Episode 10 - The Man in the Yellow Suit

The snow fell as Christmas drew near. People were putting decorations everywhere, in their own homes, even outside of store buildings, all filled with the warm spirit of the fact that Christmas was coming. One man was standing on a ladder as he finished hanging up the lights when a streak of light came flying past him, causing all his lights to turn off by the surge of electricity. Barry was chasing down a man in a yellow suit, or rather the yellow man was running and letting Barry follow him.

One day earlier Barry was helping Joe put the Christmas decorations on the tree. "There's only two boxes left." Joe smiled.

"You know, at this rate, we'll be finished by easter." Barry chuckles. Barry looks up at Joe and a smile forms on his face.

"Don't even." Joe warned. But Barry was already using his super speed to finish putting the decorations up and quickly sitting back down. "Okay, the only red-suited dude I want in this house right now is Kris Kringle, you got it?" Barry zooms back around the tree and reverts it to how it was before. Barry sighs and Joe chuckles slightly at his reaction.

"Uh, these ornaments are not gonna hang themselves." Iris says as she and Atchaco walk into the room carrying two cups of something each.

"Mm-hmm." Atchaco smiled as she handed Barry one of the cups.

"Grandma Esther's recipe... Light on the bourbon." Iris says, handing Joe a cup.

"Mmm. I always loved her definition of light." Joe admits as his phone starts to ring and Joe sighs. "And the Christmas tradition continues." He presses the answer on the screen and places the phone by his ear. "Detective West." He greets the person on the other end. "Yeah? All right." He frowns and turns to the others. "Sorry, kids, the D.A. wants to ask me some questions. Make sure there's some nog left for me when I get back."

"No promises." Barry grins as he continues to drink his eggnog.

As soon as Joe is out of the house, Iris quickly turns off the TV. "What's happening?" Atchaco question.

Iris grabs Barry's drink out of his hand causing him to gasp in disappointment. "Come on." Iris tells them as she pulls Barry and Atchaco to the floor.

"Oh, come on, we're doing this already?" Barry fake groaned.

"Christmas isn't for a few days." Atchaco reminded her.

"I couldn't wait any longer." Iris admits as she hands each of them a present. "Atchaco you can go first."

"Okay." Atchaco replies as she opens the gift Barry had gotten her. As soon as she opens up she gasps. "My father's watch."

"A replica." Barry informs her. "Turn it over, we added something new."

Atchaco turns into over and sees his initials on the back along with a quote. Atchaco looks up at them. "For some of us, death is only a temporary setback." Atchaco readout as tears start to form in her eyes.

"You were devastated when you lost the real one." Barry said.

"Our fifth-grade field trip…" Atchaco starts to say.

"To the zoo." Barry and Atchaco say in unison as they look at each other.

"You cried for weeks." Barry reminded her as he helped her put on her flesh wrist.

"Prosthetics aren't the best for delectic tasks." Atchaco admits. "You remembered though." Atchaco cries as she hugs Barry.

"Yeah." Barry chuckles. "Steel trap."

"I don't know what to say." Atchaco smiles as she releases him from her hug.

"That's an awesome gift." Iris says.

"Thanks, I always try my best." Barry replies.

"My gift so sucks in comparison…Way." Atchaco says, handing him the gift he got.

"No." Barry smiles as he opens up the gift to see a microscope.

"It's supposed to be the best one on the market." Atchaco informs him. "I thought you could maybe use a new one. It's lame, I know."

"No, no, this is great." Barry reassured her. "I love it." Atchaco stares at him intensely. "Iris, it's your turn." He mumbled.

Atchaco hands her the gift and she opens up and automatically smiles as a single tear rolls down her cheek. "My mother's wedding band?" Iris questions.

"Yeah." Atchaco answered. "You thought you lost it when we were younger. But when I was looking through my old things, I… I saw a glint of something shining and saw it there, in the box with my father's things, the things I couldn't bear to part with."

"Yeah, of course." Iris agreed.

"Well, I thought maybe I should do a good deed to someone. So I cleaned it up with some polish and voila. I have given you back a memory you had thought was lost a long time ago."

"Yeah." Iris smiled. "Thank you so much."

"Yeah, of course." Atchaco replied as Iris placed the chain around her neck.

"Hey, babe." Eddie says as he walks into the house and gets a quick kiss from Iris. "Hey, Barry, hey Atchaco." Eddie notices the ring dangling from Iris's neck. "Nice ring."

