1 week ago

"Zoom is obsessed with destroying me." Barry said as everyone scoffed and nodded.

"He's sent more guys here to kill you in the past few weeks than the metas we've defeated in a year." I said as Cisco raised a hand, which held a slushee and sipped on it.

"I'll drink to that." He said as I chuckled, rolling my eyes as I turned to Jay, trying to hold back my inner thoughts of running away.

I don't know why, but everything in my body told me to not trust him. He's proven himself to be our friend, but we knew someone that was just like that, and now he was dead.

Whose to say Jay isn't the exact same?

"Cora? You good?" I heard Jay say, snapping me out of my thoughts as I looked around, clearing my throat as I nodded.

"Yeah sorry uh.. didn't sleep much last night." I said. It was a full lie, Barry and I had some fun last night and I ended up getting pretty beat up in more ways than one.

With that, I heard Barry let out a small snicker, Cisco looking between us before the face of realization hit him and he giggled like a fan girl.

"Cisco I swear if you start talking about the Carry ship again I'll shoot you with the vacuum." I threatened as he frowned at me.

"The vacuum isn't a weapon." Cisco said as I raised a brow, crossing my arms.

"Wanna bet?" I said as Cisco's eyes widened, shaking his head.

"No more Carry. Got it. Continue all." Cisco said as he sipped his cherry slushy.

Present Day

Barry

Everyone secretly thinks they've figured out what their life is gonna be like, but what no one ever considers is that life has its own plans for you, whether you like them or not.

And so you're left with a choice, You can either embrace the change and move forward, or fight it, and be left behind.

Sometimes I think about what I did that led me here, to this very moment. What made me get the girl, despite Oliver saying I wouldn't.

Maybe he was wrong.

Cora

"Caitlin! Stein is dropping out we're losing him!" I yelled as Caitlin came rushing in, Cisco by her side as I tried to hold Stein down.

Suddenly, I felt something shock me. Hard. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was but it went through both of my hands, sending me back a little, but I didn't fall.

But holy shit it hurt.

"Gah!" I yelled as I held my hands, eyes glued shut as I felt arms on me.

"Cora?! Are you okay?" Cisco asked as I shook my head, allowing him to lead me away as Caitlin tried her best to put Martin at ease.

"What happened?" He asked as I sat down, shrugging as I rubbed my palm with my thumb.

"I-I don't know. Stein started to go down, and I was holding him down so he wouldn't seize off the bed, and then I was... shocked. Like really hard. I-I think I'm fine I don't know my hands are just stinging now." I said as Cisco raised a brow as Caitlin came out.

"He's getting worse." Caitlin said with a broken hearted look. I hated seeing her like this. Stein was practically all that was left of Ronnie, and something that we couldn't explain was happening to him.

What if he was dying?

"Look, Cisco and I did what we could to re-engineer Doctor Wells's original stabilizer to quell the reaction, but I don't know what he used as a power source." I said as Cisco nodded.

"Best I could find was the one from Wells wheelchair." Cisco finished.

"And how long will it last?" Caitlin asked as I shrugged.

"Well, that's the problem, is we had already used up most of its energy trying to dampen the metas' powers during our little rogue air trip with Weather Wizard and company." I said as Caitlin pressed her lips together.

"Few days tops." Cisco said as I looked down.

"And he's stuck in bed?" Caitlin asked as me and Cisco looked at each other together before nodding.

"Yeah, when he wakes up, I'm gonna transfer the stabilizer to this, give him a power cane, get him moving." Cisco said as I held back a snicker.

"We have to figure out a way to save him." Caitlin said. There was no way she was going to let Ronnie's other half die.

I snapped my fingers, starting to walk to the monitors. "When the Particle Accelerator exploded, the dark matter that collided with Professor Stein fused with the Firestorm matrix and altered the normal molecular processes that occurs within his body." I said as they both stopped, eyes widening.

"What? I've been doing my research!" I said as I typed into the computer.

"Those highly reactive molecules needed something to bond with in order to stabilize.

"That's where Ronnie came in." Caitlin said as we went silent for a moment.

"Yeah.. Yes, and now that Ronnie is no longer a part of Professor Stein-- Those molecules no longer have anything to bond to."

