"We have to wait how long before we can use the meta-human cure?" Barry questions from next to me.
"Not even that long." Cisco stalls from telling us.
"Cisco." I clear my throat, staring at him.
"It's gonna go by-" Cisco snaps his fingers, "-like that."
"Cisco." I repeat, folding my hands together.
Cisco purses his lips, "29 days."
Sherloque chokes on his tea, the number catching us all off guard.
"?" I repeated his words.
"A month?" Nora questions.
"I know, right?" Cisco chuckles nervously, "Just one, teeny, tiny, month until we stop Cicada's purge. You know, historically speaking, this is way faster than we've ever stopped a big bad so-"
"We can't wait that long, Cisco." I cut him off, "If he finds another meta or comes after us-"
Barry nods, "Zee's right, we have to speed this up somehow."
"We have to wait for the compound to fully synthesize or it won't be able to effectively neutralize the dark matter in a meta-human's pituitary gland." Caitlin explained, "Without any way to expedite the exotic evolution-"
"Guys, we're gonna have to wait." Cisco cuts in.
Caitlin agreed, "I think we have to wait."
Sherloque sipped his tea, "Unless you took it into the Speed Force."
"Huh?" I looked at him, "You want him to go into the Speed Force for a month and then, what, come out the same day that he left?"
"Oh, no, no, I'm not saying you manipulate time." Sherloque looks at me, "I'm saying you manipulate dark matter."
"So very simple." Sherloque presents, "It's simple chemistry, right? When you are synthesizing a compound, you use a commodity, uh, substrate, uh-"
Caitlin suggests, "A catalyst?"
"Catalyst, right." Sherloque points at her, "And the most efficient catalyst you can use when synthesizing a compound that negates dark matter is superluminal particles."
"Tachyons?" Nora spoke up.
Sherloque nods, "Tachyons, and the place where tachyons are the most dense?"
Barry exhales, "Speed Force."
"And voila." Sherloque nods.
"That might actually work." Caitlin looks at us.
"Yeah, it will." Cisco nods, "It'll be like nuking it in a pan-dimensional microwave.
I looked at Caitlin, "How much time would this save?"
Caitlin types, then looks at her screen, "From 29 days down to 60 minutes."
"An hour-" I looked up, "That's better than waiting 29 days."
"Yeah, it's gonna be faster." Cisco nods, pursing his lips.
"And also since Cicada has been quiet since your last encounter, maybe there's no time like the present." Sherloque adds in.
Barry looks at me for approval, inhaling deeply.
I nod, "Go for it."
"All right. I'll see you in an hour." Barry nods, pecking my lips, whooshing, changing into his suit and running down to the pipeline with the cure.
Nora's voice fills my ears as I neared the pipeline, "And what happened to Mom because of Cicada-"
"Speaking for myself- I'm fine, Nora." I walked into the pipeline, catching Nora and Barry's attention, "You guys aren't the only ones that can heal."
"Mom-" Nora huffs quietly in defeat, looking at me.
I place my hands on my hips, over the soft fabric of the plaid dress I had on, the only cooling feeling at my legs due to their bareness, black boots on my feet.
"Nora, this is the key to stopping Cicada." Barry held the cure, "I gotta go."
"Wait- before you go-" I jog over, pointing at me, "We're doing Thai tonight, right?"
"Really?" Barry stares at me, "I have to go into the Speed Force for an hour to help speed up this process and you're asking me about dinner?"
"Yes-" I drag out, wrapping my arms around him.
"Yes, we're doing Thai." Barry playfully rolls his eyes and pecks my lips, "I gotta go now."
"Fine-" I step away from him, standing next to Nora.
"If anything happens, just do what I've trained you to do: slow down and think clearly." Barry told Nora, "I trust you, you just gotta trust yourself."
"You'll be fine." Barry nods, then whooshes, disappearing.
"60 minutes." Nora says to herself, letting out a shaky breath.
"You'll be fine." I wrap an arm around her, smiling towards her, walking back up to the cortex with her.
-
[ ]
"Hey, Nora- Zee, Cisco hasn't left for his date yet, has he?" Ralph asked my mom and I when we walked into the hall towards the cortex.
"Uh, I don't think so." I honestly told him.
"Great, we get another chance at this." Ralph smiles, starting to walk into the cortex with the Book of Ralph.
"Uh, Ralph, maybe this isn't a good idea-" My mom grabs onto the book, stopping him.
"What? Why?" Ralph questions.
"I mean- why not just let Cisco be himself-" She reasoned, "That's what she has to like him for-"
"He needs the Book of Ralph." Ralph pulls her along with the book, despite her slipping along with him no matter how much she tried to pull back, dropping the book onto Cisco's desk, it making a loud thud, catching everyone's attention.
"What's wrong?" Sherloque asks me when I sit down in silence.
"Nothing." I looked up at him, then look over to my mother, Ralph and Cisco.
"Oh, God." Cisco dramatically said, "Not the "Book of Ralph" again-"
"I'm sorry, I tried-" My mom said quietly, shooting him a crooked smile of guilt, pressing her palms together.
"Yeah, buddy." Ralph slaps his hand against the book, "You successfully completed my 27 steps to getting over the love of your life. Gypsy is in the past. You have a new siren, so now it's time for- The Art of Love."
"Um, Caitlin?" Cisco looks at her for help.
"I've gotta finish working on the device to inject the cure." Caitlin comes up with an excuse, leaving the room.
"Also- I have to inject the device for the cure." Sherloque mutters, following Caitlin.
My mom starts to back away, Cisco looking at her instantly, "Zee- z- hey Zee? Zee-"