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Iris smiled. "Atchaco found it with her dad's old stuff and gave it back to me."

"That's wonderful, Atchaco." He turns to her. "I like your watch."

"Thanks, Eddie. Barry gave it to me, it is an exact replica of the one my father gave to me before he was killed."

"That's very thoughtful, Bar. So are we tree trimming?" Eddie questioned.

"Yeah. Come on." Iris grinsed.

Later, Atchaco and Barry arrive at STAR Labs with boxes in hand. "Merry Christmas. Just a small token of our gratitude…" Barry informed them.

Atchaco hands them all their gifts. "Aw." Wells hums.

"For everything you guys have done for us this year." Atchaco continues.

"I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say you two have been a gift for us, Barry and Atchaco." Wells replied.

"What's that?" Caitlin asks as Barry takes a thermos flask.

"These are compliments of Iris... Grandma Esther's famous eggnog." Barry smiles.

"That's what I'm talking about." Cisco grinned.

"Maybe later for me." Wells tells them. "Wouldn't want to drink and drive."With that he wheels himself out of the room.

"Did we say something wrong?" Atchaco whispers.

"No. No, man." Cisco reassures them. "He, um... this used to be his favourite time of year, but the accident happened before Christmas, so... Kind of ruined the holidays."

"I'm gonna go get him a present. Maybe that'll cheer him up." Caitlin holds up her gift. "Thank you very much."

"Yeah." Barry answered.

Atchaco walks over to Cisco. "So what are you doing for Christmas, Cisco?" She asks him.

Later at Jitters, Iris and Eddie are talking together. "The fact that I asked you for your shirt size should in no way indicate that I am getting you something shirt-related for Christmas." Iris smiled.

"The watch was a lovely thing for Barry to get Atchaco." Eddie said.

"I know." Iris replied. "That watch held so many memories for her."

"Yeah." Eddie agreed. "It makes you wonder." Iris looked at him confused. "Do you think they have feelings for each other?"

"You noticed that too." Iris replied.

"How long has it been going on between those two?" Eddie questioned.

"Atchaco has had a thing for Barry since she saw him when they were really young, Barry had the same reaction." Iris explains.

"Well, if that is the case then eventually they should admit their feelings for each other." He places a blue, velvet box in front of Iris. "A bit early, but I couldn't wait." Iris opens it up to see a key. 'I figured we've been together a year now. You pretty much stay there most nights anyway."

"I love you." Iris cheers.

"That's a yes, I take it?" Eddie smirked. Iris chuckles slightly and they both just look into each other's eyes as they hold hands.

"It was that or Stephen Hawking's new autobiography, and we both know how he feels about Hawking." Caitlin said to Cisco on the phone as she walked towards her car in the mall parking lot. "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye, Cisco."

As Caitlin walked towards her car, she felt that someone was following her around. When she finally reached her car, she saw a reflection of a guy standing behind her. She turned around to look at them properly but they were gone. Caitlin, not thinking properly at that moment, decided to follow them. When she finally catches up to him, he suddenly lights up, his hands and head becoming balls of flames as he turns to look at Caitlin. Caitlin didn't know what to do so she ran and stopped and leaned against a wall, confused. What they hell had she just witnessed.

Meanwhile at Mercury Labs, two security guards had been killed by a man donning a yellow suit as a doctor watched it all from a locked room. Hours later, after the police had arrived on the scene, Barry and CyAmze walked up to Joe from where they were investigating the crime scene. "Hey. What are you thinking?" Joe asked them.

"The blood splatter patterns and trajectory of the remains... only a high-speed collision could have done this." Barry pointed out.

"But to cause this type of damage to a human in this space? Whatever hit them would have to have been moving fast." CyAmze said.

"Get this. The witness says all he saw was a blur. Sound familiar?" Eddie asked, walking up behind them.

"You saw a blur? W... What was it?" Barry asked the doctor as he, CyAmze and Joe walked over to them.

"Whatever it was, it was looking for something." They mumbled.

"Well, what did it look like?" CyAmze questioned.

"Like a-a man in some kind of yellow suit." They answer.

"Okay." Barry said, his eye's widening.

"Barry, listen…" Joe tries to say as Barry walks away from the Doctor.

"I have to check my files." Barry informed him. "Joe, you heard him, all right? The man that killed my mom…"

"He's back. I know." Joe butted in. "He's been in town for a few weeks now. He paid a visit to me at the house. He took all the evidence from your mom's case. The files are gone."

