers back now."

"I have a theory." Wells tells him. "It's untested."

"I'm willing to roll the dice." Barry answers.

"Okay, you've lost your speed, yes, but nothing has changed inside you on a subatomic level. In other words, your cells are still primed." Wells reminded him.

"They just need a jumpstart." Cisco smiles.

"Okay, how do we do that?" Barry asked. "How do we jumpstart me?"

"We need to replicate the initial jolt to your system." Wells informs him.

"But that would mean a peak current of at least 20,000 kilo-amps." Cisco warns.

"Are you insane?" Caitlin questions. "That's more electricity than they give to people in the electric chair."

"Caitlin, with Farooq in the building and Atchaco unconscious, we're all looking at a death sentence here."

"The spare generator's offline. If we reboot it, we could get a charge that big." Cisco tells them.

"We need something that can transmit the load from the generator to Barry's body without shorting out." Wells says as he looks in the med bay were Atchaco is laid.

"The treadmill. My baby could take the charge." Cisco tells him. He looks to where Wells is pointing. "But so can Atchaco, her cybernetics will take the brunt of the charge while transfering enough over to Barry. Meaning both of you will be able to save the day."

"What if Barry can't?" Caitlin asked. "Just because Atchaco can, doesn't mean Barry can as well."

"Well, that's up to Mr. Allen." Wells reminds them.

"Where are you going?" Cisco asks as he sees Barry leaving.

"I'm gonna talk to him." Barry answered.

"No. No." Wells argued.

"Okay, you didn't see him at the substation. He needed to feed. Atchaco and I got super speed out of the particle accelerator blast, but his best friends died. He woke up with a disease." Barry reminds them.

"Earlier today, you and Atchaco both worked at a crime scene where this metahuman electrocuted an innocent man. He's a murderer! And you are powerless to defend yourself against him." Wells shouts.

"He may just need help like Atchaco and I did." Barry argues back. "I don't need my powers to offer him that. I have to try." Barry says as he walks away.

Back at the precinct, Singh was outside communicating via walkie talkie with the criminal inside. "Tockman? Tockman. Tockman!" He says, trying to get his attention.

"I am presently in control of eight of Central City's finest, three underpaid assistants, and one very brave civilian girl." Tockman tells him.

"You've got demands; I want to hear them. But first let the civilians go." Singh tries to negotiate with him.

"Would you prefer I sent them out alive or dead?" Tockman laughs. "Please be more specific. One helicopter, one vegetarian takeout meal, one laptop with eight gigabytes of RAM will be delivered on this roof at exactly 53 minutes and 27 seconds from now, or I will shoot a hostage."

"There is a citywide blackout." Singh reminds him. "I'm gonna need more time."

"Captain, you may delay, but time will not." Tockman replied.

"Benjamin Franklin." Joe said.

"Very good, detective." He tells him.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry was walking down the hallway when he ran into Farooq, whose hands were buzzing with electricity. "Hey, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, easy." Barry said. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You can't hurt me." Farooq chuckles. "Where is Harrison Wells?"

"Look, I know what happened to you." Barry told him. "The night of the accelerator explosion, it changed you. It changed me too."

"You were the one in the red suit, where is the other one of you, the cybernetic one." He growled.

"The cyborg is not currently able to be here and I fed you." Barry said.

"I have to keep feeding." He groaned.

"All right, I know this has to be terrifying." Barry told him. "That's why we want to help you, okay?"

"The night of the explosion, when the light hit me, it stopped my heart. Jake and Darya…" Farooq tried to say.

"They were your friends." Barry realised.

"I woke up, and they were beside me, dead. They tried to give me CPR. They were touching me, and I electrocuted them." Farooq told him.

"This is not your fault." Barry reminded him.

"I know." Farooq said. "Wells did this to me."

"Farooq, you need to listen to me." Barry tried but Farooq was having none of it. He shoots out a bolt out of electricity and hits Barry before he zooms out. Cisco quickly shut the door in front of Farooq before he shot another bolt at them.

"Not sure how long that will hold." Cisco told them.

"Done being noble, Mr. Allen?" Wells asks. Barry nods. Wells turns to Caitlin. "Caitlin, get him to Lady Macanese." They walk into the training room and Atchaco is lying, in Macanian form, on a metal table. "Cisco, bring the generator online. Make sure Barry gets the charge." Wells tells them as he wheels away.

