Harrison Wells didn't believe Barry Allen had just encountered his mother's killer—because he was the killer.
But he did believe Barry might have encountered another speedster. And that was worth investigating.
Who was this person? Had the particle accelerator explosion granted them the Speed Force the same way it had Barry? Would they prove useful—or problematic?
Wells questioned Barry in meticulous detail about every second of the encounter, then pulled surveillance footage from the area. Unfortunately, whether by design or dumb luck, the relevant segment was corrupted. Dead end. For now.
With no leads to chase, Barry left S.T.A.R. Labs.
Caitlin Snow followed shortly after.
Based on Barry's description, she was increasingly certain the speedster was Jack Kadere. He'd never demonstrated super speed before, but the timing was too convenient—he'd just appeared in Central City, and suddenly so had this mystery figure? A figure who somehow knew about Barry's past?
Jack had scammed her, sure. The sonic device kidnapping, getting dragged into his chaos—none of that had been pleasant. But he didn't strike her as genuinely malicious. And Barry's mother had died over a decade ago. How old would Jack have even been?
---
Back at her apartment, Caitlin found herself glancing at the door every few minutes.
Night deepened.
Past nine o'clock now. The television glowed silently in the corner—she'd muted it hours ago. Time crawled.
Knock knock knock.
She jumped, then hurried to the door.
"You're finally here." Relief colored her voice as she looked at Jack standing in the hallway.
He smiled and held up a bottle of red wine. "Took a while to find something decent."
"You're not supposed to drink alcohol before a physical." Her tone was flat.
"Then we'll drink after." He walked past her, surveying the apartment.
The layout was unusual—one bedroom, but an oversized living room. An experimental workbench occupied one corner, surrounded by monitoring equipment. Very Caitlin.
"You live alone?" he asked.
"Didn't you say I was suited for being single?" she shot back.
Jack chuckled. When they'd first met, he'd noticed she didn't carry the weight of someone grieving a dead boyfriend. "Does S.T.A.R. Labs have someone named Ronnie Raymond?"
"How do you know so much about S.T.A.R. Labs?" Caitlin frowned, then continued anyway. "Ronnie worked there, yes. The night of the particle accelerator explosion, he went down to contain the blast—to keep it from destroying the whole facility." She paused. "He didn't come back."
"A hero," Jack said.
Caitlin nodded. "He was."
"So nothing happened between you two?"
"Our personalities didn't really mesh." She shook her head. "Why?"
"Just curious." Jack smiled. "Shall we start the checkup? Do I need to strip completely?"
"N-No. Just... keep your shorts on."
"Works for me."
Jack was genuinely curious about his own readings. He stripped down and submitted to ninety minutes of routine tests under Caitlin's increasingly flushed supervision.
"Based on the preliminary results, you're in perfect health," she finally announced. "No abnormalities whatsoever. The DNA analysis needs more time."
Jack nodded, peeling off sensors and electrodes as he walked to the sofa.
"A-Aren't you going to get dressed?" Caitlin asked.
"Don't play innocent after getting an eyeful. A physique like this doesn't come along every day." He grinned.
Her face reddened. She made a dismissive sound, then asked, "I need to know something. Do you have super speed? Barry mentioned encountering someone like you this afternoon."
"Yep."
"Really?"
"Don't believe me?"
Red lightning crackled through the room. Before Caitlin could process what was happening, Jack was back on the sofa, holding a piece of fabric.
Her shirt.
She looked down, arms snapping across her chest. "Wh—when did you—how—"
"You're still wearing underwear. Relax." Jack dangled the shirt with a smirk. "And if I actually wanted to look, you think you could stop me? You wouldn't even notice."
"I'd notice!" she snapped. "Don't you think I'd know if something hurt?"
"Hurt?" Jack's eyebrow rose.
Caitlin's face went scarlet. "Are you seriously using superpowers for this?"
"Powers are meant to be used. Otherwise what's the point?"
"How did you even get super speed?" She hesitated. "And... did you kill Barry's mother?"
"Because my lightning's red?"
"Yes." The word came out strained.
"Wasn't me."
Caitlin exhaled slowly. "Good."
Jack tossed her shirt aside and uncorked the wine. "You didn't ask if I was lying. You seem more certain I didn't kill anyone than you were about the Speed Force."
Before she could respond, the equipment beeped.
"Results are in." Caitlin turned to the monitor, frowning as data populated the screen. "That's... strange."
Jack appeared beside her in a blur. "Problem?"
"No. That's what's strange." She scrolled through the readouts. "Your physical condition and DNA are completely normal. Baseline human. But you can discharge electricity, you have super speed—under normal circumstances, there should be genetic markers. Some kind of mutation."
She looked up at him. "There's nothing. You're reading as ordinary."