"Why wouldn't you tell me this sooner?" Barry asked.

"I couldn't." Joe said.

"Why?" Barry questioned.

"Because he threatened to kill Iris." Joe answered.

At STAR Labs, the three of them were telling the others what they had seen and what they were told about the crime scene. "The witness described seeing a yellow blur just like the one that killed Barry's mother." Joe informed them.

"Then we need to get cracking and stop this speed psycho. That... I wasn't trying to give him a name." Cisco smiled.

"The crime scene at Mercury Labs was on a floor with highly secured vaults, and the witness said he was looking for something." Atchaco said.

"Whatever it was, he wanted it badly enough to kill for it." Wells pointed out.

"Doctor, what do you know about Mercury Labs?" Joe asked him.

"Mercury was one of S.T.A.R. Labs' major competitors until our little setback, and then it catapulted to the forefront led by Dr. Christina McGee, brilliant but egocentric physicist." Wells answers as he puts her picture up on the screen.

"It says here Dr. McGee has secured half a billion dollars in private funding to develop, and I quote, 'prototypes for the technology of the future.'" Cisco reads.

"Well, I'll be. Tina's messing with tachyons, superluminal particles." Wells informs them.

"Of course. So what could someone do with one of those…" Joe stutters.

"Tachyons." Wells says.

"Thank you." Joe replies.

"Well, I don't know. Become invincible? if you could devise a matrix stable enough to harness their power, you could travel faster than light." Atchaco points out.

"He's gonna try to get them again, so we need to get what Mercury has and use it as a lure." Barry tells them.

"Exactly right. Cisco, Caitlin, let's start engineering a trap." Wells orders.

"You got it." Cisco smiles.

"Of course." Caitlin agrees.

"Iris." Caitlin greets her as she walks into Jitters later that day.

"Caitlin." Iris returns as Caitlin walks over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, it's been a long day." Caitlin answered.

"It's only noon." Iris points out.

"I didn't sleep much last night." Caitlin admitted.

"Yeah, me too." Iris agreed.

"Um, so I was catching up on your blog, and this story caught my eye... about a man whose head and hands burst into flames?" Caitlin questioned.

"The burning man?" Iris answered.

"Yeah." Caitlin smiled.

"I haven't really updated that story in a while, but there are some reports that I could send you." Iris informs her.

"That'd be great. Thank you." Caitlin replies.

"Can I ask you something, girl-to-girl?" Iris asks.

"Sure." Caitlin answered.

"Barry and Atchaco have been acting differently around me lately, like they're keeping some sort of secret from me. Is there anything that you know about that I should know about?" Iris questions.

"Not that I can think of." Caitlin tells her. "However, if you feel like Barry and Atchaco are keeping something from you, you should probably just ask them yourself."

"Yeah. Thanks." Iris said.

"Of course." Caitlin smiled.

"Yeah, okay." Iris chuckles.

"Gonna get some caffeine." Caitlin says as she walks away.

At the Central City Police Department, Barry is standing with CyAmze and Wells. "Barry Allen." Barry says, sticking out his hand. "This is my friend and coworker Lady CyAmze Macanese. Thank you for coming in."

"Dr. Tina McGee." Tina greets them, shaking Barry's hand. "I assume this is about last night's break-in?"

"Well, yes and no." Wells answers.

"That's usually how things are with you, aren't they, Harrison?" Tina questions.

"We believe that whoever broke in was after one of your prototypes." CyAmze tells her.

"You'll have to narrow that down. We have literally hundreds of projects in development." Tina admits.

"One containing tachyonic particles." Barry helps.

"We've had encouraging success with tachyons, yes, but there's still a significant gap between our prototype and any real-life application." Tina informs them.

"We were hoping you would lend us your prototype to use as a lure." CyAmze continues.

"'Us'?" Tina questions. "You're assisting the police now, Harrison?"

"I'm consulting on this particular case." Wells answers. "Listen, Tina, once this man is apprehended, your prototype will be promptly returned. You know nobody wants to ensure the future's technology more than me."

"I appreciate the CCPD's concerns, Mr. Allen, Lady Macanese, but Mercury is quite capable of protecting its own assets." Tina scoffs. "Good luck with your manhunt." She then prompley turns and walks away.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin was sitting on the treadmill, looking down at her engagement ring. "Hey, Caitlin, check this out." Cisco says as he walks into the room, breaking Caitlin out of her trance. "I think we can fashion an electronic barrier, right? We set up a ton of super capacitors. We smooth out the inflection points, and voila... a kick-ass force field to trap the opposite Flash." He stops what he is saying. "That was me testing out a name. What do you think?" He looks down at where she is sitting. "Are you okay?"