"What? You're not coming with me? I am not leaving you." Cisco told him.

"Listen to me. Of everything I've done in my life, of everything I have invented, my most important creation is The Flash and Thunder. Barry Allen and Atchaco Cornwall must have a future. Now, go. Go!" Cisco looks at Wells before he walks away.

Back at the precinct, Tockman was looking out of the window to the dark and lightless sky. "End this now, and I'll talk to the D.A." Joe told him.

"It was your district attorney that denied me furlough so I could visit my dying sister one last time, say goodbye to her in person. That's time I'll never get back!" He shouted at him. He shouted at him. Joe looks over at Eddie, who was holding his gun and he nods at him. "So however long I have in this life, I promise not one second more will be spent in a prison cell."

When Tockman is distracted, Eddie takes his shot screaming "Got him." Tockman turns around when he feels the impact. He looks at Eddie and shoots him multiple times in his chest.

"Eddie!" Iris screams. Everyone else starts to panic and shout when Eddie goes down.

"Eddie. Eddie, Eddie." Iris cried as she looked down at Eddie.

Tockman opens his shirt, revealing to everyone that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He then takes out a walkie talkie. "An officer was just shot 9.2 seconds ago. I'd pick up the pace in meeting my demands, Captain."

Back at STAR Labs, Barry winced as he moved, pain flaring from where he was hit. "I'm not healing fast anymore." Barry complained.

"That's unfortunate." Wells said.

"Don't worry. When Dr. Wells has a theory, he's usually right." Caitlin says as she connects some wires to Macanse's life-less form.

"What if something happens to Joe and Iris first?" Barry worried. Suddenly they hear electrical crackling behind them. They turn around and see Farooq walk into the next room, so they quickly hide underneath the window, so that he won't see them. Sadly though, he might be able to see Macanese, but they can't do anything to stop that.

Down in the pipeline, Wells was not sitting in his chair when the door to the main part of the pipeline opened up. Tony turns when he footsteps and sees Wells standing there. Tony looks shocked momentarily. "Come to check on your pet?" Tony mocks. "Why don't you just kill me, huh? Get it over with."

"Quid pro quo." Wells tells him. "That's Latin, Mr. Woodward. You've heard of Latin? Quid pro quo means something for something, and in this case that something is your freedom. I'm prepared to grant it to you."

"How do you know I won't kill you?" Tony asks.

"Let's call that a calculated risk, one I'm willing to take." Wells answers.

"Really?" Tony questions, not really believing it.

"That's right." Wells replies.

"Why would you do that?" Tony asks again.

"Because there is another metahuman loose in this facility. I want you to kill him." Wells informs him.

Back with Barry and Caitlin, who were still hiding from Farooq. Suddenly he used his powers to force his way into the room. "Did you know the human body generates electricity?" Farooq asks them with a smile on his face. "The average person gives off 342 watts, and I can smell it coming from you, I can smell the huge amounts from Atchaco." Farooq was getting closer and closer to them with every second and Barry gripped his clothing. Farooq was using his powers to try open the door to where the others had moved when Cisco finally managed to get the back up generator on, causing Farooq to huff and leave the room. The others moved from where they were.

"Turn it on." Barry asked as he placed his hand on Lady Macanese's forehead.

"You're still hurt." Caitlin reminded him.

He looked at her with a tired expression. "We don't have time!"

Outside in the hall Farooq turns around the corner only to get punched in the face by Tony. "Been dying to punch somebody." Tony chuckled with a smile on his face. Farooq recovered quickly and shot electricity at Tony, who turned his body into metal and ripped his shirt off. "Ouch." He complained.

"Caitlin!" Barry yelled at her back in the training room.

"I can't." Caitlin sighed as she stood in front of the cable box.

"We don't have a choice." Barry reminded her.

"If I turn this on, it could kill you." Caitlin told him.

"If you don't, we could all die." Barry argues.

"I already lost someone I cared about in this building. I can't do it again." Caitlin said.

