Episode 22 - Grodd Lives

"Think about your best friend." Iris typed on her laptop as Barry and Macanese zoomed around the city, out of her line of sight, but in her mind, speeding around. "Or friends. It could be your wife, your father, your sister, maybe someone you grew up with. It's the people you can't wait to talk to at the end of the day. The people who know everything about you, who root for you. Now imagine you discover your best friends have a secret. No, not a secret. A universe of secrets. Would you confront them? Would you stay silent? Either way, you know nothing will ever be the same again."

The next day at Central City Police Station, Barry and Atchaco were with Joe when Captain SIngh walked out of his office. "Where is Thawne?" Singh asked.

"He took some personal time." Joe lied.

"Yeah, Eddie's been going through some stuff, Captain." Barry told him.

"Yeah, aren't we all?" Singh wondered. "You got anything on these gold store robberies? Perps hit up two more in the last week, and we still got nothing."

"We're working on it. Just waiting on some final results from the lab." Atchaco answered.

"All right, well, pick up the pace. And see if somebody can contact The Flash and Thunder. Maybe they can help speed things up. You know what I mean. Get going." Singh said as he turned and walked away.

"Anything?" Joe questioned, turning to look at the two speedsters.

"No." Barry shook his head.

"I mean, we've looked everywhere." Atchaco admitted.

"Keep looking." Joe sighs.

"Of course. Yeah." Barry replied.

Later in Barry and Atchaco's lab, Iris walks in like she means some serious business. "Hey." Iris greets them.

"Hey. Uh, I'm heading out right now. What's up?" Atchaco wondered.

"Something happened. And I'm not supposed to say anything, but I couldn't keep quiet." Iris said.

"What happened?" Barry asked.

"The Man in Yellow, he took Eddie right in front of me." Iris answered.

"Oh, my God." Atchaco gasps, she goes to touch Iris on her shoulder but the woman backs away. "Are you okay?"

"No, no. Not at all." Iris admits. "No, I... The Flash and Thunder were there. They told me to go home and not to talk to anyone because they would fix it, but they haven't. I think the police should be out there searching for Eddie."

"No, Iris…" Barry tries to say as he walks over to the lockers, and grabs his bag, throwing Atchaco hers.

"My dad needs to know the truth." Iris cuts him off.

"Uh, I think that The Flash and Thunder are right. Joe and the cops, they're no match for The Man in Yellow, Iris. They would just get hurt." Atchaco reminds her.

"So you think The Flash and Thunder are out there right now, searching for Eddie?" Iris asked.

"I'm sure they're doing everything they can to find him." Barry reassures her.

"Yeah, well, I'm finding it pretty hard to trust The Flash and Thunder right now." Iris replied.

"Well, then, trust us. Okay?" Atchaco tells her.

"Look, we're so sorry about all of this. I... Everything is gonna be okay. We have to go." Barry said. Atchaco and Barry turn and leave the lab, leaving Iris standing there alone.

At STAR Labs, Cisco was tinkering with Wells's video camera's when Barry and Atchaco walked into the Cortex. "Hey." Atchaco greeted him.

"You planning on keeping all those cameras Wells used to spy on us?" Barry asked.

"That's kind of creepy, don't you think?" Atchaco wondered.

"First rule of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech." Cisco tells them and Atchaco and Barry chuckles. Then the computer starts beeping and Cisco stops what he is doing to go and take a look. "Central City Gold Reserve's under attack."

"Gold? That's the case Singh wants us on." Barry noticed.

"We'll be right back." Atchaco told them and then she and Barry zoomed out of STAR Labs and headed towards Central City Gold Reserve.

At the gold reserve, the security guards were being shot at by the man in a mask when Barry and Macanese arrived. "You picked a bad day for this, pal." Barry said. Suddenly, when Barry and Macanese started walking towards the criminal, there was a high-pitched frequency and they started getting flashes of some lab in their heads. They groaned as they dropped to the floor, Macanese clearly in more pain, but when they looked over at the bag guys, he was doing the same thing. When the high pitched sound stopped, he took off.

"What was that?" Macanese wondered as she breathed heavily.

Later at STAR Labs, Barry and Atchaco were still in their suit, just without their mask on as Caitlin was checking over them. "Your eye movements are normal. No signs of neurological damage." Caitlin told them.

"Do you think the thief might have been a meta-human who put the whammy on you or something?" Cisco asked.

"We don't know." Barry sighed.

"When Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger. But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear." Atchaco admits.

Cisco goes over and looks at the surveillance footage. "Hmm. Looks like when you two went down, the thief got disoriented too." Cisco told them.

"Maybe we all got whammied." Barry suggested.