"Ronnie's alive." Caitlin sighs. "I saw him, Cisco. I think he was following me."

"Caitlin…" Cisco replied. "Ronnie died. He was vaporised in the accelerator when it went critical."

"Ronnie's alive, and he's out there alone and scared, and I need your help to find him." Caitlin argues.

Later at night Barry was standing in his lab at CCPD. He looked at the bulletin board that he had made with evidence from his mother's murder when he was pulled into a flashback. It was a few hours before his mother had been killed, and they were both sitting in his room as Nora checked over the bruises from the fight he had been in. "Ouch." Young Barry complained.

"Hmm... Your bruise is already healing." Nora told him.

"It still hurts, though." He groaned.

"Not for much longer, honey. Here, come on." Nora chuckles. as she tucked him into bed. "I'll keep the light on for you."

"Were you ever afraid of the dark?" Barry asks.

"If I turn this light off now, would you be scared?" Nora questions.

"No." Barry answered.

"That's because I'm here with you." Nora smiled. "See, you're not afraid of the dark, Barry. You're afraid of being alone in the dark, and that goes away when you realize something. You're never really alone."

"It's time for bed." Henry said as he walked in.

"I'm thirsty." Barry replied.

"Oh, no, you're stalling." Henry chuckled as he placed a glass of water on the nightstand. "But I got you covered, buddy. Good night, slugger."

"Sweet dreams, my beautiful boy." Nora smiled as she bent down and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"You can turn off the light." Barry says as Nora and Henry are just about to walk out of the room. Nora turns slightly and turns it off before walking out. Later that night Barry is woken by the sudden sound of thunder echoing off the walls and glass shattering. He quickly runs down stairs and sees two streaks of lightning moving quickly around his mother. "Mom! Mom!" Barry yelled as fear crawled through his body.

"Nora!" Henry shouted.

"Barry." Iris suddenly says, causing Barry to come out of the flashback. "I called your name, like…" She stops talking when she notices the bulletin board in front of him. "Your mom's case."

"I used to study this board every day. Lately, I haven't looked at it as much as I should have." Barry admits.

"I didn't know you did that." Iris replied, walking up to him.

"I guess there's still some stuff about me you don't know." Barry smiles, thinking about his alter ego.

"Eddie asked me to move in with him. I said yes." Iris informs him.

"Wow." Barry chuckles. "You guys are moving pretty fast, huh?"

"Well, I mean, it's been a year." Iris reminded him, only to Barry it hasn't been a year, Barry hasn't been awake for that long, Barry missed 9 months of their relationship because he was in a coma.

"Well, anyway I am happy for you guys." Barry replies.

"Thanks." Iris answers. "You know, I love it if I could feel happy for you two, for both of us to be having a good time. But that can only happen if you admit your feelings for Atchaco."

"Iris…" Barry sighed.

"Come on." Iris groaned. "It could be your Christmas gift to me."

"I can't." Barry admits.

"Barry." Iris glares. "You gave Atchaco a replica of her father's watch, not to mention got it engraved with her and her father's favourite sayings. You don't do that for a girl you don't admire deeply, so you still like her right?" Barry nods with a smile on his face. "Then tell her so before it is too late." Barry sighs but doesn't argue anyway. "Well, I guess I should get going, but make sure to think about it. Bye." She then leaves the room.

Barry sighs deeply as he walks over to the window as thunder strikes. Barry looks out of the window and was shocked when he saw the Man in Yellow standing on the building across from the precinct. He was staring at Barry before he suddenly took off running. Barry, not thinking about what he was doing, followed the Man in Yellow into an empty alleyway. "It was you." Barry shouted. "You were the one in my house that night. You killed my mother! Why?"

"If you want to know that, you're gonna have to catch me." They answered in a deep voice, one reminding Barry of Macanese's artificial intelligence, and they both take off running all the way to the football stadium on the other side of town. All the lights turn on as they come running in and Barry was left face to face with the man that had murdered his mother, and they both run at each other. One they have reached each other, Barry gets flipped over and lands on the ground. "Not fast enough, Flash." They both start to run around the stadium until Barry gets kicked onto the ground.

"Who are you?" Barry questions.

