"What is all this?" I question, slouched in my seat, sipping my coffee, Barry's hand on my shoulder, as we were seated at the cortex with everyone else, Harry calling us in.

"This is gonna give us the edge we finally need to be smarter than Devoe. Or me to be smarter than Devoe, actually." Harry explains, pulling up blueprints, "Take a look at this."

"What is that?" Cisco questions.

"This is an intelligence booster." Harry points, "You put this thing on Dibny here, and even he would be able to understand the point source construction. You put it on a real genius, I'll finally be able to outthink the Thinker."

"You know what, I'm not sure this thinking cap is the best idea you've ever had." Cisco admits.

"It's an intelligence booster." Harry corrects him.

"It looks like a thinking cap." Cisco rolls his eyes.

Harry huffs, "You don't like it, blame yourself. You gave me the idea. You're the one that said Devoe planned all this just like Thawne in order to stop Barry. And you said that Devoe became the Thinker the same night you became the Flash, and so I hacked into security footage of that night to see how he did it."

Harry types away, pulling up the footage, "This is why he's so smart. Devoe boosted his intelligence with neurochemical engineering powered by the dark energy from the particle accelerator explosion.

And if we build our own, we can do the exact same."

"Wait, you wanna blast your brain with 10 billion joules of dark energy?" Barry repeats.

"Uhm, Harry-" I clear my throat after swallowing a sip of my coffee, "That looks very painful."

"I've harnessed energy from the particle accelerator explosion before, and I can do it again." Harry puts down, crossing his arms.

Caitlin spoke up, "Yeah, but Harry, reengineering your brain's neurochemistry, that's-"

"Devoe did it." Harry cuts her off, "So can I. How many more metas have to die before we finally stop Devoe?"

"Uh. Not me." Ralph holds his hand up, "I mean I say we go for it. Right, guys?"

"What do you think?" Barry looks down at me, wanting my opinion.

"I don't think it's safe-" I admit, "I mean, what if Harry gets hurt?"

"Since when is anything we do safe, Allen?" Harry argues with me.

"I get your point but-" I sat up, "What if this goes wrong and somehow affects your brain? We could lose one of our greatest minds- we don't even know how to fix whatever the effects could be."

"Allen." Harry places his hands on his hips, "This is the only way."

"I say we explore it." Iris shrugs lightly.

"Yeah, I agree." Caitlin nods.

"Ramon." Harry looks at Cisco.

"No, this is way too risky." Cisco sides with me.

"Of course it's risky, but if we succeed, we will save the lives of the four remaining bus metas, including a member of our team." Harry argues.

"You're talking about intense amounts of dark energy going right into your brain, right into that cap, that turned a mac and cheese loving pacifist into a homicidal maniac." Cisco fought back, "You put that cap on, what's it gonna do to you?"

"I've run the numbers dozens of times." Harry says, "The math and the chemistry check out. I can do this."

"I don't think you can." Cisco crosses his arms, admitting his fought.

"I can with your help." Harry shot back

"Not this time." Cisco shakes his head, "All right, let's keep coming up with more ways to solve this."

Cisco walks out the room, Ralph speaking up, "Just so I'm clear on this, someone finally came up with a way to stop this La-Z-Boy riding lunatic and we just might not do it? That's really cool, guys."

Ralph leaves, causing me to get up, "I got this one."

Barry weakly smiles at me, as I got up, chasing after Ralph, "Ralph, hey. We're gonna figure this out, you don't need to worry."

"Yeah, everybody keeps saying that, and each time we almost get Devoe, he gets away. Every time he gets away, he's one step closer to getting me." Ralph shot back at me, standing at the elevator.

"Hey, that is not going to happen-" I touch his arm, "You have a whole team that cares for you. We're going to make sure he doesn't take you from us."

"Well, I can't take that chance anymore, Zee." Ralph sighs, "So if anyone needs me, I will be downstairs in my tiny guest quarters until this is over."

"Ralph, when you decided to become a hero- and a part of this team- you practically signed an invisible contract where you'd help us save people. There are still three bus metas out there, and we're gonna need your help to find them and protect them." I stare R him.

"Yeah, and I'm the only one with a body that Devoe is trying to snatch." Ralph argues, "Zee, the only person I need to protect from now on is good old Ralphie boy. You don't have any concept of how dangerous it is for me out there."