"Then you know how it feels." Iris said, walking in. Barry and Atchaco's faces widen when they see Iris, knowing that she is seeing them in their suits. Cisco and Caitlin were in shock as well. "Hi, Atchaco, Barry. Or should I say The Flash and Thunder?" She finished, anger present in her tone.

Minutes later, Barry, Atchaco and Iris had gone into another room to talk while Caitlin and Cisco watched from the live feed. "This is one of the few times I would not want to be Barry Allen or even Atchaco." Cisco admitted.

"I wonder what they're gonna say." Caitlin said.

"We should absolutely not listen in." Cisco suggested.

"It's none of our business. But The Flash and Thunder are our business." Caitlin reminds them.

"And Iris did just find out that Barry and Atchaco are The Flash and Thunder." Cisco told her.

"So by transitive property, Barry, Atchaco and Iris are our business." Caitlin smirks, turning on the volume.

Meanwhile, the other three were arguing. "I... Wait. How did you find out?" Barry asked.

"When I touched The Flash and Thunder the other night, I felt a jolt of electricity. The only other time I have ever felt anything like that was when you two were in a coma after the accident." Iris chuckles. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner."

"I can only imagine how angry you are." Barry said.

"I'm not angry, Barry. I'm just disappointed." Iris tells him.

"Okay." Atchaco said. "What did you expect us to say? 'Hey, Iris, Barry happens to be The Flash and I am his partner Thunder. Wanna go to Lunch?' It is not exactly something you can just drop into a conversation."

"Okay. Does Eddie know?" Iris wondered.

"Yes, he does." Atchaco replied.

"Is that why he got kidnapped?" Atchaco asked.

"No, I don't know why Wells took Eddie. I…" Barry tried to say.

"Dr. Wells is The Man in Yellow?" Iris questioned.

"Everything he's been doing, helping us... it was all a lie. Wells killed my mom." Barry answered.

"Is he gonna kill Eddie?" Iris asked, her eyes watery.

"No, he's not. We're gonna get Eddie back, we swear." Atchaco told her.

"Yeah, The Flash and Thunder said the same thing." Iris reminded them.

"Look, Iris, you have to believe us, I... There were so many times we wanted to tell you. You were the first person we wanted to tell, but everything started getting crazy, and we thought maybe Joe was right and we shouldn't say…" Barry said.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that my dad knew and he told you two not to tell me?" Iris wondered.

"He was trying to protect you. We all were." Atchaco informed her.

"Yeah, well, maybe it's time you both stopped." Iris sighed, storming out of the room.

Caitlin turns off the volume and then she and Cisco started acting like they weren't listening as Iris stormed past them. "Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah, if we could get another shipment of the, uh, computers in here... Yeah, I don't think that had anything to do with us." Cisco admitted.

"Nope." Caitlin agreed.

Later in an unknown place, Eddie was tied to a chair when Eobard walked in. "Don't suppose you brought lunch?" Eddie said sarcastically.

"Did you know that human beings can survive up to two months without food?" Eobard wonders.

"Is that how long you're planning on keeping me here?" Eddie asked.

"You know... I doubt it'll come to that." Eobard admits.

"You want to tell me what we're doing down here?" Eddie questioned.

"No." Eobard answers, tinkering with something.

"You told me we're related, that you're from the future. Prove it." Eddie told him.

"Yeah, I don't have to prove anything to anyone." Eoabrd said.

"Well, I think you're full of crap. And whatever you're trying to do, you're not gonna get away with it because The Flash and Thunder are…" Eddie started to say.

Eobard zoomed over to Eddie, his eyes were glowing red. "Stop talking." He orders in a deep voice.

Late at night at Central City Picture News, Iris was sitting at her desk looking at some newspaper articles from the day Barry's mum died and was taking notes when Joe walked in. "I heard you talked to Barry and Atchaco." Joe said. Iris looks up at Joe before turning back to look at the computer. "So this is what my cold shoulder treatment feels like. Look... baby, the way I went about things, maybe... No. I was wrong. I was just trying to keep you safe."

Iris looks back up at Joe. "You know, that excuse is getting really old. First it was the police academy, and then it was dating Eddie, and now this." Iris reminded him.

"Sweetheart, you know what The Man in Yellow is capable of. He killed cops. He killed Mason Bridge." Joe admits.

"Wells killed Mason? And you're covering that up?" Iris said, annoyed.

"No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. If the world finds out about Wells, they find out about Barry and Atchaco. I'm trying to keep them safe too." Joe replies.

"Did you ever stop to think that looping me in would keep me safe? That if I knew what was going on out there, I could prepare for it? Maybe I could've helped you and Barry put the bad guys away instead of being in the way." Iris tells him.

"Believe me, I asked myself that question every single day. Every time you posted something new about The Flash on your blog…" Joe admits as Iris stands up.