"You know who I am, Barry." They chuckle as he punches and throws Barry around on the ground.

"I don't know who you are." Barry replies.

"But you do, Barry." They smile. "We've been at this a long time, you and I, but I'm always one step ahead." Barry tries to punch him, but he blocks it and pins Barry to the ground. "It is your destiny to lose to me, Flash, just as it was your mother's destiny to die that night."

The next day, everyone is standing (or sitting) in the Cortex of STAR Labs. "He acted like he knew me, like we'd done this before." Barry recols.

"He was antagonising you, Bar." Atchaco says.

"I would get close, and he'd just pull away. I mean, this was just some sick game to him." Barry complains.

"You'll catch him. We'll help." Wells reassures him.

"No, you don't get it, all right?" Barry growls. "His speed, it is... it's beyond me and I'd bet it would be beyond Atchaco too. I'm not the fastest man alive. He is."

"So how do we catch somebody that even Barry can't keep up with?" Atchaco asks.

"The beautiful thing about force fields, Mr. Allen, they're impervious to speed." Wells explains. "Now, we're almost finished fabricating the trap, and all that remains is for Detective West to procure the bait."

"I'm on it. Barry, why don't you stay here?" Joe asks.

"No, Joe, today is not the day to tell me to stay behind." Barry reminds him.

Later at the precinct, they had called Tina MxGee to give her a warrant so that they could take what they needed for the trap. "If Judge Hankerson was gonna sign this, he would have done so already." Tina says.

"Look, I'm sure you don't want this investigation to get any more public than it's already been, do you, doctor?" Joe questions.

"This has Harrison Wells written all over it in big, black letters. I am not giving you my tachyon prototype." Tina answers.

"It was quite the tour of your facility, doctor." Barry said. "You were fine to let us dumb cops walk around, but I majored in physics and chemistry and CyAmze is a cybernetic superhuman, and we saw a whole lot of stuff that Sciencie Showcase Magazine would love to hear about. So should we call their editors directly or just leave a few posts on their website?" Barry smirks.

"You'll have the tachyon device within the hour." Tina scoffs. "I see why Harrison holds you in such esteem, Mr. Allen. You're very much alike." She then walks away.

"Nicely done." Joe complemented him. Barry does not reply and walks away.

"I will go with him and make sure nothing bad happens." CyAmze said before quickly walking away.

"Hey, Joe, you got a second?" Eddie asked, walking up to him.

"Not now, Eddie." Joe answered.

"I read the witness statement." Eddie continued, despite what Joe had said. "The Flash was there. He can lead us to Thunder. Come on, I know you got something in the works."

"Yeah, but you don't want any part of this." Joe tells him.

"I've got a task force approved to capture him and Thunder, and I want in. I'm not asking permission, Joe." Eddie argues.

"Excuse me?" Joe questions.

"If my task force isn't a part of this, I'll go to Captain Singh." Eddie warns. "I'll tell him something's going on, and you're not talking... I'm sorry. You'd do the same thing if you were me."

"Fine." Joe says as he turns and walks away.

Just outside of STAR Labs, Caitlin and Cisco were out searching for Ronnie. "We follow the ionised particles, and that should lead us right to him." Cisco explains. "The CPMs are increasing. We should have told Dr. Wells, Atchaco and Barry."

"No, not until we're sure it's him." Caitlin replied.

They were walking down a tunnel into what seemed to be a basement. "Oh, wow." Cisco says.

"Look, Ronnie is not like you remembered him." Caitlin informs him.

"What does that mean?" Cisco questions.

"Just don't freak out when you see him, okay?" Caitlin answers when suddenly the device in Cisco's hand shuts down.

"Oh, I really wish that was because the batteries were dead." Cisco begged as Ronnie stepped into the hallway.

"Ronnie?" Caitlin asks. "Ronnie, it's me, Cait. Look, I brought Cisco with me. We're here to help you. You were in an accident. Do you remember?"

"I'm not Ronnie." He growled.

"Yes, you are. You're Ronnie Raymond." Caitlin reminds him.

"I'm not Ronnie." He argues. "I told you that. Now get away from me."

"Look, we just need to take you back to S.T.A.R. Labs." Caitlin says as she grabs his hand. "We'll help you remember who you are."

He puts both of his hands to each side of Caitlin's face. "Firestorm." Then he lets go of her as he bursts into flames and runs away.

