I was stood in the cortex with Cisco the next day, dressed in one of Barry's crewneck's, this one being black, a pair of blue ripped jeans with many rips in them, my hair straight and head covered in Barry's beanie, black converse on my feet, Barry's beige jacket to finish off the look.

I had taken advantage of my look today, considering the fact it was day off, and I would probably be fired if I wore this to work.

"Okay we've got eyes on Cape Canaveral, Space X, and the Xichang Space Center." I said, stood next to Cisco, Barry running in, putting his suit back.

"And Blackhawk Island." Barry walks over to the console, "That's every launch pad south of the 39th parallel."

"Good man." Cisco nods.

"Is that my hat?" Barry asks me, pointing directly at me.

"Yes." I nod.

"And my sweater?" Barry questions again.

"Yes." I nod once more.

"And- my jacket?" Barry questions, holding back a small smile.

"Damn, woman." Cisco looks at me.

"Yes." I murmur, shaking my head, "We need to get back on topic."

"You're right-" Barry nods.

"And we're sure Devoe is gonna launch the machine from an airfield?" I look between them.

"If he's shooting five satellites into synchronous orbit, that's the latitude he needs." Cisco tells me, "And whether or not he's still moping around about his wife ditching him, he's gonna resurface. And he's gonna do it soon. When he does, I whoosh. You whoosh. She bangs."

Barry takes our only weapon against Devoe in his hands, leaning forward, his elbows resting on the pole, "If I can get there in time. I mean, I'm still not fast enough to make it to Devoe's pocket dimension."

"That's why we split up." Cisco looks up, "Each one of us stakes out a different launch pad."

"You're serious?" Barry stares at him, lI mean you've seen Devoe in action."

"Yeah, the guy's a one man Legion of Doom." Cisco nods, "So send the Super Friends."

"Okay, but we're not at full super strength right now." Barry reasons, "I mean Joe's got the baby on the way and Caitlin's looking for Killer Frost. Harry's-"

On cue, Harry Wells bumps into a chair, almost falling, skidding on the ground, then jumps back up, "This chair came out of nowhere."

"Yeah-" I exhale, "It just- appeared."

"So hey, Allen." Harry points at Barry, then waves for me to come over, along with Cisco, "Allen. Ramon."

"Cisco." Cisco introduces, walking by Barry along with me.

"Cisco Ramon." Harry nods, holding his tablet in front of us, "Guys. Check this out. Somebody has been blogging about the Thinker. About Devoe and the bus metas, all of it, okay. And if we find this blogger, we can stop the Thinker."

"Hey-" I place a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, buddy."

"Hey, buddy." Harry breaks out into a smile.

"That blog-" I point at it, "That's Iris' blog. You know- Iris West?"

"Look at the byline." He points, as I took my hand off his shoulder, "It's not written by Iris West, okay? It's written by Anonymous Central City Citizen." He mimics the sounds of a mic drop, "Mic drop."

"Hold on to that mic." I clear my throat, guilt filling within me to see Harry's current state, "I asked you to proofread this for Iris earlier, remember?"

"It's imaginary." Harry stares at me.

"Not the point right now, Harry-" I cross my arms, "I asked you to proofread this for Iris, remember?"

"You asked me to proofread this when?" Harry asks, realization filling him, "This morning. That's when.

When you said, "Harry will you proofread, will you proofread-" He falls into the chair, standing up quickly.

"Let's start by finding him a room with less chairs." Cisco says, walking over to him, the two of them leaving the cortex, leaving Barry and I alone.

Barry sighs, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me close.

"Why must we have the most problems?" I look at him, "It's like- every week gets ten times more difficult."

"But we always make it to the end, right?" Barry weakly smiles down at me, "No matter how much is thrown at us, and shoved into just one week- we make it to the end."

"You always know what to say." I peck his lips, looking at the time, "I have to get to work."

"I'll give you a lift-" Barry says, picking me up, running me to work without consent.

-

"I got a tip about Fallout from Iris, but it's been scrambled by Kilgore's code." I stood next to Cisco, Cisco in between Caitlin and I, Barry in front of Cisco's desk.

"Hmm, not anymore." Cisco types, decoding it, "Consider it unscrambled."

"Devoe." Barry exhales, staring the screen, "Where's keeping Borman? Do we know?"

"I can't ping Lyla, but I can try Dig." I shrug, crossing my arms, looking at Barry.