"Dad, it's not just about Barry being The Flash or Atchaco being Thunder." Iris told him. "You knew there for God knows how long, literally in this case, and you didn't tell me that either."

"That wasn't for me to tell, Iris." Joe reminds her.

"Well, you know what, if any of you had been honest with me, maybe Eddie would still be here. He wouldn't have gotten involved in all of this if I hadn't been dating him." Iris argues.

"Are you saying if you had known the secret…" Joe tried to say.

"What I am saying is that what happened to Eddie is your fault." Iris said angrily.

Joe's phone vibrates and he looks at it. "This is work. We can finish this talk." Joe replies.

"Talking. Yeah, that'll be new." Iris said, sitting back down at her computer.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry tells them about their call from Joe. "We just got a call from Joe. The Central City Gold Reserve is about to transport $300 million in gold bars to their Coast City vault." Barry told them.

"Singh told Joe they think the Man in the Mask is gonna make a play for it." Atchaco continues.

"Okay, but we still don't know if he's responsible for those weird images you both saw." Caitlin reminds them.

"How are they transporting the gold?" Cisco asked.

The next day, the music of an ice cream truck was driving through the city, but it was not carrying ice cream, it was carrying gold bars and cops were inside. The cop who was driving the truck had to lie to children and their parents just so they could leave. "You might want to kill the music. We don't want any kids around if our thief shows up." Joe suggests. The cops turned off the music and continued to drive. Then as they were far enough away, the man in the mask, who had been watching them, activated a device that was in front of the ice cream truck. He made it explode just as the ice cream truck passed, causing the back tires to pop and the tires screeched as the truck stopped.

At STAR Labs, Cisco and Caitlin have just seen what happened while Barry and Macanese zoomed around town. "Whoa, the truck just got hit by a landmine." Cisco informed them.

"Is Joe okay?" Barry asked.

"We don't know yet." Caitlin replied.

Meanwhile, Joe and the other cops got out of the ice cream truck and ducked as they shot the man in the mask, who was shooting at them. "Freeze! Drop your weapon! Don't make me do this." Joe yelled. The man in the mask wasn't listening as he continued to walk towards Joe. Barry and Macanese arrived and they shoved the guy in the mask which caused him to hit his head on the ice cream truck.

"You okay?" Macanese questioned.

"Yeah. You two?" Joe answered.

"We didn't want you to have to shoot him again." Barry said.

"And we're having a pretty bad day." Atchaco replied.

"So is this guy. Let's see what Goldfinger has to say for himself." Joe said. He then pulls off the mask and they were shocked to see who was under it.

"General Eiling?" Barry questions as his face widens.

Late at night in STAR Labs, they had Eiling locked in a cell in the pipeline. He looked like he was in a weird trance or even a robot. "What is wrong with him?" Atchaco wondered.

"I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder." Caitlin said.

"Which should hurt like hell." Joe points out.

"And it didn't even seem like he felt it. I did a complete body scan, and otherwise, General Eiling is perfectly healthy." Caitlin told them.

"So why is he just standing there like a robot?" Joe asked as Cisco walked in.

"I just got off the phone with ARGUS. Officially, Eiling is on administrative leave." Cisco informed them.

"Unofficially?" Joe questioned.

"I spoke with Diggle's wife, Lyla, and she said Eiling's been missing for the past three months and ARGUS is covering up for it." Cisco explained.

"Makes sense. Last time Atchaco and I saw the general was when Ronnie, Atchaco and I broke Professor Stein out of that military facility." Barry told them.

"I'm sure they're covering that up too." Atchaco said.

"So where has he been since then?" Joe wondered, stepping forward. "General Eiling, why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?" Eiling remains silent.

"Maybe he's in some kind of a trance?" Caitlin suggests.

"General, do you remember me?" Barry wonders.

"Flash." He replies in a deep, raspy voice before turning to look at Atchaco. "Thunder."

"Whoa, how does he know you're The Flash and Thunder?" Joe asked.

"I don't know. General…" Atchaco tried to say.

"Eiling not here. Eiling bad." He said.

"Maybe it's some kind of psychotic break presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder." Caitlin suggests.

"Caitlin. Caitlin good." He admitted.

"Oh, uh, thank you?" Caitlin said.

"Mm. Forget multiple personalities. You guys have seen The Exorcist, right?" Cisco replied.

"You and your movies. Keep talking to him. He seems to respond to you." Joe told them.

"Uh, why is Eiling bad?" Barry asked.

"Eiling hurt me. I hurt Eiling." He replied.

"Okay, uh, so if you're not Eiling, then who are you?" Atchaco questions.

"I... Am... Grodd. Fear... me." He answered.