Back at STAR Labs, the trap for the Man in Yellow was finally ready for them to use. "The tachyon device is in place." Cisco says.

"You think it'll work?" Barry asks.

"It'll work." Cisco says as he walks away.

"So how do we advertise to him that the prototype's here?" Atchaco asked.

"We'll take care of that." Wells reassures him.

"What's the problem?" Barry questions as he looks at everyone and sees that they are quiet.

"Look, Barry... Me and Dr. Wells have spoken, and... We think it would be best if you weren't here for this." Joe answers.

"What are you talking about?" Barry asked.

"You're too close to this." Joe reminded him.

"Or maybe you're not close enough." Barry resorts. "If you hadn't been too scared and warned me that he was here weeks ago, I could have been prepared for this."

"I think we can all appreciate Joe's concern for Iris, Barry." Wells argues.

"That's why I have to be here!" Barry yelled. "I'm the best chance at catching this guy!"

|Not right now, not in this state." Joe informs him.

"This man stabbed my mother through the heart and sent my father to prison for it. This is my fight." Barry argues.

"Not today, son." Joe sighs and Barry storms off. Atchaco looks at them all and quickly runs after him.

Down by the door to the pipeline, Caitlin was sitting on the floor looking at her engagement ring as tears fell down her face. "Caitlin... Don't worry. Hey. Now that we know he's out there, we will find Ronnie again." Cisco reassures her.

"Why... so we can throw him in there with all the other meta-human psychos?" Caitlin questions. "I used to play this game in my head. What would I give up for just one more minute with him? My house, my career... The rest of my life? Today I finally got that minute. And I wish I hadn't. Seeing him like that, what he's become... Dear God... I wish he had just died that day." Cisco pulls Caitlin into a warm hug as she cries.

At Iron Heights, Barry went in to go and see his dad. "Merry Christmas, Slugger." Henry greets as Barry sits in the cheap plastic chair.

"Merry Christmas." Barry returns.

"You all right, Barry?" Henry asked.

"I screwed up, dad." Barry admits. "After years of searching... I finally found him. I found the man who k*lled mom... The man in yellow, the one in the lightning. He's out there, and I had him. He got away. I... I was so close. I promised you that I would get you out of here. Every day you spend in here has been because of him... Until today. Now you're in here because of me, and I'm so sorry. I…" Barry tries to finish what he was going to say but he breaks down crying.

"Barry. Barry, this is not your fault." Henry reminds him. "Look at me. I know what you've given up. Every decision you've made in the past 14 years has been because of me and your mom... what you studied, why you became a CSI, even with Atchaco."

"Atchaco?" Barry questions.

"You're my son." Henry replies. "You don't think I know how you love her? But you never pursued her because you were too consumed with what happened to me and your mom to let yourself have a life. Well, let it go now, Barry. Hear me now. The man in the yellow suit... Has taken enough from us already. Don't let him take any more."

Later, Atchaco was in her apartment when she heard a knock at the door. She goes over and opens and sees Barry standing at the doorstep. "Hey." Barry smiles.

"Hey, come on in." Atchaco greets him. "Mi casa es su casa ( my house is your house ) ." They both walked into the living room and sat on the couch together. "So, after you left STAR Labs, I went looking for you but couldn't find you, so where did you go?"

"I went to go and see my dad." Barry answers.

"Of course, I should have guessed that." Atchaco replies. "Well, I am hoping that whatever advice he may have given you, because I know that he would have given you some, you would have listened."

"Of course." Barry smiled.

"Are you okay, Bar?" Atchaco asks as she sees the look on Barry's face.

"I love you, Atchaco." Barry admits as he gives her a hug.

"Oh, I love you too." Atchaco replies.

"When we were kids, I loved you before I even knew what the word "love" meant." Barry tells her. "And then my mom died, and I had to go live with Iris and not be with the girl that I had a crush on. Look, I... there were so many times that I wanted to tell you... Junior prom, when I went away to college, when I came back from college, nights that we stayed up talking, all the birthdays, all the christmases, but I... I never did. I just... I kept it in. After I lost my mom and my dad, I was afraid that if you didn't feel the same way, I would lose you, too. Then we both got struck by lightning, and we got the same powers as well as you becoming a cyborg. I know I've had our whole lives to tell you this, and I know my timing couldn't be any worse, but I just... I couldn't lie to you any more. I'm sorry. Okay." He finishes as his eyes start to water.