"Listen, someone once told me that I was struck by that lightning for a reason, that it chose me. I'm not sure I believe it. Right now, it doesn't matter what I believe." He holds his hands tighter on the sides of Lady Macanese's face. "What do you believe?" Caitlin nods at him and turns on the power quickly. Lightning suddenly sparks through Lady Macanese's body and up through Barry's, powering them both up. Suddenly Barry removes his hands from Macanese's face and goes flying across the room as Macanese herself goes shooting up from the table, her body lighting up.

Macanese turns around and sees Barry standing up off of the floor. "My God, are you okay?" She asks him.

"Did you feel anything?" Caitlin asks Barry as Macanese gets off of the table and walks over to him.

Barry lifts up his hand and vibrates it for a few seconds before it stops. "It didn't work." Barry sighs. Then suddenly they heard a loud boom in the distance.

Back at the precinct, Eddie was still bleeding on the floor in front of everyone. "Please, he's bleeding. You have to let us get him some help." Iris begged at Tockman.

"You'll stay where you are." Tockman growled.

"And while you're killing time, he's bleeding out." Joe shouted at him.

"As if you could kill time without wounding eternity." Tockman laughs.

"Henry David Thoreau." Joe said, looking directly at Tockman.

"Ooh, good." He smiles. He then bows down and takes Eddie's tie off and wraps it around his arm. "A little battlefield trick." Tockman informed them. Tockman without hesitation digs his wounds and writes on Eddie's forehead in his own blood, causing Eddie to scream as it all happens.

"If he lives long enough to receive medical treatment, they'll know the exact time the tourniquet was applied. What? No 'thank you'?" Tockman chuckles.

"They call you the clock king, right?" Iris asks him.

"A somewhat florid appellation, but I've grown to see the humour in it." Tockman agrees.

"You're going back to prison." Iris tells him.

"Really?" He laughs. "And... And how do you reckon?"

"Because The Flash and Thunder are coming."

"Oh." Tockman says sarcastically as he walks away.

"Oh, where are you?" Iris whispers to no one.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry and Caitlin and Macanese turn a corner to see Tony be thrown into the wall. "Tony." Macanese notices as she and Barry go over to him.

"Hey, Tony, what are you doing?" Barry asks.

Tony turned towards them. He was bleeding from his mouth and had a huge bruise on the side of his face. He smiles slightly. "Oh, come on. You know me, Allen. I never run from a fight."

"All right, well, stay with us, okay? You're good." Barry asked.

Tony grabs Macanese's arm. "Run." He whispers to her.

"What?" Macanese questioned, confused. Then suddenly Tony drops to the ground and stops moving all together. "Hey, Tony. No." She gasps, as Triton tells her that he has no heart rate or brain function.

Farooq comes walking in with a monstrous grin on his face. Caitlin sees him and steps backwards. "Barry, Macanese." Then just as Farooq was going to attack them, Macanese zooms them away.

Back at the precinct, helicopter blades could be heard whirring outside the building. "Early." Tockman smiles. He kneels next down to Iris. "Have you ever seen the city at night by helicopter? It's quite spectacular." Iris's eyes grow wide when she realises what he is trying to say.

Back at STAR Labs, once the knew that Farooq was no longer behind them, they ran at normal speed to Cisco. When they get there they turn to Barry who was winded from running. "You're winded. That's not good." Cisco observis.

"I need to take your blood and figure out what happened." Caitlin tells him as she preps a syringe and takes a sample of Barry's blood.

"I can't believe he's dead." Barry said as he breathed heavily.

"Dr. Wells?" Cisco asked.

"No, no. Tony woodward." Macanese corrected.

"He escaped from the pipeline." Caitlin informed Cisco.

"He must have got out when the blackout hit." Barry continued.

"Not possible." Cisco replies. "The pipeline was designed to withstand a power outage. Someone had to have let him go."

"I did." Wells said as he wheeled himself into the room. "I released him."

"Why?" Macanese asked him.

"To divert our intruder's attention while we worked to restore your speed." Wells replied as he pointed at Barry.

"You used him as a distraction?" Barry questioned, his face full of shock and hatred.

"An unnecessary one, as it turns out. It seems the plan has failed." Wells answered.

"I... I have his blood on me. How could you do that?" Barry shouted at him.

"You're showing a lot of sentiment for a man who tormented you as a child." Wells noticed.

"Tony might have been a bully then and now, but he didn't deserve to die." Barry reminds him.