Barry turns to face the others. "What is a Grodd?" Barry ponders.

Later in the Cortex, they were looking at an old video of a gorilla named Grodd. "Oh, Grodd is a gorilla." Atchaco noticed.

"Five years ago, Eiling and Wells were working on a project to expand soldiers' cognitive abilities during battle." Cisco explained.

"What we didn't realise is that Eiling was trying to create soldiers with psychic abilities." Caitlin told them.

"What do you mean 'psychic'?" Joe asked.

"Eiling was trying to create these super-soldiers with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities." Cisco said.

"Like what Bicians have?" Atchaco wondered.

"Exactly." Cisco agreed.

"But when Dr. Wells found out about the terrible experiments that Eiling was doing, he shut down the entire project." Caitlin informed them.

"So our psycho-killer has a soft spot for animals. That's sweet." Joe said.

"What happened to Grodd?" Barry asked.

"We don't know. After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I went down to check on him, and his cage was empty." Caitlin said.

"So he could have been affected by the same energy that hit Barry and Atchaco?"Joe wondered.

"When the dark matter hit Grodd, all the drugs and serums that Eiling injected him with could've activated. Maybe the Accelerator explosion created a meta-gorilla. And I think we know what happens when a super-intelligent ape who's pissed off at humans escapes captivity." Cisco said.

"Cisco's right about the first part. This is the first brain scan that I did on Grodd." Caitlin said, pulling up the brain scan on the screen.

"Whoa." Barry gasped.

"His primary motor cortex and Broca's area are lit up like a Christmas tree." Atchaco noticed.

"From Eiling's experiments. And this is the brain scan that I just did on Eiling." Caitlin said, bringing up Eiling's brain scan. "His brain is lit up in the exact same way."

"So Grodd and Eiling are connected somehow?" Joe asks.

"I think that somehow, Grodd is transmitting neural signals to Eiling's primary motor cortex. Mind control, telepathy... who knows what Grodd is capable of now?" Caitlin explains.

"What do we think Grodd wants? Revenge?" Atchaco questions.

"I do not like the fact that Wells rescued Grodd. I don't think it's a coincidence that this gorilla shows up at the very same time we're looking for Wells." Joe told them.

"Grodd and Wells always did have a special bond." Caitlin pointed out.

"It wouldn't surprise me if Wells was using Grodd to distract us. If we find Grodd, we find Wells. If we find Wells…" Joe started.

"We find Eddie." Iris said, walking in. "And I'm gonna help."

"Know anything about gorillas?" Caitlin asked.

"I just might." Iris smirked.

Minutes later, Iris was sitting in front of a computer in the cortex. "There have been reports of some sort of animal down in the sewers." Iris told them.

"Mm. Alligators. C.H.U.D.S. R.O.U.S'es? Am I the only one who watches movies around here?" Cisco wonders.

"Uh, a few months ago, two sewer workers went missing. The search party reported hearing strange animal-like noises down in the tunnels." Iris continued.

"Where exactly did they go missing?" Barry asked.

"Uh, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street." Told him.

"There's an access point to the sewers about two blocks east of that intersection." Cisco informs them.

"We'll start there." Atchaco said.

"Not alone. I'm coming too." Joe told them.

"Huh, wading through miles of rats, roaches, and human excrement... count me out." Cisco replied and Joe gave him a look. "Count me in."

"He's your monkey." Joe reminds him.

Later, down in the sewers Joe, Barry, Atchaco and Cisco were walking down them and Joe put a flare down. "Cisco, take the rest of these flares, light them, drop them as we go. It's our path back." He then notices that Cisco is holding a banana. "Give me that banana." Cisco takes the flares and hands Joe the banana. "Okay. Stay close."

"Definitely." Barry told him.

"Not going anywhere." Cisco replied. As they turn the corner, a shadow passes quickly behind them.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin was on the computer as Iris stood behind her. "Thanks for sticking up for me." Iris said.

"Of course. For what it's worth, Barry and Atchaco feel really terrible about lying to you." Caitlin told her.

"They should. You lied too. Your fiancé?" Iris wondered.

"Ronnie. Yes. Uh, I thought he died in the Particle Accelerator explosion, but turns out he just... caught on fire." Caitlin implied.

"Oh. But he's okay?" Iris asked.

"Yeah. He is." Caitlin answered.

"Good. I'm glad." Iris replied as they watched the computer screen of the live feed from Cisco's head camera and Atchaco's cybernetic eyes.

"I can't believe I'm down here looking for a supernatural gorilla. I'm terrified of regular gorillas." Joe admitted when they heard a loud thud.

"What was that?" Cisco asks and Joe flashes his flashlight to the side to see that it was just a rat when Cisco sees something up ahead. "Oh, oh. Whoa. Hey, hey, guys, look at this."