Atchaco stares at him, the amount of emotions overwhelming her internal processors and stopping her from replying back to him. Instead she just looks at him as he gets off the couch and walks out of the apartment. A little while after Barry is gone, Atchaco breaks down on the ground and is completely overwhelmed with Barry's confession to her.

Later at nighttime. Joe, Eddie and the police were at STAR Labs, ready for the arrival of the villainous speedster. "Sending out another pulse." Cisco tells them.

"Are you certain this trap will work?" Wells asked.

"I've sent up at least three charges into an open satellite." Cisco informs him. "If anyone's looking for tachyonic particles, they'll know we got them." They were all looking at the live video feed when they saw the Man in Yellow get trapped in the cage they had set up for him.

"Let's see what we caught." Wells said and they all went down to the cage where the Man in Yellow was in. "Cisco? Lights."

"Sure thing, Dr. Wells." Cisco says as he turns on the lights from where he was watching in the Cortex.

"Detective Thawne, would you like to read him his rights?" Wells questioned as Joe started to walk towards the cage.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Eddie asked.

"Getting some answers." Joe answered as he looked at the man. "14 years ago, you murdered Nora Allen. I want to know why. Why?"

"Dr. Wells, we meet at last." Said the Man in Yellow.

"What do you want with the tachyonic particles?" Wells asks him.

"My goals are beyond your understanding." The Man in Yellow answers.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm a pretty smart guy." Wells reminds him. "I knew you were exceptionally fast, so any trap we manufactured would have to be invisible. I knew your cells could repair themselves at extraordinary speeds, so you could withstand the damage this is doing to your body right now."

"The super capacitors... The containment field is fluctuating. They need to get out of there now." Cisco warned as he looked at the computer screen.

"The reason I know all this is because your powers are almost exactly like those of The Flash." Wells informs him.

"Oh, I'm not like The Flash at all. Some would say I'm the reverse." The Man in Yellow smirks.

"Dr. Wells, evacuate! Get out of there now! Dr. Wells!" Caitlin screams. All of a sudden, the Man in Yellow escapes from his cage and pulls Wells out of his chair and puts him into the cage with him, then without hesitation he starts to beat him up.

"Cisco, turn off the barrier!" Joe yelled.

"If I turn it off, that thing's gonna get out." Cisco reminds them.

"Cisco, he's gonna kill Wells!" Joe shouted. Wells was being brutally beaten up by the Man in Yellow when Joe smashed the machine. The barrier breaks and the Man in Yellow takes the tachyonic particles and then zooms out of the room.

"Find him!" Eddie yells. Caitlin quickly sends an S.O.S to both Barry and Atchaco, causing them to both quickly head to STAR Labs. "Don't move, or we will shoot." Eddie warns the Man in Yellow as he and Joe ready their guns at the villainous speedster. In seconds, the Man in Yellow takes out all of the cops and zooms up to Eddie, just as Joe starts to shoot at him.

"Our race is not yet done." Bellowed the Man in Yellow. "See you soon, Flash, Thunder." He then zooms away and Cisco and Caitlin run over to them. Barry grunts as Cisco helps him stand and Macanese uses her extendable limbs to stand herself up.

Caitlin runs over to Ronnie. "Don't look for me again." He orders her as he bursts into flames and flies off.

Later at the precinct Eddie is sitting down when Joe comes over to him. "Why did it... Not kill me?" Eddie asks.

"I don't know, Eddie." Joe answers.

"But you know more than you've been telling me." Eddie replies.

"They're called metahumans." Joe says as he goes and sits next to Eddie.

"'Metahumans'?" Eddie questions.

"People with very powerful abilities." Joe explains. "You and I are the only guys on the force that know what's really going on. And we need to keep it that way... So nobody else gets hurt. Can you do that?"

"The Flash and Thunder?" Eddie asks. "Do you know who they are?"

"Yeah, I do." Joe says as Barry walks by. "And The Flash? He's the guy that saved both of our lives tonight."

"I've been going over the data, and I still don't know why the containment system failed. I must have missed something. I'm sorry." Cisco apologises.

"It's not your fault, Cisco." Wells reminds him. "But if you both feel the need to apologise for something, you might start with the fact that you did not tell me that Ronnie is still alive."

"I asked Cisco not to say anything." Caitlin admits. "Once I saw what Ronnie had become, I needed... I needed time to see if I could make him whole again. I'm sorry. I know you're mad."