"Does Caitlin or Cisco or Atchaco or me or you? I had a choice to make, him or us. I chose us without a second thought." Wells told him.

"Well, all your talk about miracle cures and scientific breakthroughs, but you don't care about people at all." Barry angrued.

"Well, maybe you care too much, Barry. I know being a hero is important to you and Atchaco, and I respect your ideals. I just don't have the luxury of sharing them." Wells said.

"I forgot. Your game's chess. We're all just pawns to you, right?" Barry asked.

"So what's your move, doctor?" Macanese asked angrily. "Which one of us gets sacrificed next?" The electricity was crackling as Farooq walked past light bulbs and monitors, and then they exploded because of his energy signature.

Back with Barry and the others they were talking about what they had to do next. "We have to get out of the facility." Wells tells them.

"We just left him on D level." Macanese reminded him. "We'll never make it to the main entrance from here."

"What about the garage, the mobile lab van?" Cisco asks.

"It's my move, Mr. Allen, and I say we make a run for it." Wells tells them. Caitlin's head suddenly shot up from looking at the results for Barry's blood test. "Oh, my God. Barry, look. Your cells, they're rapidly regenerating." She tells him with a smile.

"I still don't have my speed." Barry says as he lifts his hand and vibrates it for a few seconds before stopping, just like last time.

"It must be mental, not physical." Wells realises.

"Oh, you have the yips." Cisco said.

"What?" Macanese asked him.

"You know." Cisco replied. "When a second baseman all of a sudden can't throw to first or a golfer tries to putt and they get all embarrassed and upset, and then that makes the yips worse, and it's a hot mess, and then they feel like even more of a failure."

"That's not helping." Macanese tells him.

Barry breathes heavily as Caitlin walks up to him. "Look, you asked if I believed you were struck by lightning for a reason, if you were chosen. I believe. You should too." Suddenly there was a loud bang.

"Let's move." Wells ordered.

Back at the precinct, Tockman manhandles Iris. "Tockman, no. No, don't do this, not her. No, take me, please." Joe begs.

"Something tells me you will not be a docile passenger. She will." Tockman retorts as he places a set of handcuffs on her.

"Dad. Dad." Iris screamed as she was being dragged away from everyone.

"Wait, wait!" Joe yelled at him, causing him to stop. "Let her say goodbye. This is her boyfriend lying here dying, and I think you and I both know that he probably won't make it. It's wrong that you didn't get to say goodbye to your sister. Give them what you deserve."

"You have 20 seconds." Tockman growled as he took off her handcuffs and pushed her towards Eddie.

"Eddie. Eddie." Iris cried as she kneeled next to him.

"Sorry, babe." Eddie rasped, his breathing, and his condition, getting worse.

"No, please." Iris pleaded. "You have to hang on for me, okay? I'm gonna be right back." She then leans down and gives Eddie a kiss, before she can lift her head Eddie cups it and whispers something into her ear.

Tockman pulls her away from Eddie harsley. "Let's go."

Back at STAR Labs, Barry was running towards a van in the garage. "Second van, keys are inside. Come on." Cisco shouted as they all made their way. Cisco, Caitlin, Wells and Macanese were going towards the van after Cisco had opened the garage doors to allow them inside.

"Get in! Come on!" Barry yelled at them. Then suddenly the garage door stopped moving when it was only half way. Barry, Cisco and Caitlin turned around when the heavy footsteps and screeching tires stopped. Macanese was failing to move and Well's chair had also stopped working. All the electronics had stopped working, but on the plus side, Macanese was still awake this time. "Come on." Barry muttered as he tried to turn the engine on again.

"He's here." Wells stated as Farooq walks in through another door and wastes no time and shoots electricity at Barry who was still sitting inside the van. But luckily, Barry managed to get out before he was hurt.

"Barry." Macanese said as she used her extendable metal appenages, which work even if her other limbs don't, to move over to Barry.

Back at the precinct, Iris was with Tockman on the second floor of the building. "Quickly. Time and tide wait for no man." Tockman ordered.

Suddenly Iris remembers that Eddie whispered "Ankle holster" to her. She quickly takes the gun she took from Eddie's ankle but Tockman grabs the gun when it goes off.

"Iris!" Joe screamed as he heard the gun go off.

