Taking pain away

Barry Allen's adoptive father and part-time detective in the Central City Police Department, Joseph West, his daughter Iris, her fiance, and Joe's partner, Edward Thawne, arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs, since Barry called Joe, Thawne asked for him, and Joe's daughter "she just didn't call me right on time, so I had to pick her up," as Eddie put it. While they were standing in the laboratory discussing Snarts, not very quietly, though, although there was a Golden Glider next to them, about twenty minutes had passed since Barry ran off to look for Leonard's soulmate. "I have to leave, urgently," Mrs. Raymond burst into the room. She frantically began stuffing the necessary things into her bag, and then hurried to the exit. "And you will leave him in this state?" Lisa asked Caitlin, looking towards the room where her brother was lying. "I'm not leaving him, I need to consult with Ronnie and I don't want him to go or fly here through the whole city," the girl quickly explained. "And why with him?" The younger Snart asked curiously and turned her gaze to Killer Frost. "We had a similar situation," Snow calmly shrugged her shoulders, taking her outerwear from the hanger. While Lisa and everyone else stared after her, puzzled, Mrs. Raymond left.

***

"Cait!" The girl turned to the voice and involuntarily smiled, noticing at the end of the alley the rapidly approaching silhouette of her husband. He approached her, kissed her gently on the lips, and then asked: "What happened?" "We need to find soulmate Snart, but this is too problematic due to the fact that he is... uh... lying and delirious," waving her arms, rammed Snow-Raymond. "Hush, honey, hush," trying to calm his wife, Ronald spoke in a low voice, noticing how people were squinting at them, "let's go to a cafe now and discuss everything calmly there, and then, if you want, we'll go to S.T.A.R. Labs together," suggested a man. The girl thought only for a couple of seconds, and then nodded vigorously.

***

"So," massaging his temples with his fingers, Ronnie exhaled wearily when his beloved explained the situation to him, "Barry didn't find him?" the guy and the girl had already run out of coffee, so they could calmly talk about what Killer Frost wanted to discuss. "No," Caitlin shook her head, "and how, because Snart himself is needed for this." "Good," the man muttered thoughtfully, and, glancing sideways at the surprised Cait, corrected himself, "or rather, bad, bad." They were just silent for about five minutes, thinking, and then the man got up from his seat. "Then why are we still sitting? Let's go, Cait," he smiled and held out his hand to his wife. She, leaning on her, got up from the chair in which she was sitting and, having paid, the couple headed for the exit of the cafe.

***

"...but you shouldn't be there right now!" Cisco's loud voice could be heard even in the hallway. "And where?" Mrs. Raymond asked curiously as she entered the laboratory. "Caitlin!" Ramon jumped up on the spot in surprise, "Ronnie!" The guy exclaimed when he saw his friend. "Yes, I'm here, hello, Cisco," Firestorm grinned. "I called Professor Stein," the black-haired man addressed his colleagues. "Who has already arrived," Martin's voice came from the door. He entered the laboratory with Clarissa and looked at everyone gathered with a curious look. "Is Caitlin and Ronnie there?" Barry's voice suddenly sounded from the speaker. "Yes!" Cisco and Caitlin shouted in unison. "And Professor Stein with his wife," looking at the married couple, Ronald said into the microphone. "Wonderful", the hero in the red suit sighed, calculating how many people were in S.T.A.R. Labs right now, "so where should I run?" "It seems that their headquarters is located at eleven Main Street, floor nine, apartment one hundred and fifteen, it is registered to Brian Wood. "Got it", Flash replied and sped up. Cisco turned to his friends. "I found the gang that Parker Fox was in, and it seems they are all meta-human there," he explained. "Show me," Caitlin sat down next to her friend. "Here," Ramon brought up a dossier on each of the criminals on the computer screen, "Fox's accomplices are named Brian Wood, Jeb Gold, David Green and Michael King. It seems they were all in the same place when the particle accelerator exploded." "So you think they might have the same powers?" after a moment's hesitation, Bartholomew clarified. "It's unlikely, but still be careful, please," Snow asked him. "I will," Flash answered briefly and disconnected. "So, why didn't Barry ask about how many criminals there were before he ran to save the city from them?" raising an eyebrow and looking at Ramon, Cait folded her arms on her chest. "Barry ran away so fast that..." Cisco waved his hand vaguely, "in general, I didn't have time to tell him…" "Well, yes, he's a hero, this is his job", Lisa, who was sitting on a chair next to the entrance to the room, smiled mirthlessly. Caitlin turned to her. "He sincerely wants to help everyone, Lisa, it does not depend on whether he is a hero or not," Snow—Raymond explained with a heavy sigh, slightly shaking her head from side to side.

***

Four criminals were in an apartment that previously belonged to Brian Wood's mother, and now was registered to Brian himself, and were making plans to rescue their friend Parker from a Central City police station cell created specifically for meta-people, since they said on the news that he was there. Although Michael doubted the veracity of the journalist's words, Brian, who was in charge of their company, decided to take a chance and make sure of it clearly. What if Fox is really there, and they just don't dare to get him out? "And if he's not there after all? What if this is a media "duck" in order to lure us out?" King said excitedly, "what if we get carried away, but in fact he is not there and never was?" The faces of his friends instantly darkened. Although they thought about such an outcome, they still hoped that they would be able to find Parker alive and at least relatively unharmed, and then pay off the tormentors of a comrade for the pain that he is probably being inflicted now. Michael's assumption gave them reason to doubt that the plan would be executed. "Then we need to prepare well, and we can go straight to the police station to find out where Parker is now, anyway, the police should have at least some notes about this case, and judging by the news, the policeman who detained him works there," grinned Wood, getting up from his chair, "we're meta, which means we can fight back against the night guards," he finished stretching his whole body. "But what about Flash?" Jeb asked him in bewilderment, "we didn't hide so much just to get caught like that. "Flash is the same human as us," the head of the group drawled mockingly," he also has his weaknesses, you just need to find out which ones and that's it. So are you with me?" The answer to him was a discordant chorus of voices that dragged only one word: "Yes!!!"

