Home Grown Clone

Barry arrives at Jitters and walks in. He sees Iris with Eddie as they watch the news.

The headlines read [HERO COP SAVES STAGG CEO] Eddie is being shown giving an interview.

"Nice work, Eddie," Barry says grabbing both Eddie and Iris's attention.

"Nah. Right place, right time. Also, couldn't have done it without Joe," Eddie says.

"No, you were a hero today," Barry says as Eddie did risk his life to keep the Stagg CEO safe.

"CCPD still has a killer on the loose," Eddie says. "I should get back to the precinct," Eddie says to Iris, kisses her, and leaves.

"So how does it feel dating a hero cop?" Barry asks Iris making her smile.

"Proud, happy, and many other things," Iris says. "And what about you? Came here for caffeine, or you finally gonna tell me what's going on with you?" Iris asks.

"Ya, about that... Why don't we sit down, eat, and drink as we talk about it," Barry says.

"Fine, take a seat. What do you want?" Iris asks.

"I am starving, something big and delicious," Barry says. "Something big and delicious, coming right up," Iris says and leaves to fetch some food for him.

____________________

"First and foremost, I apologize for being distant lately," Barry says.

"I have been up to something lately, something very important, but this thing is taking up a lot of my time, which, of course, caused some friction with you and your dad. But I realized that I can't ignore the people in my life because of this thing. Especially my good friend. Miss Iris West," Barry says making Iris smile.

"So now that I am here, do you need any help coming up with a new topic for your article--" "I found one," Iris immediately cuts him off.

"Something that actually interests me," Iris says and gets up from her chair to show him something. "I know this is gonna sound crazy. It's been all over the internet this week." Iris says showing him internet posts and news articles.

"At a building fire... At a bank heist... Even the other day those robbers shot at the security guard, he said he was whooshed outside. Something out there is saving people," Iris says.

'Ah shit, Joe's gonna kill me,' Barry thinks.

"It does sound crazy," Barry says, trying to act clueless.

"Ever since I have known you, you have believed in the impossible. What if you were right? What if you were right about the night that your mom died?" Iris asks.

Iris catches Barry off guard by bringing up the matter regarding his dead mother.

"Umm, I don't know... Sometimess.." Luckily for Barry, his phone buzzes, coming to his rescue.

He looks at it and it is S.T.A.R. Labs. "Hey, what's up?" Barry picks up the phone and turns away from Iris as he speaks into his phone.

"Barry, you need to get to S.T.A.R. Labs. Right now," Caitlin says, she sounds extremely urgent.

"I'll be there," Barry says and ends the call.

"That thing I was telling you about, something happened. I need to go. Talk to you later," Barry says and runs out of Jitters at normal speed and when he is out of everyone's sight, he turns into a blur.

Running past vehicles, leaving behind a trail of white lightning.

__________________

Barry rushes into the lab and finds Black standing in front of Caitlin and Cisco. Barry immediately tackles him from behind and brings him to the ground.

"Aaaaa!" His sudden entrance and super-speed tackle scare the living hell out of Caitlin.

"Barry, it's okay!" she shouts, seeing Barry on top of Black. "What? It's not okay. Why is Black here and why's he just... not moving...." Barry gets confused as he finds Black completely motionless beneath him, like a mannequin.

Barry gets back to his feet and is immediately met by a slap to his arm by Caitlin. "Oww, why?" Barry asks. "For scaring the hell out of me," Caitlin answers.

"I'm sorry," Barry apologizes and looks at the motionless Black. "That's not him, is it?" Barry turns to the team and asks.

"It's one of his replicates," Dr. Wells says.

"How did you get it?" Barry asks.

"I grew him," Caitlin says with a smile on her face. "You grew him?" Barry asks bewildered.

"I isolated a sample of Black's blood from your suit to see if I could trigger the in vitro cultivation process and learn how black multiplies. So I exposed the target cells to a protein gel, and they began replicating into that," Caitlin explains going full nerd.

"Did.. it come with clothes on?" Barry asks seeing that clone is dressed. Caitlin gives him an annoyed look for his questionable question and shakes her head.

"No, his cells have stored memory. It replicated to its most recent memory," Caitlin says.

"Makes sense. He was wearing the exact same thing last time," Barry says and waves his hand in front of the clone's face.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" Barry asks.

"We did a brain scan. Involuntary motor functions are active, little else," Dr. Wells says.

"We think it's acting as a receiver," Cisco says.

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

"Well, to do that, we need to know which one's the real Danton Black. How do we know which one's real?" Barry asks.

"Since these clones are but empty shells, Black will be under a lot of mental and physical strain controlling all of those clones. Look for the one showing signs of weakness or fatigue. He's the prime," Caitlin suggests.

"It's just a theory but one you might want to put to the test, Mr. Allen," Dr. Wells says.

"But what if he's operating from a distance, like before?" Barry asks.

"Next time, he won't. You have already stopped him twice. He will be desperate to succeed next time. You will have your chance to finally stop him, Mr. Allen," Dr. Wells says.

"Hmph!" the clone suddenly makes a movement scaring Caitlin for the second time. "Aaaaaah!" she screams and Barry immediately holds onto her.

Suddenly, two gunshots are heard, and the clone is put down, scaring Caitlin for the third time. "Ah!"

Everyone turns to find Joe with his gun out and smoke coming off its barrel.

"Any more of them?" Joe asks.

"Nope!" Caitlin says with wide eyes. She is shaken up right now.