They all found writing all over the walls of the sewer, left there by Grodd. "Incredible." Cisco gasped.

"Looks like we're in the right place." Atchaco told them. As they walked deeper into the tunnels, they found more writing and drawings on the wall.

"Somebody want to tell me what we're looking at here?" Joe asked.

"Grodd. He's evolving. He's getting smarter." Barry noticed.

"Getting smarter. Great." Joe sighed when suddenly they heard snarling coming from behind them. They all turned around to the water on the floor, rippling, which meant that something was coming.

"If I hadn't seen Jurassic Park, I wouldn't be nearly as frightened right now." Cisco admitted.

"Right with you there, buddy." Atchaco agreed. They all knew that Grodd was coming towards them when they heard loud growling, but they also heard low rumbling.

"So if he's getting smarter, you think he might be getting bigger too?" Joe suggests as they hear a loud rumbling sound coming towards them. "That must have been a truck passing over, right?"

Snarling came out from behind them and it scared Cisco, who stumbled back and dropped the camera, making Caitlin and Iris lose one view of what was happening. "Cisco?" Caitlin said through the ear piece. Barry and Atchaco wasted no time and shot tranquillisers at Grodd but then they heard the high-pitched frequency again and they started seeing flashes of the lab and Barry and Atchaco started stumbling as they groaned in pain.

"Barry! Atchaco!" Joe shouted. Grodd then roars before sending Barry and Atchaco flying across the room, hitting the wall. They heard a loud thud as Atchaco fell to the floor, out cold, meaning that Caitlin and Iris no longer had an idea of what was properly happening. Joe then starts shooting at Grodd, even though he couldn't see him clearly. Caitlin and Iris continued to watch from the side angle that Cisco's camera was facing. Barry was shaking Atchaco, but she wasn't going to wake up and it was making him worried. "We gotta get out of here."

"Atchaco's out cold." Cisco told them when suddenly, Joe gets yanked up by Grodd and taken away.

"Joe!" Barry yelled.

Caitlin and Iris both saw what was happening through the camera. "Dad!" Iris screams.

Later, Joe wakes up in another part of the sewer. He turns his head and sees a construction worker's helmet covered with blood on the other side of the room. He suddenly hears thumping noises and quickly takes his gun out from inside his coat when he starts turning it on himself. "Wh... What are you doing to me? Help! Cisco, help me!" Joe yelled.

"No help here." Grodd tells him.

"I can hear you in my head. You are telepathic. Please." Joe cries. "Please. No, no, no!" Joe tries to stop him from shooting himself and then Grodd makes Joe throw his gun away.

"Father hate gun." Grodd snarls.

"Father." Joe said. "Father, you mean... you mean Wells. Wells? Is that what you mean? Where is he?" Joe was getting scared by the minute and was trying not to show it.

"Not here." Grodd told him.

"Wait, wait, wait." Joe said, taking out the banana he took from Cisco. "Here. Is this what you want? You can have it. It's yours." Grodd roars in Joe's face, making him more scared than he originally was and then he steps really close to the man.

"Grodd hate banana." Grodd tells them.

"Please, please." Joe whimpers. Grodd looks at Joe before he turns away and leaves Joe there.

Back at STAR labs, Caitlin was checking up on Barry and Atchaco. "You both are experiencing a spike of activity in your primary motor cortex. It's the same thing we saw in Eiling. The images you saw were some kind of psychic attack by Grodd." Caitlin explained.

"First Eddie gets taken by The Man in Yellow, and now my dad…" Iris sighs.

Atchaco stands up but falls back down, she then uses her extendable limbs to keep her body upright. "We're gonna save both of them, Iris. We promise you." Atchaco reassured her.

"Hold up. I put a tracker in the tranq dart you shot Grodd with. As soon as it activates…" Cisco said.

"No, Cisco. I can't wait for that. I will search every inch of that sewer if I have to." Barry told him.

"And what happens if you find them? What happens if Grodd takes over your mind the same way he did with Eiling?" Caitlin questioned.

"I don't... I mean... Can you guys build me something? Some kind of tech so he can't get into my head?" Barry wondered.

"What about me?" Atchaco questioned.

"Atchaco, you and I both know your body can't handle too many emotions, you saw what it did back there. You nearly had a full system shut down because your body couldn't handle it. You are staying here." Barry reminded her.

"But…" Atchaco tries to protest.

"No." Barry tells her. "I don't… I can't risk something happening to you too."

"Okay." Atchaco sighs.

"I don't know. Maybe if Dr. Wells were here." Cisco said.

