The Flash—scared by a gun.
Jack Kadere couldn't even watch. The King of Ls lived up to his title; even when no one was around to humiliate him, Barry Allen would find a way to stick his chin out anyway. Where was the Barry Allen who'd swaggered up to him and asked whether he preferred a gun or a knife? Had all that confidence been beaten out of him too?
Jack shook his head. Red lightning crackled across his body, and he flashed away.
As for Weather Wizard and Barry Allen? He'd dug the pit. He wasn't about to bury it. His purpose here was already served.
Not long after Jack left, the gunshot rang out—but it was Clyde Mardon who hit the ground.
The police were never going to ignore a storm tearing through the city from nowhere. Joe West was the first on scene after the call came in. He saw how Clyde Mardon conjured the storm. He saw The Flash. He saw Barry Allen.
Joe froze. His brain locked up completely.
It wasn't until Clyde Mardon pulled a gun that instinct kicked in. Joe drew and fired before a single thought caught up to his hands. Clyde Mardon dropped, and the storm died with him.
By the time other officers arrived, Joe wanted to say something—anything—to Barry, but Barry was already gone.
One bullet. One dead metahuman. One impossible storm snuffed out.
Clyde Mardon's problem was solved. Barry Allen's was just beginning.
---
S.T.A.R. Labs smelled like recycled air and burnt wiring, the overhead fluorescents casting everything in a pale, clinical wash. Cisco Ramon leaned against a desk. Harrison Wells sat still in his wheelchair, fingers laced over one knee. Barry Allen stood with his arms crossed. All three of them stared at Caitlin Snow.
Caitlin shifted her weight. "Fine. I'll tell you. It was Jack Kadere who warned me that Clyde Mardon was going to attack the lab."
She hadn't mentioned seeing Jack the night before. That morning, things had moved too fast—Barry had barely arrived before rushing out to confront Mardon.
"Weather Wizard." Cisco pointed a finger at nobody in particular. "That's what I'm calling him. Just came up with it." He let the beat land, got nothing from the room, and pressed on. "How would Electro-Man know Weather Wizard was going to hit us?"
"He said he was the one who forced Mardon to do it," Caitlin said. Her voice was careful.
Barry's brow furrowed. "Who is this guy? Jack Kadere—Electro-Man—whatever you want to call him?"
Cisco straightened up. "He kidnapped Caitlin once. Made me build a sonic device for him. Then he vanished." He gestured loosely. "After that, some woman named Huntress showed up in Starling City looking for him—grabbed Caitlin to find out where he was. Black Canary rescued her." A grin crept onto his face. "Using the sonic device I built, by the way."
Nobody reacted. Cisco cleared his throat and moved on.
"Point is, we call him Electro-Man because he's got powers. He can generate electrical currents."
Barry looked at Caitlin, surprise and confusion tangled across his face. "He had powers before the particle accelerator exploded? Then why would he force Mardon to come after us?"
"I—I don't know." Caitlin shook her head. She had her guesses, most of them tied to what Jack had told her the night before, but she kept them behind her teeth.
Cisco spread his hands. "So Electro-Man is coming for us."
"For Barry." Harrison Wells pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "If he wanted to destroy the lab, he wouldn't have warned Caitlin ahead of time. His target is Barry."
"Me?" Barry's voice climbed. "Why? I've never even seen him."
"You have," Caitlin said quietly.
Barry went still.
"He's the one you saw—the person with the red Speed Force. But he's not the one who murdered your mother."
Wells felt a cold ripple thread down his spine. Speed Force. He hadn't used that term around Caitlin or the others. Not once. Which meant Jack Kadere had—and if Kadere possessed a Speed Force of his own, the implications were far worse than an unknown metahuman with a grudge.
An unknown speedster who knows too much. This is the last complication I need right now.
Barry didn't catch the phrase. His focus had narrowed to a single point.
"It's him." He stepped closer to Caitlin, eyes bright, almost desperate. "How do you know? Have you seen him?"
"Last night," Caitlin admitted. "I saw him last night."
Jack hadn't hidden the fact that he had the Speed Force, and he'd freely mentioned meeting Barry. Saying it out loud now might at least stop Barry from chasing the wrong ghost—from confusing Jack Kadere with the man in yellow who'd killed Nora Allen.
"I want to see him," Barry said. His voice had dropped low, firm.
Caitlin sighed. "His phone's off. If I can reach him, I'll let you know. Is that enough?"
Barry nodded once.
Wells rolled his chair forward an inch—a small, deliberate motion that pulled the room's attention. "Whether or not he killed Barry's mother isn't the immediate concern. He possesses the Speed Force, same as Barry. His intentions toward Barry are unclear. Until we know more, all of you need to be careful. No one knows what he might do."
The words were measured, calm, paternal. Inside, Wells was anything but.
My only priority is Barry. Getting him faster. Jack Kadere is a variable I can't control—and I don't have the speed to kill him. Not in this body. Not yet. But I don't need to kill him. I just need him distracted. Busy. Looking somewhere else.
He thought about the Huntress, still hunting Kadere's trail. He thought about Black Canary in Starling City.
A nudge in the right direction. A tip. Something small enough to keep Kadere occupied and far enough from Central City that he stops watching Barry.
It was possible. It was manageable. For now, that would have to be enough.
---
Jack Kadere's villa smelled like sandalwood candles and cold marble, afternoon light cutting through tall windows in warm slabs. He leaned back in a leather armchair, legs crossed, watching Lilah and Valentina stand side by side in front of him like two soldiers requesting leave.
He chuckled. "If I'm understanding you correctly, you two want to leave me and go for a stroll?"
Lilah's hands clasped together. "We would never want to leave you, Master. We want to find a quiet place to train our abilities—and to learn more about this world. This era. The only way we can stay useful to you is by growing. By changing."
"If you need us," she added quickly, "we'll be back immediately."
"I want to go back to the Soviet Union," Valentina said. Her voice carried a weight that her expression didn't. "Even though... it's been dissolved."
Jack waved a hand. "Relax. Go if you want to go. Staring at the same two faces every day gets old eventually. And I'd rather not explain every piece of modern history every time we walk past a building, so use the time. Catch up."
"I've already asked Laurie to look after you while we're away," Lilah said.
"Fine, fine. Get out of here." Jack shooed them toward the door.
They left. The villa settled into quiet—just the tick of a clock somewhere in the hall and the faint hum of the city beyond the walls.
Jack uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. Laurie. She was already in the house, somewhere upstairs, moving through rooms with that quiet, obedient efficiency.
He turned the idea over in his mind—whether he could push a Speed Force into her. Whether she could hold it. Whether what he'd built inside himself could be shared, replicated, planted like a seed in someone else's body and made to grow.
Jack stood and walked toward the stairs, footsteps echoing off the marble floor.