136

"Well, what do you think?" Barry asks Iris, Iris seated at her desk, her attention glued to her laptop screen.

"Looks great." Iris mutters, not paying much attention.

"And what about this table?" I place the small coffee table down, "Good?"

"Uh huh-" Iris mutters again, his eyes not moving from her screen.

I shrug, sitting on the couch, Barry's palms presses against the arm of it.

"I mean, I can move the couch against the wall, if that'll help." Barry suggests and uses his speed to move the couch.

"Oh- geez-" I held onto the cushion, the movement being way too fast for me to process.

"Sorry, babe-" Barry leans over, pecking my lips before looking at Iris, noticing how she didn't take notice of him moving the couch, "Iris, it's just- couch in the corner or against the wall is pretty much the extent of my interior design knowledge."

"I'm sorry, guys-" Iris sighs, looking up at us, "It's- it's just, it's been a week since I launched the Central City Citizen, and I am still struggling to gain readers, and I think I just figured out why."

Iris turns her laptop to face us, Barry and I heading over, looking at the screen, Barry beginning to read, ""

I continued, ""

"." Barry finishes, sighing, "Iris, come on. You can't listen to this."

I side with Barry, "Barry's right. You're a real journalist- you don't want to write like Spencer Young. She didn't care about the facts."

"Yeah, but at least she wrote about things that people cared about, like I did when I was writing about Devoe." Iris reasons, sighing.

Barry pieces it together out loud as I did in my mind, "You wanna write about Cicada."

Iris goes silent, looking between the two of us.

I look at Barry, the look on his face showing that he was going to easily give in to our best friend as I was.

I look at Iris, "Stay safe, okay?"

"Yes-" Iris jumps out of her seat, placing her laptop into her bag.

"Call us if you need us." Barry points at her.

"Yes, of course-" Iris grabs her necessities, "I've got a lot of digging to do, and I think I have a hunch where to start."

I call out behind her after she said her goodbyes, rushing out, ""We'll be at a Star Labs-"

-

"So- you really think this might be it?" Ralph questions, as we surrounded the box that sat in the center, white fog falling out of it due to the temperature of it, Caitlin holding up what was the cure, black gloves on her hands.

"Cisco sent me this sample to corroborate his findings, and it all checks out." Caitlin nods, placing it back in, "I'm sending it back to him for final processing, but I think we may have found a way- to suppress the meta genome."

"Great." Barry crosses his arms, "Then we can use it to de-power Cicada, stop him for good."

I spoke up, "So what's the plan? Put this thing in a tranq gun and go all "American Sniper" on him?"

"It's not that simple." Caitlin points at me.

"As much as I wish it was-" I exhale deeply, "Hit me."

Caitlin walks over to her laptop, typing away as Barry, Ralph and I followed her, "So, Cisco's breakthrough came from analyzing identical twins who were hit by the particle accelerator dark matter, cases where one developed powers and the other didn't. The key difference in both cases-"

"The pituitary gland?" Barry reads off the screen.

"Exactly." Caitlin nods, explaining, "In some cases, the pituitary gland metabolizes dark matter, thus manifesting in meta powers."

"So- to turn a meta-human into a human-human," Ralph trailed off.

"We neutralize the dark matter in the pituitary gland. Except there's one problem." Caitlin presses something on the keyboard, "The cure isn't instant. We would have to immobilize Cicada for long enough for the cure to take effect."

"How long will that take?" I ask.

"Best guess, a minute." Caitlin told us.

Ralph scoffs, "It's gonna be damn near impossible to hold him still for one second, much less 60."

"Okay, but we're so close." Barry exhales deeply, "I mean, there's- there's gotta be something we can do."

"We have to think outside the box." I cross my arms.

Barry nods, "Even if we have to think outside of the box."

"I do have one more idea." Caitlin pulls something up, "Van Horn Industries created a peaceful anti-riot device called a Neuro-Stasis Field Generator. It's basically a bio-EMP that can immobilize any living organism within a confined radius." Caitlin pulls up an article, "Of course, the few devices they had built were stolen. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for them."

"I do." Ralph spoke up, our heads snapping towards him in surprise, "Can you at least try not to look so surprised? Look, if we need this, uh, Neo-Matrix whatever it is, if it's stolen tech, I think I know where to look."

-

"Earl Cox-" I said his name, running a hand through my hair, placing them both the pockets of my leather jacket, "Ralph says you've got some information that could help us."

"Well, turns out, that device you're looking for has been circulating in the underground black market." Earl exclaims.

"Sounds like Amunet Black's territory." Ralph looks at us.

"Eh, Amunet's still MIA." Earl shrugs, "But, believe it or not, her ex-boyfriend is filling the void. You ever heard of Goldface?"

"Yeah, he's stolen more weaponized tech than any criminal in the city." Barry mentions, "CCPD's been looking for his black market for years."

"Oh, aye, and they'll keep on coming up empty." Earl inhales, "You pay at the market, and then poof, your goods turn up a day later in an abandoned warehouse."

"So- by the time we get what we want-" I trail off.

"Goldface will be long gone." Earl makes a sound effect to aid his gesture.

"Well, listen, uh, thanks, Earl." Ralph clears his throat, "And, you know, try to eat some fruit or something."

"Oh, will do." Earl walks past us and stops right between, looking at Ralph and Barry, "Right, then, gents."

His eyes switch to me, "You too, pretty lady. See you around. Hopefully."

Barry grabs my forearm, pulling me into his side, looking at Earl with a look I couldn't decipher, " wife."

"Very well." Earl walks over to the door, "Just tell them Big Raf sent you."

"Thanks for the tip, Earl." Ralph calls out, closing the door behind him.