"The hell I don't." I shot back at him, moving my hand away from him, "You have no idea what it's been like the past three years before you joined this team, Ralph."

"How could you? How could you have any concept of how dangerous it is for me out there?" Ralph questions.

I cross my arms, "Because I'm the leader of this team."

"Yeah, that's right, you are." Ralph exhales, "But you're always back there hiding safe and sound."

Ralph walks into the elevator, raising his voice at me, "While the rest of us are out in the field putting our lives on the line."

I sigh, placing my hands on my hips, looking at the hall, my eyes landing on Iris West, who had seen the whole thing.

-

"You know-" I shove some ice cream into my mouth, pointing at Barry with my spoon, "You're a great husband."

"Go on." Barry laughs quietly, eating some of his ice cream.

"You, Barry Allen-" I wiggle my spoon, "You asked Iris to go question that Matthew Kim guy with Joe instead of you so you could come home- change into sweats- bury ourselves in blankets- and eat ice cream with me. You have proven your loyalty. This being one of many ways."

"Well-" Barry scoots next to me, "You looked upset. And it is your day off from CCPD, so- here I am. Your comfort. At your service."

"Ralph Dibny." I scoop some ice cream, "He makes some sense sometimes."

"Uh oh, what'd he say to you?" Barry questions, his eyes watching my every move.

"Ralph- he's really scared." I looked at Barry, "And I tried to be there for him. I tried to give him a good- talk- but I'm no Barry Allen. I don't know Ralph Dibny- I don't know what to say to him. It's like everything I'm saying- or doing is wrong." I sigh, "He lashed out on me and told me that I had no concept of how dangerous it was for him to be out on the field- helping us find and keep the last three bus metas safe- because I'm Team Leader. And all I do- is sit behind the console- safe and sound- while the rest of you go out- and put your lives on the line."

"But- you've done it a countless number of times." Barry runs a hand through his messy hair, confusion falling over him.

"Rarely." I correct him, sighing.

"Oh come on." Barry shot me a look, eating some ice cream, "I could literally list a number of times you've stepped out on the field and kicked ass."

I hum in response, challenging him, licking the last of the scoop of ice cream off my spoon, "All right, shoot."

"For real? Okay." Barry sits up, dropping his spoon into his bucket of vanilla ice cream, looking at me, "Remember when Patty almost killed Mark Mardon? You stepped in there. You helped with the Alien Invasion. You were out on the field when you fought Reign the night you and Iris were supposed to die. You just helped with the everyone on Earth X- and there's so much more."

"I didn't think you'd actually do it." I scoff lightly, setting spoon into my bucket of rocky road ice cream in a sigh, "Well- clearly Ralph doesn't know that. But he's right."

"About?" Barry questions.

"About me- safe and sound behind the console. Since you went into the Speed Force- I've rarely gotten back out on the field. Not that I'm cut out to be a superhero- I'm better behind the action- and for the backup-" I huff, "But, still."

"Zee." Barry wraps an arm around me, pulling me into his side, scooping some of his ice cream, "You're the bravest girl I know. You're fearless. Whenever you've been needed on the field- you're gone without anyone even instructing you to. You can't let Ralph get into your head. He's just afraid."

I smile lightly, leaning back into him, "I needed to hear that more than I thought."

Barry smiles, kissing my cheek, as I place the containers of ice cream on the coffee table, cuddling into his side, looking at the scoop that sat on the spoon he held, "What's that taste like?"

"Like what vanilla ice cream usually tastes like?" Barry says in a questionable tone, his eyebrow raising.

"Oh yeah?" I raise my hand up, catching his hand, turning his hand, causing the spoon to turn, pushing the ice cream against his nose, "Does it smell like what vanilla ice cream usually smells like?"

Barry lets out a laugh, his eyes crossing when he looks at his nose, "Really?"

"Yeah-" I laugh quietly, taking the spoon, dropping it into the bucket, using my middle finger to wipe away the ice cream, licking it off my finger.

Barry bites his lip lightly, the corners of his lips turning up as he presses his lips into mine. I melt into the kiss, grabbing onto his face, as he lays me back on the couch, on top of the blankets that were previously on us, climbing on top of me, between my legs.

My hands go to his already messy hair, tugging on the ends. He deepens the kiss, his hands slipping under his hoodie I wore, resting on my waist. His hands snake up my body, ready to unclasp my bra until both our phones buzz on the other side of the coffee table, next to the ice cream.