"I don't understand. Every day you guys figure out a way to help people. All of The Flash and Thunder's powers and all of this equipment, not to mention Atchaco's AI, and you can't save Eddie and my dad?" Iris replied, storming out of the room.

"We'll figure something out. Fast." Caitlin reassures her.

Barry goes to walk out of the room so he can talk to Iris but Atchaco stops her. "No, I will talk to her, it is my turn." Atchaco tells him.

A few seconds later in the hallway, Atchaco walks slowly behind Iris. "Iris." Atchaco said.

"I can't get that sound out of my head." Iris admits. "My dad screaming. Why did he insist on going down there with you and Barry? He's always preaching about being safe, but not once does he think about running into danger himself."

"Iris…" Atchaco tries to say.

"No, Atchaco. He's just a regular cop. He is not some meta-human with superpowers. He is not some alien either. He's not you and Barry." Iris replies.

"You're right, he's not us." Atchaco agrees. "And this isn't his fault. None of this is his fault. Look, yes, maybe Joe told Barry and I not to tell you that I was Thunder and Barry was The Flash, but we didn't have to listen. We could've told you... a hundred times we could've told you, and we didn't. Yes, we should've. So you're right to be mad. But don't be mad at your dad. Be mad at us."

"Okay." Iris sighed. "Okay, then explain to me how the person I thought I knew better than anyone has been keeping secrets from me? Big, life-changing secrets? You and Barry were supposed to be my best friends, Atchaco."

"We are your best friends." Atchaco reminds her.

"How can you say that when the most important things in your life, the things that matter the most, the things that you both are supposed to share, you both kept all of them from me? You both lied to me about everything." Iris argued.

"I know, Iris. Look, I know." Atchaco admitted. "But I didn't want you to know what a monster I am"

"What?" Iris questioned.

"Does that word sound familiar to you?" Atchaco answered. "It should. You told The Flash that we were both monsters. Now that you know that I'm Thunder and he is The Flash, do you still think that? Or has your view been changed because you now know who is under the masks?" Iris looks at Atchaco but remains silent. "I'm gonna check on Barry, Cisco and Caitlin." Atchaco then turns around and leaves Iris to think about what she had said.

Meanwhile, Eddie was still tied to a chair in the Reverse Flash's lair. Eobard was climbing down the stairs and came in. "You know they're going to find me. And you. You're not as smart as you think you are." Eddie tells him.

"Oh, really? 'Cause I'm a genius where I come from. Imagine how smart that makes me here." Eobard smiles.

"'Cause you're from the future?" Eddie wondered.

"Hmm." Eobard hums.

"With a name like Eobard, I guess you'd have to be." Eddie replies.

"No, Eobard is a distinguished name for a distinguished member of a distinguished family." Eobard tells him.

"Depressing to think all of my descendants are as crazy as you." Eddie admits.

"Oh, no, no, no." Eobard laughs. "No, the Thawne bloodline is chock-full of influential politicians, scientists, captains of industry. Failures such as yourself are just the exception."

"And what exactly makes me such a failure?" Eddie asked.

"Tough question, Eddie." Eobard exhales. "Where to start? Oh, how about your career as a police detective? It's spectacularly uneventful."

"Yeah. Well, we'll see." Eddie replies.

"No, we have seen." Eobard reminds him. "I have seen. I am from the future. And you are the only Thawne to be all but forgotten by history. Waste of a life, waste of a man. And... Oh, no." Eobard sighs. "You don't even get the girl."

"What are you talking about?" Eddie asks.

Eobard sighs, showing Eddie the newspaper article from the future. "Observe, if you will, the byline. Iris doesn't marry you. We're just gonna have to give this ring back to Grandma Agnes. You, Eddie, won't be needing it."

Back at STAR Labs, Cisco and Caitlin had finished making the tech for Barry. "An anti-telepathy strip. It uses magnetic resonance to neutralise any foreign neurological stimulus." Cisco explained.

"So it'll protect Barry from being mind-controlled?" Iris asked.

"That's the hope, but we have no way of knowing if it actually works." Caitlin admits.

"That doesn't make me worry any less." Atchaco tells her.

"It'll work." Barry reassures her, putting a hand on her shoulder when suddenly the monitor starts beeping.

"The tracker just came online. We have Grodd's location." Cisco told them.

Barry zooms into his suit. "Iris... I want you to know, all the times I imagined you being here, it was not like this." Barry told her.

"Get my dad back." Iris replied.

Atchaco walks up to Barry and hugs him. "Promise me, you will come back." Atchaco said.

Barry kissed Atchaco on the head. "I promise." Barry replied and he zoomed out of the Cortex.

Minutes later, Barry zooms around town until he arrives at the location Cisco told him. "Barry, what's your ETA?" Cisco wondered and Barry put on the anti-telepathic strip.