"I'll just go get him." Barry whooshes off, catching us all off guard.

"Uh oh-" I instantly say when he runs off, my hair falling behind my shoulders as I looked at Cisco and Caitlin.

Caitlin inhales sharply, all of us knowing the result of Barry running John anywhere, "Uh-"

"Trash can." Cisco says, as Caitlin and I run around, looking for something to hold John's throw up when he comes.

"What about the recycling?" I point, "That any good?"

"Nope. I got it, I got it." Cisco picks up a trash can that had many holes in it.

"Really?" Caitlin asks, picking up a trash can that would be useful, shooting him a look.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time." Cisco sighs, switching trash cans with her, Caitlin putting it back as I grabbed a water bottle, all of us rounding his desk, Barry running in with John Diggle, John instantly grabbing the trash can and throwing up.

"Sorry, man." Barry began apologizing, "I'm sorry."

"Here, buddy." I keep my gaze off Dig, handing him the water bottle, as he hands the trash can back to Cisco, thanking me, sipping the water.

"Can we just- I'm sorry." Barry stammers.

"I hate you." John swallows his water, pointing at Barry, "What is this about?"

"Neil Borman, the man we left with you, with ARGUS. Where you keeping him?" Barry quickly asks.

John stood straight, "Barry, that's classified information. I'm not the director of ARGUS, I-"

"Dig, we don't have time." Barry quickly cuts him off, "Please."

"He's at a place called the Castle." John tells us, "It's a thousand miles away from anything."

"Please." Barry plead, "Can you check it?"

John stays silent, rounding Cisco's desk as we followed him, the computer beeping as he typed on the screen.

"Okay, looks like everything's fine in ARGUS-" John pauses, "-except for me. It says I checked in six hours ago."

"Devoe can shapeshift." Caitlin says, "With Melting Point's powers, he can trick a DNA scanner and take over the building."

"Hey, Diggle. Diggle, Diggle." Cisco looks at the screen, it surrounding in red, the computer beeping rapidly.

"10,000 rads and climbing." Caitlin read, "Borman's body's gone critical already. We can't save him."

"If that chamber hits 100k, it'll start generating nuclear fusion." Cisco says, "Like core of the sun fusion."

Barry speaks up, "Infinite fuel."

"He's using Borman's body as a battery." I sigh, putting a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"That's the last piece of the Machine." Cisco says in realization.

"Wait." John looks at us, "A battery? Borman's containment cell is 10 feet tall."

"And Devoe has the power to shrink it down." Barry says, "He'll charge the satellites. All he'll have to do is launch 'em."

"How long do we have?" I ask, looking at Cisco.

Cisco types away, calculating, "At this rate of fusion, we have 12 hours until the Enlightenment begins."

-

"Okay, Dig's back in Star City." Barry runs back into the cortex, "Now, I'm going after Devoe."

"Like hell you will." I immediately say.

"Don't go storming the Castle just yet." Cisco says, "You're looking at motion- activated electro-shock plates that ARGUS installed in the facility."

"70,000 volts?" Caitlin reads, "You hit one of those, you'll be knocked out for sure."

"So I'll avoid them when I go in." Barry suggests.

"Okay." I drag out, hitting Cisco's arm lightly to pull up what I was explaining, as he did, "An idea that I would applaud you on, if their placement didn't randomize every couple hours."

"So Devoe's basically charging his battery for 12 hours, completely protected by ARGUS defenses." Caitlin exhales.

"And then he'll probably just jump into a pocket dimension, and he's out of there." Cisco shrugs.

"What if I don't avoid the plates? What if I hit 'em?" Barry looks at us, "All of 'em."

We all stare at him in silence, not knowing where he was going on about.

"I'm serious. I mean, if I go into Flash Time, I could use each plate's electric current as a fuel source." Barry says, "Then I'd be fast enough to follow DeVoe into his pocket dimension."

"You would get a serious boost." Caitlin nods.

"Again, genius idea, if hitting the plates didn't cause an electrical explosion." Cisco says.

"Yeah, but I'd be through the pocket dimension before the blast wave, ready to blow up the satellite on the other side." Barry solves.

The computer starts to beep in front of us, Cisco speaking up, "Satellite results came in."

His eyes scan the screen, "Oh, frell me."

"What? What is it?" I look at Cisco, then look at the screen, readjusting my position.