Back at the garage of STAR Labs, Cisco and Caitlin run over to Barry. "Oh, my God, are you okay?" Caitlin asked him.

"I'm okay." Barry reassured her. "Guys." Barry pointed to Farooq who was quickly coming towards them.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. No, please." Caitlin begged.

"Hey!" Wells screamed and Farooq turned around to see Wells sitting there in his wheelchair. "You're here for me."

"Finally you show your face." Farooq smirked.

"Well, I wasn't exactly eager to be killed." Wells retorted.

"Neither were my friends." Farooq replied.

"I know. I hurt a lot of people that night." Wells admitted.

"People? You don't even know their names." Farooq spat at him.

"Jake Davenport. Darya Kim. Ralph Dibny, Al Rothstein, Grant Emerson, Will Everett, Bea Da Costa, Ronnie Raymond. I know the names of every person who died that night. I know they all mattered, and the fact that the world is now deprived of their potential is something that I have to live with every day, but these people... These people have done nothing wrong. You want to punish me? Fine, let's do that, but let these people live." Wells told him. Farooq shoots electricity at Wells but Macanese moves in front of him, absorbing the blast. And for about the 3 time that day, she falls unconscious by Farooq's hand. Barry screamed at him, anger filling his veins.

"You died that night too." Farooq said as he emits another bolt of electricity and hits Wells, sending him flying out of his chair and he rolls along the floor. "You just didn't know it till today." Barry looked up at him, and finally had enough. Barry then looks back at Macanese, her metal appendages sticking out of her back. He looks back up at Farooq with anger filled through his body, and suddenly lightning goes across his eye.

Just as Farooq was about to throw another bolt of electricity at Wells, Barry zooms over and picks him and deposits him beside Cisco and Caitlin. Then he picks up Macanese and places her beside them too. He suddenly leaves and comes back in his suit. Farooq shoots multiple rounds of electricity at Barry, but he dodges them all with a smirk on his face. Until one hit Barry on the chest and he started to suck Barry's powers from him again, but this time Barry fought back.

Macanese wakes up slowly and sees that Barry was fighting against Farooq's power. She smiles when she notices Farooq's face, noticing that he was sapping too much power from Barry and it was causing Farooq large amounts of pain. Finally Farooq pants and stares at them with eyes to kill, before those same eyes roll into the back of his head and he falls down onto the ground, dead. Barry is left on the floor panting. Macanese's appendages and places her feet back on the ground as she walks over to Barry. "You okay." She asks with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, you?" Barry asked as he stood up.

"I'm okay, tired of being knocked out, but fine." She laughs.

Barry suddenly remembers something important. "Iris." He says.

Later, Barry and Atchaco walked into the precinct, hand in hand. They look around to see yellow tape everywhere and some paramedics taking Eddie away. They turn their heads to see a limping Tockman being taken away. They continue to look around until they find Iris standing with Joe. They both sigh with relief to see that they are both safe and unharmed.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin was zipping up Farooq in a body bag inside the pipeline. She walks away from it as Cisco closes the door. "We could have called him 'Blackout.'" Cisco said.

"He had a name, Cisco." Wells reminded him.

"I'm just not sure what happened." Barry admitted. "Why didn't he just syphon all my powers like before?"

"Because you finally stopped thinking about your powers and just connected to them." Caitlin informed him as she showed him the blood sample results on her tablet. "Look, this is a sample of your blood from just after you were struck by lightning." She sweeps the screen so that it shows what his blood is like now. "Now your cells are generating more energy than ever before. It was more energy than the meta could safely handle. It's almost like he choked on you."

"But what does that mean?" Cisco asks.

"I understand what she is saying." Atchaco told them. "I didn't achieve my full abilities, or at least understand them, until I went to my home planet, then I embraced them and I unlocked a whole new level which I didn't think I could." She stops for a moment. "That Barry, is similar to what you did. You are no longer letting it hold you back and embrace it."

"In other words it means you've kicked it up a notch." Wells said.

"Dr. Wells. What I said about how you don't care about people, I…" Barry tried to apologise.

"No, look, Barry, Atchaco." Wells interrupted. "There is a reason that my biography describes me as arrogant, prickly, brusque…"

"'at times contemptuous.'" Atchaco finished. "Triton read it to me when I first fell into my coma, so I could know who helped me."