"All right. I'm in position." Barry replied.

"Wait for my signal." Cisco told him.

Back at STAR Labs, Iris was looking at the monitor. "So the red, that's Barry?" Iris asked.

"Yes." Caitlin replied.

"And the blue?" Iris questioned.

"Is Grodd." Caitlin answered.

"Okay. Here goes nothing." Cisco smiled, pushing a button on the computer screen. This makes some of the pipes burst, causing steam to shoot out. Grodd roars as he leaves Joe and starts moving down the tunnels. "The steam's working. Grodd's on the move."

"I don't understand. What is the plan?" Iris wondered.

"He's manoeuvring Grodd into a tunnel 5.3 miles from Barry." Caitlin explained.

"So Barry can do what?" Iris asked.

"Same thing he did to Girder." Atchaco told her.

"Supersonic punch, baby. Hit it!" Cisco grinned.

Barry then starts from all the way in the city to all the way into the sewers and Grodd senses him coming. Grodd started to run too and when they met up with each other, Grodd caught Barry's fist. Then Grodd throws Barry to the side of the room, causing the anti-telepathic strip to fall off of Barry's head but he quickly picks it up and puts it back on his head. "The supersonic punch failed." Cisco groaned.

"Uh-oh. Here we go." Barry said as he stood up, noticing that Grodd tried to get into his head. "It's okay, Cisco. The headset's working."

"Yes. Okay, uh, try some speed punches on him." Cisco suggests.

Barry does what Cisco had said and runs around as he punches Grodd, but it looked like his punches were having no effect on Grodd whatsoever. "This isn't working." Barry grunts.

"Okay, what if you try…" Caitlin started to say.

Her voice gets cut off as Grodd grabs Barry by his neck and starts to choke him. "Barry!" Cisco yelled. Grodd then throws Barry through a wall and Barry lands on the railroad tracks. The force causes the anti-telepathic strip to fall off of Barry's head again. "Barry!"

"Oh, no. The headset's offline." Caitlin informed them, dread in her voice.

"Sounded like it impacted with something." Cisco noticed.

Meanwhile, Barry drosp to the ground and grabs his head as he hears a high-pitched frequency, which means that Grodd was now getting into his head and he starts to see flashes of a lab again and he screams in pain. "Human. Weak." Grodd said.

Back at STAR Labs, Caitlin is looking at Barry's vitals. "Barry's brain activity is off the charts. It's way worse than last time." Caitlin told them.

"What's happening to him?" Iris asked.

"Grodd's attacking him psychically. He's paralyzed." Caitlin answered.

"Come on. There's a service train coming." Cisco informed them.

Meanwhile, Barry still sees flashes of the lab from before and they are getting more intense as he falls back on the ground.

"Do something please!" Atchaco begged.

"I can't stop the train." Cisco admitted.

"Barry, you have to get out of there now." Caitlin told him. Barry screams, not hearing what Caitlin said as the train was coming fast. "What do we do?"

Atchaco patches herself into Barry's comm system and nods at the others, telling him she knows what she is doing. "Barry, listen to me, okay? You have to concentrate on my voice. Whatever is happening to you, you have to fight it." Atchaco tells him and Grodd roars as Barry continues to grab his head in pain. "I know you can do this. I know how strong you are." Barry groans again. "Stand up to Grodd. You can do this. Please." Atchaco's eyes started to water. Barry has his eyes closed and starts to see him and Atchaco together, both of them in their suits with smiles on their faces. "Barry, do it for me."

Barry then starts getting more flashes of Atchaco. Ranging from them saving the world together, to Atchaco smiling at him, them laughing together, their first date and their first kiss. Barry snaps open his eyes. "Atchaco." Barry gasps. He then moves out of the way, just in time to get out of the way of the train. Grodd growls as he runs towards Barry, and when he makes a jump for him, the train passes and just like that Grodd was gone.

Barry then looks around for a bit and then goes off to find Joe. "Joe." Barry smiled, kneeling down in front of the man.

"Barry. Please get me out of here." Job sobbed.

"Barry!" Iris said into Barry's earpiece.

"I'm bringing him home." Barry said.

Later in the pipeline, Barry opens the door that leads to Eiling's cell. Mr. Allen, how nice of you to visit. Exactly how long do you intend to keep me prisoner?" Eiling questions and Barry opens the door to Eiling's cell.

"Your brain scan is normal, which means Grodd is no longer controlling you. This prison is for meta-humans, so you're free to go." Barry tells him and Eiling walks out of the cell. "You will get what's coming to you eventually."

"I am not ashamed of my actions, Mr. Allen." Eiling admits. "You've seen what these meta-humans are capable of. Soon, your prison won't be enough."