***

Somehow, imperceptibly, night fell on the city, covering everything around with its pitch darkness. The lanterns that illuminated the area went out, and most people had been in their cozy homes and apartments for a long time and were going about their business. Of course, not all residents of the city were not on the street at that time, some were standing in traffic on the road, someone was just coming from friends, and someone, on the contrary, was heading to work. Four friends purposefully moved to the Central City Police Department to finally find out where their partner was staying now. "Does everyone remember the plan?" Brian finally clarified, loading his gun. "Of course," David snorted, looking around at the others, "we're not morons." The men nodded and also reloaded the weapons they had, not only the leader had a gun, all the gang members took them, because, although they were meta-people, they preferred to use their forces only at the most dangerous or decisive moment. "Then let's get to work," Wood nodded his head.

§§§

"They are not here, Cisco!" Barry exclaimed in despair, looking around the apartment, "where else can they be?" Suddenly, a red dot lit up on the map of the city, which meant that an alarm had gone off somewhere. "I think they are in the police department building," Ramon replied to his friend, looking at the screen, "it seems that we have been figuring out their location for too long." "I'm already running," Flash replied.

§§§

"We just need to find these damn notes," Brian muttered to himself, and then turned to David, since only he could help from their company, because he was a great hacker, "can you hack his computer?" "I think so," he nodded and headed to the table. "Not so fast," Barry said, appearing behind the criminals. "Flash..." grinned Wood. Three people immediately broke away from the search and prepared to attack the Lightning to give their partner time to hack the police officer's computer. "Did you decide that you could stop us?" The gang leader grinned. Allen didn't understand what he meant at first, but he instantly realized as soon as he threw a cooler of water in his direction, in which for some reason it wasn't there. Then Barry realized that Jeb Gold controlled the water because it obeyed the wave of his hand and he could probably use it as much as he wanted, David Green, who was dealing with Joe's computer at that moment, did not feel pain, Brian Wood could make a person sleep with a touch, and Michael King turned out to be a telekinetic: he was with easily moved objects with the power of thought. Flash focused on finding the weaknesses of his opponents. After a few minutes, it turned out that Jeb would not be able to use water if it evaporated, because he could not turn steam back into water, David did not feel his pain, but he felt the pain of his friends, which became clear due to the fact that King accidentally touched Wood with a heavy statuette that was on the shelf, Brian needed there was tactile contact with his potential victim, and Michael's ability affected only objects, but not living beings. Barry used their weaknesses against them. First of all, he neutralized Michael by making sure that there were no objects that could be moved in the man's field of view and he had to go to another office or at least go out into the corridor, somehow bypassing the Flash, then he caused Brian harm, not very big, true, but sufficient for in order to make David bend over in pain and lose his bearings for a while, so the criminal could not finish hacking the computer, and at the same time began to fight with Wood, who could not put him to sleep, since the hero of the city was in a suit, right, the criminal tried to grab him by the face, but Flash deftly dodged unwanted touches, and eventually managed to twist his hands behind his back, and only then began to Jeb, shutting off all the water in this and the nearest offices for a few minutes, as well as taking out all the coolers. After defeating the enemies, the guy in scarlet transported the criminals to S.T.A.R. Labs, put them straight into the particle accelerator, or rather, into the cells for meta-people and, without looking at his team and those people who were with her now, ran back to the station to bring everything in order there the order, for example, to return the coolers to their rightful place and open the water, and then ran out into the street.

***

"Everything went well, so I'm starting to search again," Flash said with satisfaction in his voice. His friends simultaneously exhaled with relief. "Did you connect a medical device to this computer?" Cait suddenly asked Cisco. "Yes," he drawled and displayed the data of Snart's health status on the screen. Frost nodded and almost calmed down, but a feeling of some vague anxiety settled in her soul. Suddenly, some wheezing was heard from the room where Leonard was lying. Caitlin exchanged glances with Ramon and they, without a word, jumped up and rushed to Captain Cold. The girl quickly checked his indicators, his heartbeat and pulse increased, as it seemed to the man that he did not have enough air. Or maybe it seemed to him that someone was deliberately blocking the access of oxygen to his lungs? "Did your father ever strangle him?" Caitlin asked quickly. Lisa thought for only a couple of seconds, and then quickly and convulsively nodded, almost not breathing. "This is bad," Snow muttered, "this is very, very bad…" "He will survive, right?" The younger Snart's lips trembled. "Yes, if Barry finds his soulmate," Raymond nodded, frowning. The criminal's face turned white. "And if not?.." she asked in a barely audible voice, "if he suddenly doesn't turn up, then what will happen to Lenny?" The girl looked at her brother with fear. "If not..." Cait took a deep breath and looked at Lisa with a sympathetic look, "if Barry fails to find his soul mate, then I'm afraid Leonard is in danger of an early death from lack of air…"