"The longer Stein goes without merging-"

"The more unstable he becomes." Cisco and I said together.

"So, what do we do?" Cisco asked as Caitlin and I shrugged.

"We find another participant." Caitlin suggested.

"Alright cool so how do we do that?" Cisco asked as I shrugged.

"I don't know. Did you make a meta-human tinder app?" I asked before continuing. "Cause I'm pretty sure merging with Stein and randomly bursting into flames sounds like the biggest "swipe left" of all time. Unless there's someone out there that finds that incredibly hot. No pun intended." I said as Cisco frowned at me, Barry walking in.

"We're you reading my mind?" Cisco asked as my eyes widened, shaking my head. I had forgotten I could do that when I had my meta powers.

"Well, even if we did find anyone willing, Stein can't just merge with anyone he wants." Caitlin said as I nodded before typing into the computer again.

"What are we all talking about?" Barry asked as I quickly informed him on Stein's decreasing health.

"No he can't, but I have done some research, and found two potential candidates that might be compatible with him." I continued to Caitlin as two photos popped up on the screen.

"They both were affected by the dark matter, and they were both admitted to the hospital showing symptoms of gene rearrangement mutation." Cisco said as I smiled, nodding.

"And both share the same blood type as Professor Stein." I said with a grin, giving myself an internal pat on the back for finding two participants.

"This is more than an organ donation. We'll need more than tissue typing to see if their bodies are compatible." Caitlin said as I frowned, Barry Looking at the screens before he made his idea face.

In an instant, Barry was gone, coming back 3 seconds later with two small blood samples. "Alright, I got two blood samples from our potential candidates." He said with a smile as I frowned.

"You skipped asking them for their blood, didn't you?" I asked as Barry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before looking down.

"Yeah." He answered as I chuckled, Cisco taking the bottles.

As I went to start typing back into the computer, Barry lifted me off the chair, taking me out of the Cortex and into the Time Vault, an unnerved feeling in my stomach.

"Barry what are we doing in here?" I asked, my voice shaking. The last time I was here, we found out Wells was the Reverse Flash. Something else had happened in here, but I don't remember because it was in a different timeline.

"Um. I don't know, really. I guess I just wanted to talk with you." Barry said as I raised a brow.

"Did you do something? I feel like you did something. Or did I do something?" I asked, starting to question everything I did wrong in the last 25 years of my life. There was the one time I ran over a bird, then hit a deer with my bike, kicked my little sister out of our treehouse, chased her around with a knife for not giving me my Ken doll back.

"No! No. I haven't done anything, you haven't done anything... have you?" Barry asked as I shook my head. There was something that I needed to get off my chest though.

"Actually um... there is.. one thing." I said as Barry looked at me skeptically.

"Um..." I cleared my throat for a second before crossing my arms. "Y-You know when Zoom took over my mind a while back and I went missing for a few days?" I asked as Barry frowned, nodding.

"Well... I-I don't necessarily know how, but um... Sand Demon took my powers." I said quickly as Barry's eyes widened.

"Cora.. that was almost a month ago. Y-You've been lying to us about your powers for a month?"

"It's not lying! It's just... not telling the truth of something that isn't important!" I said as Barry frowned.

"We need to tell Caitlin and Cisco-"

"No! We already have so much on our plate. My powers are gone. I sw- I swea- holy shit is it hot in here?" I asked as I felt sweat start to head down my forehead, grabbing the front of my shirt and started to fan myself as Barry started to look at me with concern.

"No? Cora are you- ow!" Barry barely touched my hand before yanking it back. "Cora you're burning!" He said as I scoffed.

"What? I-I don't feel sick. Just really-really hot." I let out a breath before stumbling to the wall, jumping back when one of the brail looking pieces melted at my touch. "WOAH!" I yelped as Barry's eyes widened.

"Okay um. Yeah let's tell this to the group." I said as Barry nodded, both of us running, but with me stumbling to the Cortex.

"Help." Was all we said as Caitlin and Cisco took one look at me, my hair sticking to my sweating face as the gestures for me to sit down, but I quickly shook my head.

"I'll melt it." I said as Cisco laughed. I frowned at him, grabbing a piece of the metal from the chair, watching as it sizzled and melted in my grasp.