"I'm gonna ignore that-" Barry mumbles into the kiss, a hand slipping into my sweatpants. I tug on his ends once more, a pleasurable grunt leaving his lips at the pull, as he starts to kiss down my neck.

My eyes openly slightly, glancing at the screens of our phones that rested on the table, "Barry-"

"Yeah-" He mumbles, kissing me again, lightly biting on my lower lip.

"It's-" I pull away from the kiss slightly, looking at him, holding his face, "It's Joe's distress alert-"

Barry lets out a small groan, his head falling onto my chest, as he took a breath, looking back at me, "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Go-" I nod, slowly starting to sit up, Barry running off, disappearing.

-

Iris West giggles when she comes to a stop, throwing her arms out to try and balance after running at full speed, "This is amazing."

Barry laughs lightly from besides me, "Yeah, it is."

Caitlin walks in, holding her tablet, "Well, I've run every test I can think of. EKG, cellular regression synthesis, brain chemistry, and dark matter confirms it. Iris is a speedster."

"And what about Barry?" I place a hand on Barry's back, looking at Caitlin.

"Um, everything that was a part of you Your speed, connection to the Speed Force, the dark matter It's all a part of Iris now." Caitlin explains.

Barry starts to question, "Can you-"

"Reverse it? I don't know." Caitlin answers, "I can try."

"So, Matthew Kim isn't just removing DNA." Joe sighs, "He's transferring it to anybody he touches."

"He's not getting rid of metas. He's creating new ones." Ralph looks down.

"Well, that's not the only thing." Cisco began, "Guess who's got an apartment just a block away from the 405 bus line and rides it every day to get to work?"

"So Matthew is our bus meta, not Fry." I cross my arms, "Devoe's gonna come after him sooner or later."

"And if Devoe gets Matthew's abilities, he could take away all our powers." Barry shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Unless we get him on our side first." Joe suggests, "Then he can remove the meta DNA from DeVoe."

Ralph questions, "Could that work?"

"I mean, yeah." Caitlin nods, "It could. As best I can tell, Matthew's abilities work by melting down the highly concentrated bonds between DNA. That makes them totally pliable so he can extract them and infuse somebody else with the exact same meta DNA."

"Melting highly concentrated bonds." Cisco repeats, "Melting Point. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta write that down."

"Okay, great, so you guys figure out how to get this Mr. Melting Point in the same room as Devoe and not get his brains sucked out." Ralph starts to leave, "I'm gonna go get a couple of bear claws and go back to my room."

"It's not Mr. Melting Point. Look, it's just Melting Point." Cisco follows him out.

"You know, somebody out there has Fry's fire powers right now." Barry sighs, "We need to find them as much as we need to find Matthew."

"I'm on it." Joe nods.

"And I'll see if there's a way to reverse this." Caitlin nods, leaving.

"Well until then, what do we do?" Iris looks at Barry and I.

I shot Barry a look, not knowing what to tell her, Barry speaking up, "We train."

-

"She can move." Barry mutters from beside me as we watched Iris West run on the treadmill.

The computer starts to beep, my head snapping up, "Uh oh."

"Hey, Iris, you might just wanna-" Barry began to instruct.

She cuts him off, "I can't slow down."

"That's okay." Barry spoke, "All right, just gradually ramp your speed down, otherwise you're gonna-"

Barry's words were cut off when Iris flys off the treadmill, falling into boxes, glass shattering, a grunt leaving her lips, "Do that?"

"That must've hurt-" I blurt out, walking over to her, Barry following me, as we helped her up.

Iris groans, Barry questions, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yep, I'm straight." She nods, "I'm straight. Thank God for speed healing, huh?"

"Yeah." Barry mutters.

"Hey, I know this isn't easy on you." Iris starts, "Barry-"

"I'm fine. I am." Barry sits on the treadmill, sighing, "It- I lost my speed. I lost my job at the CCPD. Just feels like Devoe is slowly taking everything away from me."

Guilt washes over me as I stared at Barry, Iris slowly walking over to him, touching his shoulder, her other hand pointing back at me, once I sit down in a chair, "He hasn't taken everything away."

"What if I never get it back?" Barry looks at her, "What if I never get my speed back?"

"Hey." Iris stops him, "Caitlin is gonna find something, okay? Until then, you just have to watch me like I've watched you these last three years."