"No." Wells sighs. "I don't know what I would have done differently in your situation. I know I have made you a lot of promises. I know I've not been able to keep them all. But on my life, I promise you this... We will bring Ronnie home." By saying that Caitlin smiles, a proper smile, not the one she had been faking through her sadness.

Later, in Barry and CyAmze's lab, Barry was looking at the snow globe that he got from London when Joe walked in. "Hey, Bar." Joe greets him.

"You know my mom travelled around the world twice?" Barry questioned. "She spent a semester abroad in Spain, and she loved it so much that after she graduated, she went to Europe. Didn't stop till she'd been to a few dozen other cities. She always wanted to go back, but she never got a chance."

"I offered to send you abroad when you were in college." Joe reminded him.

"Yeah, I know." Barry told him. "I remember. I... I couldn't take off. I mean, the truth is I'm stuck here... in Central City. Fear has kept me in that living room for 14 years." He sighs and looks at the ground before looking back up at Joe. "Joe, I... I was mad at you for being scared. But I mean, the truth is I was the one that was scared. I've been afraid of the man in yellow for my whole life. That's why I lost."

"When you first moved in with us, I thought it was gonna be too much." Joe admits. "I'm already a single dad. Finances were tough. And you were a little boy who just lost his mother. But, man, was I wrong." He chuckles slightly. "Within two weeks, you had changed the whole dynamic of the house. Suddenly, the house was filled with this... Light… This energy. I mean, you brightened up everything. You'd seen more darkness than any man will in a lifetime, and you never let it dim your soul. So there I was, thinking that I'm changing your life by taking you in, but... The truth is... You changed mine. So don't lose that light now, Bar. The world may need The Flash, but... I need my Barry Allen." Joe finishes and Barry nods softly at what he said. "Come, let's go home."

"Yeah." Barry agrees as he and Joe quickly give each other a hug.

Minutes later, at the West household, Barry and Joe walk into the house and see Iris, Eddie, Atchaco, Cisco and Caitlin standing inside as well. "Hey." Joe smiles.

"Oh." Cisco said.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?" Barry asked.

"I invited them. Where's Dr. Wells?" Joe told him.

"Uh, he wasn't feeling up to a social gathering, but he appreciated the invitation. Eggnog?" Caitlin asks.

"Yes." Joe answered, taking the mug.

"Merry Christmas, Barry." Eddie says as Barry walks into the living room.

"You too, Eddie. Hey, I, um... Well, I just wanted to say, um... I heard you're moving in together, and I'm really happy for you." Barry mumbles.

"Thanks, Barry." Iris smiled.

"Merry Christmas." Barry laughs.

In the dining room, Cisco and Joe are standing together, chatting. "Mm. Day like today, grandma Esther's eggnog seems a little light on the bourbon." Joe complains.

"Hey, Joe." Cisco chuckles.

"Hmm?" Joe hums.

"I saw something weird tonight." Cisco told him.

"Yeah, Cisco, I saw it too." Joe reminded him.

"No, I mean, when The Flash and the man in yellow were going full-on bumper cars on each other, I was watching the electricity coming off of them... yellow and red electricity." Cisco informs them. "When Barry was a kid, he said he saw red and yellow lightning in his house the night his mother died.

"There were two of them." Joe admitted.

"The man in yellow may have killed Barry's mother, but... There was another speedster there that night." Cisco finishes and Joe nods.

"Dad, it's time." Iris tells him and everyone walks into the living room as if it was time to put the angel on the top of the tree.

"You know, a guardian angel doesn't technically look like that, right." Atchaco questioned them.

"Shut up." Barry groaned.

"Okay, let's see." Joe orders with a smile on his face as he puts the angel up on the tree, lightning it up and everyone laughs. Barry looks over at Atchaco and she looks back at him. Atchaco slides her metal hand into his and she chuckles slightly when he flinches at the coldness of it but smiles at her all the same.

At STAR Labs, Wells walks into his secret room and pulls out a ring embroidered with the flash symbol. He walks over to one of the walls and opens up a secret compartment, showing a display case. He then connects the ring to a panel in front of it and a suit takes form on the mannequin inside it. The suit is yellow and black with the reverse of the flash symbol on it and he chuckles lightly. This must mean that Wells is the man in yellow who had killed Barry's mother, causing his father to go to jail. Wells puts a metal device on the suit and turns it on, causing it to light up and vibrate.

Wells smiles slightly as he looks at the suit in front of him, and then in a deep and distorted voice, one similar to Triton's, he says. "Merry Christmas."