"We got six plates and six heat signatures above them." Cisco exhales.

I sigh, my elbow resting on the desk, leaning my head downward, pinching the bridge of my nose, blinking hard, "Devoe has hostages. You can outrun an electrical explosion, but they most definitely can't."

"How's he keeping them suspended like that?" Caitlin questions.

"I think I know how." Barry sighs.

-

"Damn it- where is she?" I mutter to myself, sighing heavily, running a hand through my hair stressfully, seated alone at the cortex.

"Where is?" Harry Wells walks in, "Ahh, where is she? I don't see her."

"Harry," I began, catching his attention, "I'm talking about tracking down Marlize. Since Devoe has showed up- she most likely will too. And we need to put her in the Pipeline before she causes any trouble. We don't need to be chasing two super villains around when the Enlightenment is hours away."

Harry questions, "How are you tracking her?"

"Well," I inhale sharply, "Iris has sent me hundreds of tips from her readers on her blog- and I mean, there's facial recognition and credit card checks- but nothing seems to be leading me back to her."

"Facts." Harry points at me.

"Right." I nod."

"Wrong." Harry shook his head, causing my eyebrows to furrow in confusion, "You're looking at facts when you should be focusing on feelings. You remember the Council of Harrisons?"

"Uhm- let's see, do I remember the Council of Harrisons?" I pretend to be in deep thought, wondering, then I look at him, "I don't think I can ever wipe the image of your junk away from my mind- so yes. I do remember the Council of Harrisons."

"Handsome but annoying." Harry says, "Well, they kind of taught me that if you wanna if you wanna follow Devoe's actions you gotta focus on Devoe's motives. Which is basically Devoe's feelings, and so feelings, if you're Marlize Devoe Where are you gonna feel safe?"

"So, what you're saying is, digging into her past could lead me into finding out where she is now." I summarize, "Harry, that's really helpful. I would've never thought of that- thank you."

"Thank you, Zee Allen, for saying that." Harry thanks me, "I don't feel helpful that much anymore. So thanks."

Guilt pools in my heart as I stared at him, sympathy filling within me.

I stood up, "Harry, are you willing to help some more?"

"Me?" Harry points at himself.

"Yes, you." I nod, "Do you wanna help me investigate a bit? Wells and Allen on the case."

"Yes." Harry instantly says.

"All right- let's go." I gesture for him to come with me, as he quickly follows me into the hallway.

-

"Marlize Malan." I push pinned her picture onto a board, "Born in Cape Town."

"Cape Town." Harry says, "Summers by the sea. Picking grapes in the vineyard."

"Got a PhD in inflationary theory and engineering." I read, my finger glazing over a piece of paper.

"Cute little button nose always buried in her book." Harry comments, "So nice."

"Tenured as a professor of engineering at Oxford where she met Clifford Devoe." I cross my arms.

"Where she met her husband to be." Harry gushes, "Isn't that romantic? A continent apart, yet they find each other. So romantic. I mean, it's beautiful when you think about it. It's-"

"What are you doing?" I turn my head and look at him.

Harry looks at me, "I'm empathetic. I'm being empathetic Council says be empathetic. I'm empathetic, you know? I'm putting myself in Marlize's shoes. I should see if she's got a pair of shoes, put myself in 'em."

"No, Harry. You're not wearing her shoes-" I shook my head, pointing at the board, "This is not a love story, okay? She married a psychopath."

"Psychopath now, not then." Harry reasons, "Back then he had feelings. They loved each other. He had feelings. She had feelings then he lost the feelings, and that's why she got out. That's why she left."

I give him a sly shrug, knowing he was right, running a hand through my hair.

"She left." Harry says in realization, then faces me, "Allen. We should turn Marlize."

"No-" I shook my head, "Do you have any idea what you're saying right now?"

"I know what I'm saying." Harry says, "I know. I have bad days- dumb Harry. But I'm not dumb today. Today's a good day. We should turn Marlize. Marlize can help us."

"Why the hell would Marlize want to help us after helping him since the beginning?" I ask.

"To stop the psychopath." Harry looks at me, "Right? Protect the man trapped inside the monster. Marlize can save everybody. Marlize is the key."

"We've tried to turn someone before." I lean back against a desk, my eyes glued to the ground, small tears pooling in my eyes at the thought of it, "With Savitar. It didn't work. We couldn't save him."