"Yeah, I guess so." Barry nods, the alarm blaring loudly, Iris whooshing past us, Barry flinching back, Iris's speed resulting me my chair knocking over, my body hitting the ground when she whooshes past, "Wow, that's super annoying."

I clear my throat, dramatically yelling at the ceiling, "Ow."

I sat up, looking at Barry, "Now, you know how it feels when you whoosh past us- now let's go-" I got up, rushing into the cortex, Barry right behind me.

"What's happening?" Barry asks, as we walk into the cortex, over by everyone else.

"Baldwin Tower's on fire. CCFD's responding, but there's people on the top floor they can't reach." Cisco informs us, his eyes landing on me, "What do we do, boss?"

I snap my fingers, pointing at them one by one, "Caitlin, Killer Frost is on fire duty- Ralph, Cisco, suit up."

"Not a chance." Ralph sits down, propping a chip into his mouth, "This could just be a trap for Devoe to get us out in the open."

"Hey, I think we got a bigger problem." Cisco stares at him, "We don't have a Flash anymore."

"Yeah, we do." Caitlin looks at Iris.

"I don't think she's ready for all that." Barry blurts out, "I mean, she just got her- you just got your powers."

"Um no, I wanna do this." Iris nods at us.

"Okay." I nod towards her, "We'll monitor from here, then."

"Okay, well, you can't go out there wearing that." Cisco points out.

"Oh. Right." Iris exhales, running around Caitlin, switching their outfits, "Sorry, Cait. Mask?"

Cisco grabs a small case, opening it, revealing a eye mask, "Thank you, Jesse Quick."

"Nice." Iris nods, putting them on.

"Please, be careful." Barry pleads at his best friend, before she nods, running off.

"Guess you're on comms." Ralph tells Barry.

"Yeah." Barry walks over to the console, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, how do I-"

"Other monitor." Cisco points.

"Wrong monitor." Barry mumbles to himself, grunting, sitting in my chair, the chair hissing as he brought it down so could fit under the desk.

I walk behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, Iris, there are five people trapped on the 14th floor. First thing you need to do is get them out as fast as you can."

"I did it." Iris lets out an relieved sigh after she had done what I told her to do.

"Great work-" I continue to instruct, "Now you gotta get back in there and put out the fire. Barry's gonna take it from here-"

"I am?" Barry looks up at me.

"Do I look like someone who knows how to describe putting out a fire with using your abilities?" I shot him a look.

"Yeah- yeah, yeah." Barry nods, rubbing his hands together.

"Guys, I'm here." Iris' voice came through the comms, "What do I do?"

"You know what to do." Barry began, "Use your arms. Create wind funnels. Suck all the oxygen out of the room."

"And the fire will go out." Iris mumbles, "Just like he's done a thousand times."

"You got this, girl." Caitlin assures her.

"It's making it worse." Iris says through the line, the computer beeping in front of us, the red on the screen spreading, my head snapping towards Barry.

Ralph questions, "Is she rotating her arms the wrong way or?"

"Just go the opposite direction, okay?" Barry instructs.

The sound of rumbling and Iris West's scream follows, causing me to press my palms against the desk, "Iris, what was that? Are you okay?"

"My leg is pinned." She whimpers through the line, "I can't move."

"Okay, you have to phase through it." Barry tries, running a hand through his hair.

"What? I don't know how." Iris shot back.

Barry tries to explain, "You have to vibrate your whole body, okay? You just you have to feel it."

"I can't." Iris whimpers, "I can't move. I can't do it."

"We're running out of time, Barry." Cisco looks up, "The integrity of the room is failing. The ceiling's gonna collapse."

"Barry!" Caitlin calls, "The whole place is going up."

"Cisco- breach me over there." I walk away from Barry, Cisco nodding, walking over to me, opening a breach, I run right through, making my way over to Iris immediately.

My hands touch the huge piece of ceiling that had her pinned, using my abilities to melt it right here, my other hand using a force field under it so Iris didn't get burned.

I pull Iris up, holding her up, my hand shooting up, creating another force field, blocking the fiery piece of ceiling falling onto us, Cisco pushing us right through a breach, us ending up in Star Labs again.

Iris held onto me, breathing heavily, Barry walking over to us, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah-" Iris nods, her breathing uneven, standing on one foot, holding onto me for support.

-