run_barry | History

After some recovery time in Milliways and the night off, Barry heads back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Cisco is working at his computer, going over schematics of the Particle Accelerator pipeline when Barry comes across him.

"Hey, yo, Cisco, you got a sec?" Barry asks, leaning against the desk at Cisco's workstation.

"Sure, man, what's up?" Cisco replies, eyes on his monitor as he scrolls through schematics.

"So, I was thinking about this new meta-- "

"The Mist."

"Yeaaah, about that," Barry says, arching his shoulders in a waffling shrug. "Don't you think that name's kinda… Stephen King-ish?"

"Well yeah," Cisco replies, scoffing at the obvious. "The inherent creep factor is why it's so great. Scary by association."

"Yeah, no, I know. But uh, don't you think it's a little misleading, too?" Barry points out. "I mean, he doesn't actually turn into a mist. I was thinking that like, 'Turns-Into-Gas-Guy' would be way more appropriately descriptive."

Cisco's hands come away from the keyboard and mouse and he swivels his chair to face Barry in order to properly give him a full-on incredulous look.

"Dude. Uh-uh, no. It's just been decided, you," Cisco points at Barry, then wags the finger in a 'no gesture', "do not get to name the bad guys. Captain Literal."

Cisco turns back to his monitors and Barry rolls his eyes. Hey, he tried.

"Fine. What I really wanted to ask you about was the suit. You know how like, originally, it came with a ventilator?"

"You mean the ventilator that you lost in the first five minutes of you wearing my suit?" Cisco asks, giving Barry a pointed look.

"Dude, Giant. Tornado," Barry says, returning that look.

Cisco's reply comes in a reasonable tone with a shrug. "And that's a totally valid excuse. It doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you for losing my tech."

Barry pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment then holds up the hand, palm out and placating. "Okay, fine. The point is, with this new metahuman-- "

"The Mist."

"With 'The Mist', I wanted to-- "

"See if I had a backup or a replacement," Cisco puts in, anticipating the question.

Barry brightens and nods. "Yes, that exactly."

"I do not," Cisco replies cheerfully. A beat, and mock-understanding dawns on his face, "Ohhh, hey, I bet that would be super helpful right now up against The Mist, wouldn't it? Too bad somebody lost it… "

Barry sighs and rolls his eyes, shaking his head and giving up. "Whatever. Do you know where Caitlin's at?"

"I think she's in her lab," Cisco answers, getting back to his work. "And hey, once I'm done with the containment block on our new metahuman prison I'll work up a new mask if you want me to."

Barry nods and heads for the door. "Great, thanks."

"Just so long as you promise not to lose it!" Cisco calls after him, grinning at the wave-off over his shoulder Barry throws at him.

*****

Barry finds Caitlin alone, looking lost in thought, or more likely memory. Her distant and sad expression makes him frown and he approaches her with an apology.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that," he says, sitting down next to her. As cavalier as he'd been about it before, racing off to face the new meta, nearly dying on Caitlin's watch, he knows the situations were more serious than he played them.

Caitlin dismisses the apology with a small shake of her head. "It's okay, I get it. You had to go. It's just, that's the last thing Ronnie said to me that night."

The quiet hitch in her voice hurts to hear; loss is something Barry knows.

"My mother died fourteen years ago," he says, turning his head to stare off into the middle distance in front of them. "I used to think that the further away I got from it the less it would hurt, but some days, the pain, it's worse than the day that it happened."

It's an invisible open wound that never completely heals over.

He turns back to Caitlin, empathy in his expression as he imparts the words Joe shared with him before, "Some things, you can't fight."

Caitlin accepts that, and when she admits her fear of going down into the pipeline where Ronnie gave his life to save others, Barry offers to go with her; helping her put the lingering fears to bed.

*****

Later, back in the Cortex, the gas sample taken from Barry's lungs finally leads to a break in the case, and a reveal of the identity to their metahuman killer.

Kyle Nimbus, a man supposedly executed the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion.

Instead of dying that night Nimbus was gifted with the ability to turn into the same poison gas that was used to try and kill him; Hydrogen Cyanide. An ability he's used to kill the crime family who turned on him, the judge who convicted him, and--

"He said there was one more person on his list," Barry informs the team as the pieces fall into place. "Check the arrest record, who caught him? That could be his next attack."

Caitlin looks down at her screen and pales, "Barry, the lead detective… "

By her reactions alone Barry knows.

It's Joe.

[some dialogue taken from episode 1.3]