"Holy-!" Cisco jumped back as Caitlin quickly took my temperature.

"How are you still alive?! Your temp is 138°! You're brain should be melting!" She said as I felt myself become light headed.

"S-Stein. The shock- Barry. I don't feel so good. *sobs quietly*"

"You did not just make an Infinity War reference. I swear if you turn to dust-" Cisco started, but I didn't hear the rest, as everything went dark as I passed out.

☀︎︎

I coughed loudly as I woke up, blinking as I looked around to see I was in the bed Stein had previously occupied.

"Oh good! You're awake. Perfect timing too, Hewitt is creating a disturbance at Jax's old high school." Cisco said as I groaned, rubbing my temple.

"What? Who? And where?" I asked as I slowly sat up, suddenly feeling energized but tired at the same time.

"The two participants. Henry Hewitt's powers were activated, and now he's wreaking havoc at Jefferson Jackson's old school." Cisco reiterated as I stood up, stumble at first before walking again.

"Right. What am I supposed to do?" I asked as Cisco shrugged.

"Well right now Barry just left, Jax and Stein as well. Should be there by now. Oh and um... Hewitt has a criminal record." Caitlin informed as my eyes widened.

"Well guess I will be digging deeper for possible participants next time." I said before slowly sitting down in my chair, hesitating to touch anything before realizing I wasn't burning my favorite chair to a white crisp.

Tapping the microphone, I leaned forward. "Barry? It's Cora." I said as I heard a scoffed laugh.

"Good to know you are awake." Barry said as I bit my tongue, smiling.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't be to surprised. It's hard to get rid of me, Allen." I joked as Caitlin and Cisco laughed quietly.

I guess it was true, I had died and then was brought back, went missing for a few days. Life was just a box of chocolates, except they weren't sweet.

They were spicy, and the ones with the orange filling.

"I'm cutting the power from the High School." I said and quickly typed into the keyboard. "Suck on that energy, Hewitt!" I said as Cisco and Caitlin raised a brow at me.

"Guys it's not working! It's like the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets." Barry said as Caitlin gasped.

"Oh! It's like one of those, uh, controlled fusion devices. Um..." Caitlin trailed off, trying to think.

"Tokamaks?" Cisco and I said in unison as Caitlin snapped her fingers.

"Yes, exactly, and the more powerful they become, the more unstable they become." She said as I smiled.

"Barry! Make him angry! Like... really fucking angry." I said as Barry laughed.

"You got it!" Barry said as I smiled.

☀︎︎

"Y'know. Tokamaks is a good name for this anger infused scientist." I said as I looked down at an unconscious Henry Hewitt in the pipeline.

"Damn right it is." Cisco said as I nodded, Barry rubbing my shoulders, a hum escaping my closed lips.

"You think Stein will visit when it isn't when he has to save the world?" I asked as Cisco and Caitlin shrugged.

"Even if he doesn't, we will still welcome them." Caitlin said as I nodded.

Barry

Things aren't always what they seem. Our fears can play tricks on us, making us afraid to change course, afraid to move on, but usually, hidden behind our fears are second chances waiting to be seized.

Second chances at life, at glory, at friends, at family.

At love.

And these opportunities don't come around every day, so when they do, we have to be brave, take a chance, and grab them while we can.

"Holy shit!" I heard Cora yell, stopping in the park to see her and Patty Spivot standing at the stairs, staring up at what Patty had been searching for.

A man-shark.

"Put your hands- fins in the air!" Patty yelled as she aimed her gun at the Man-Shark.

Cora

Was this really happening? Holy shit where did Patty go?

I looked around to see no one but Barry in his flash suit fighting the Man-Shark, feeling my hands heat up as they glowed, expect this time it was energy, it was fire.

Aiming my hands at the man-sharks head, I shot two balls of fire into his eyes, managing to get him to let go of Barry before the Man-Shark ran away from something else.

Running up to Barry, I saw him standing behind a man.

"Who the hell are you?!" Barry yelled as the man stopped. Slowly, I came next to Barry, my hands no longer on fire.

The man turned around, and every fear I ever had suddenly disappeared, because my biggest fear just came back to bite me in the ass.

Harrison Wells.