"You were right. I don't care much for people. I find them misinformed, shortsighted." Wells admitted.

"So why do you do what you do? Why get up in the morning?" Barry asked.

"Because I believe in a better future, one that I very much want to see, one that you two are a part of. I might not care much for people, Barry, but I care about both of you." He tells them.

Later at the hospital, Atchaco and Barry walk into Eddie's room where Joe and Iris were already sitting. Atchaco knocks as Barry was holding the floors.

"Hey, Allen." Eddie greeted. "Hey, Atchaco."

"Hey, Eddie." Atchaco greeted him.

"Flowers. That's so nice." Eddie giggles.

"Where were you two all night?" Iris asks.

"Home, trying to eat all the ice cream before it melted." Barry replied smoothly.

"Yeah, melting ice cream doesn't eat itself." Atchaco agreed.

"I love ice cream." Eddie laughs.

"He is on pain meds, lots of them, but he's gonna be okay. It's been some night. I am gonna get some coffee. I'll be back." Iris said as she stood up and walked out of the room. Barry places the flowers on the table in front of Barry.

Atchaco walks over to Eddie and leans against the wall. "Dude." Barry says. Joe sneakily knocks over the vase with floors and Barry catches it with his super speed and places it back on the table.

"Awesome. I guess you're feeling better." Joe said.

"Oh, yeah." Barry smiled.

"Did you guys see that?" Eddie asked, as he had just seen what Barry did.

"You're just high, partner." Joe diverts.

"Right, I forgot." He laughs.

Outside in the hallway, Iris places some money into the coffee machine when Barry zooms up in costume. "Oh, now you show up." She sighs.

"I'm not alone either." Barry says as he vibrates his voice.

"Hello Iris, we meet again." Macanese says.

"Nice to meet you again." Iris smiles.

"We're sorry we weren't there for you today. It couldn't be helped." Barry told Iris.

"It's okay." Iris reassured them. "A girl's got to be her own hero every now and again."

"We promise we'll never be late again." Macanese said.

"One of my best friends is always saying that, and he is always late." Iris admits.

"Friends are always worth being on time for." Barry said, and then Barry and Macanese zoom away in a flash of red and violet lightning. Back in Eddie's room, Barry and Atchaco are already there, back in normal clothes and beat Iris in there.

"Honey, are you all right?" Joe asked as Iris walked in.

"Yeah, why?" Iris questioned.

"You forgot your coffee." Joe pointed out.

Iris looks down at her hands. "Oh, uh…"

Back at STAR Labs, Wells walks over to the stand in the middle of his secret room. "Good day, Dr. Wells. " Gideon greets him.

"Yes, it is, Gideon." Wells replies. "Bring up my log, please, new entry. It has now been 312 days since lightning struck. In the past 24 hours, subject two has taken a great leap forward, causing me to revise my initial thesis. I thought... Well, I thought his attachment to people was a distraction slowing down his progress. Now I realize the opposite is true. Barry and Atchaco's attachment to people, the people they care about, is actually the key to getting him up to speed. In the meantime, good news."

He pulled up the newspaper article from 2024 and it was back to normal… back to what it always should have said. Looking back at him were the words 'The Flash and Thunder, Vanishes In Crisis.' Wells smiles. "The future remains intact."

Early the next day, Wells wheels into the training room and sees Atchaco sitting there, which he had expected, but Barry was already sitting there, which surprised him. "You're early." Wells states.

"Yeah, I know." Barry answers. "It feels weird to me too."

"I thought after yesterday, you'd two would want to sleep in." Wells replies.

"Can't." Barry says.

"There's too much work to do." Atchaco continues. "Everytime I try to sleep my AI, Triton, shows me something new, there will always be something for us to do."

"But we're ready to do it. We want to push ourselves, find out how fast we can really go." Barry says.

"You were right. This is not just about us." Atchaco finishes.

"Let's get to work." Wells tells them with a smile on his face.

Later, Wells walks into the pipeline and goes into Farooq's cell. He unzips the body bag and thanks a syringe out and inserts it into Farooq's body and draws some of his blood. "Now, you... Had the ability to steal The Flash's powers, and I... Would love to know... How do you do that?" Wells said to no one in particular as he stood up again and left.