"Not all meta-humans are dangerous." Barry reminds him.

"Oh, you're afraid that I know you're The Flash? And your cybernetic girlfriend is Thunder?" Eiling chuckles. "Don't get your tights in a twist; I've known for months. If I wanted to come after you and your girlfriend, I would've done it by now."

"But you think you're gonna need me." Barry wondered.

"Harrison Wells turned me over to that beast. He used me like a damn puppet. So like it or not, we have a common enemy, you and I. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a gorilla to hunt." Eiling said as he turned and left.

Minutes later, up in the medbay. "I said be still. You have three fractured ribs." Caitlin tells him.

"I'll be fine." Joe winced as he was laying on the side of the bed.

"Dad, you need to rest." Iris reminds him.

"I can't believe Grodd became so violent." Caitlin admitted.

"What was his lair like? Did he eat the banana? Does he like King Kong? He's more of a Planet of the Apes kind of ape?" Cisco asked.

"Uh, terrifying. No. And I didn't ask." Joe replied.

"Mm." Cisco hums.

"Do you mind if I talk to my daughter alone?" Joe asks and Caitlin and Cisco leave. "When I was with that gorilla, I thought, 'I'm gonna die down here.' And all I could think about was how you and me were in a fight."

"Dad, I was so afraid that something would happen to you." Iris tells him.

"My life started when you were born, and sometimes my incredible love for you, it blinds me, and I forget... I forget what a brilliant young woman you are, how you're capable of making your own decisions." Joe admits.

"Daddy, I know that everything that you do is out of love. So love me enough to always tell me the truth. Yeah?" Iris wonders.

"Deal. Deal." Joe replies.

"Okay. Come here." Iris smiled, hugging Joe.

"Ow!" Joe groaned.

"Oh!" Iris said.

"Oh." Joe repeated.

"Oh, my bad." Iris said and she stopped hugging him.

Meanwhile, Barry, Atchaco, Cisco and Caitlin are together. "Maybe it's a good thing we didn't catch Grodd. Where would we put him?" Caitlin wonders and Atchaco chuckles. "I mean, the pipeline isn't exactly equipped to hold a super-intelligent, telepathic gorilla."

"Joe mentioned that Grodd called Wells 'Father.' And Wells must have ordered Grodd to come after us. It's why Grodd didn't kill Joe. I think Joe is right. Everything Grodd did, it was just to distract us." Barry pointed out.

"What's going on? Are you okay?" Atchaco questions, noticing that Cisco is upset.

"Just thinking about this headset. It wasn't strong enough. You could've been killed out there, man." Cisco said.

"No, dude, your tech worked, and it proved that we don't need Wells. The four of us took on Grodd and rescued Joe." Barry reminded him.

"Together, we can do anything." Atchaco replied.

"Actually, it was the five of us." Caitlin corrected.

Late at night, Iris was on the rooftop of Jitters. "Hey." Atchaco greeted her.

Iris turns around to see Atchaco standing there in civilian form. "How did you know I was here?" Iris asks.

"One, I'm a technopath and your phone is in your pocket." Atchaco replied. "Two, this is your spot."

"Yeah. It's a special spot." Iris admits. "It's where I first met The Flash and Thunder. All those times, you and Barry were standing right in front of me, and I had no idea. I don't even know you guys anymore."

"Iris, listen." Atchaco said. "I have never told anyone apart from my AI this, but I was always jealous of you."

"Of me? Why?" Iris questioned.

"Because, I had thought that Barry had loved you and not me. I mean, you two grew up together. It felt like I didn't even stand a chance." Atchaco answered.

"Atchaco, Barry has loved you before he even came to live with me. He loves you now and forever. And, I'm sorry I called you a monster, you are definitely not." Iris replied.

"To be fair, I did get whammied by a metahuman." Atchaco reminded her. "So in a way I was a little bit of a monster, but only a little." Iris laughs. "Hey, without you in my life, in Barry's, there wouldn't have been The Flash or Thunder."

"Thank you, but Eddie is still missing. What are we going to do?" Iris wonders.

"I know. We're gonna bring him back." Atchaco reassured her.

"I hope so. I hope so." Iris replied.

At one of the tallest buildings in Central City, something or someone was climbing it. That someone was Grodd. When he clubs to the very top he growls before jumping off the building.

In Reverse Flash's lair, Eobard had just finished building a device. "So now what?" Eddie questioned.

"Now... I have the key." Eobard questioned.

"The key to what?" Eddie asked. Eobard ignores Eddie and he clubs up the steps of the lair and walks over to a machine. He puts the key into the device and the lights turn on to show the base of the particle accelerator. Eobard and Eddie were underneath STAR Labs.

"Time to go home." Eobard smiles.