"But, look-" Harry points at me, "You are proving my point even more. You are the evidence that we can turn her. Look at yourself right now- you're tearing up at the thought of Savitar. The man inside the monster."

I look up at him, inhaling shakily, "No matter how hard we tried to get through to Savitar, it didn't work. Who's to say Marlize can do any different with Devoe?"

"They were- they are married." Harry reasons.

"Savitar was the time remnant of Barry. He experienced everything that has ever and yet to happen to Harry. He experienced marrying me- loving me." I argue, "You can't save monsters."

"Marlize isn't a monster." Harry sighs, "And besides the clock's ticking. It's like ten hours before the Enlightenment. What do we have to lose?"

"I stabbed myself with a katana because of her." I look at her, "Our lives are what we have to lose. We can't save anyone if we're all dead."

"Allen," Harry began, "You have one of the softest hearts out of everyone I know. Now- I don't remember most- but of course that's besides the point. You understand, and look at everything through every point of view before making a decision. You consider- you feel for those in hurt- you care for everyone- even if they're super villains."

"Harry," I look at him, "I'll think about it, okay?"

He simply nods.

-

"Allen!" Loud knocking came from the hall, a confused exhale leaves my lips, my head turning towards my front door, "Allen!"

I walk to the door, opening it, my hand resting on the door frame, seeing Harry knocking on the door of apartment four, "Allen!"

"Harry- right here, hey." I wave, "Apartment five."

"Oh, you moved." Harry points.

"No." I shook my head, "I've always been apartment five."

"This- this is apartment four." Harry points, stuttering, then walks over to me, "You're in apartment five."

"Yes, yes, I am." I nod, "What're you doing here?"

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. Trying to put myself in Marlize's shoes, and I forgot I should also try to put myself in your shoes." Harry apologizes.

"Harry-" I trail off, "You don't need to apologize to me. I was just- saying- Marlize is not gonna help us fight her husband out of love."

"Love. Exactly." Harry hands me an article, "Look, The Enlightenment was not born out of love. She's always been an activist. Look at that. Even before she met Devoe, she was trying to save people."

"Yeah, her earlier papers were very optimistic." I looked up at him after my eyes scanned the paper, "She thought that technology could liberate humanity."

"Right." Harry nods.

"But she's not saving anyone now." I reason.

"Not according to your perspective." Harry says, welcoming himself into my home, "What about her perspective? Put yourself in her shoes."

"Take your shoes off." I close the door, looking at him.

"You put on my shoes, and I'll put on your shoes." Harry hops on one foot, trying to take his shoe off, "We'll both trade shoes."

"No, Harry, I don't want to try your shoes on." I shook my head, "I want you take your shoes off. You're tracking mud all through my house, and I'm most definitely not going to clean it right now- and I don't want Barry to clean it when he gets home after a long day."

"It is kind of- more of a loft." Harry murmurs, standing straight.

"This is my home, okay?" I looked at him, "This is the first place that I've lived in with Barry. It makes me feel loved and safe, and so we are going to keep it nice and-" I pause.

"What? What is it? What are you thinking about?" Harry takes notice.

"I think I know where Marlize is hiding." I look up at Harry, breaking away from my thoughts.

Harry smiles, pointing at me, "Apartment four."

"No, not apartment four." I roll my eyes, slipping on my shoes.

-

"You figure it out yet?" I heard Cisco's voice from the cortex as Harry and I made our way down the hall.

I heard Barry sigh, "No, I-I shut down the generator. I can save the hostages, but Devoe still gets away, and then, you know."

"Actually, I meant," Cisco trails off, "Have you figured out how come you lost your damn mind?"

"Okay." Barry sighs, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just-"

"You're just trying to keep us safe. I know." Cisco says, as Harry and I stood right at the end of the hall and at the entrance of the cortex, looking at them, but they were too focused on their conversation, "It's starting real familiar coming out of your mouth."

"You're not ready to use Flash Time." Barry says, sitting up in the chair, "Not like that."

"We will be ready if you train us." Cisco states.

"It takes more than ten hours to learn Super Speed." Barry lightly raises his voice, arguing, "Okay? You guys could die in there."

"And if you don't take us, we'll die anyway." Cisco fought back, "Our brains get wiped, and that's it. That's the end of our world."

"No! Losing both of my best friends and it being my fault- that's the end of my world." Barry admits, raising his voice to a yell, "You may think it's worth the risk, but I couldn't live with myself."