"It's not permanent, is it? They wouldn't have given you your ID back if it was for good." Caitlin lightly shrugs from beside me.

We were all at Star Labs the next day, Barry Allen telling us about how he had been assigned a leave of absence due to the incident with Devoe.

I was dressed in a pair of lightly ripped jeans, a black tank top tucked into them, boots on my feet and one of Barry's button ups, leaving it unbuttoned, my hair straight as per usual. I was seated in a chair, looking at Barry, Caitlin and Iris standing by me.

"I mean, he said it was indefinite." He sighs.

"I mean, maybe this is for the best, Barry." Iris shrugs, "I mean, you need to prove that DeVoe is still alive. And you can do that now as The Flash."

"Yeah, maybe." Barry nods, "How are we doing with him, by the way?"

"We know that we still have four bus metas left to find." Caitlin began.

"And that DeVoe has absorbed the powers of Killgore, Hazard, Black Bison, Brainstorm, and Dwarfstar." I listed, continuing.

"Fallout is safe with Tracy." Caitlin adds.

"But the Weeper is M.I.A." I finish, leaning onto my elbows, them resting on the desk.

"Then DeVoe must have him." Barry shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Well, that just leaves Ralph." I look up, "Ralph is safe with us."

"But the other four metas aren't." Barry says, "Devoe will absolutely kill them and take their powers."

"But why does he need their powers? I can't figure out his end game." Iris puts a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know." Barry admits, "I just know that these last four metas are the key. That's why we need to find them."

"And find them we will." Ralph Dibny spike, walking in with a cardboard box, Cisco Ramon following after him.

"Where have you guys been?" Caitlin questions.

"A little home away from home, otherwise known as the bus depot." Ralph sets down the box, "But I showed Cisco here an old P.I. trick I learned from my mentor, Columbo. Lost and found box from meta bus 405."

"Question for the room, how did I get stuck doing the buddy system thing with Ralph?" Cisco looks at us.

"It's the best way to keep Ralph safe, Cisco." I run a hand through my hair.

"Yeah, it's the best way to keep Ralph safe, Cisco." Cisco mocks me, "Well, clearly you've never had to stay over at an apartment that uses neon beer signs for lamps and the kitchen sink for a shower." Cisco looks at Ralph, "Ralph, I love you. But you sleep on a futon."

"Futon's not that bad." Caitlin shrugs lightly.

"It is when it's damp." Cisco shot back.

"Why is it damp?" Iris asks.

"I sweat a lot when I sleep." Ralph admits.

"Oh- ew." I clear my throat, swallowing a gag.

"Oh, hey, my retainer." Ralph grabs it from the box, propping it onto his mouth, "Been looking for this."

"Oh- I might throw up." I cover my mouth, blinking long and hard, Caitlin rubbing my back.

"What? It's been a while since I've had this one in my mouth." Ralph laughs at his own sentence.

"I wish I still had the ability to step on you right now-" I mumble.

"You stepped on him?" Barry's tone is filled with question.

"I'll explain later." I sigh, rubbing my eyes.

Cisco lets out a distressed laugh, "Retainer."

"Okay, you made your point. Not that the point needed to be made." Barry spoke, "I'll take the next shift."

I open my eyes, Cisco nodding, "You're a good man, Barry Allen."

"Really? Who uses CDs anymore?" Ralph picks up a CD.

"A musician trying to catch their break." Iris takes it, taking the dvd out and playing it, "Izzy Bowen."

Country rock starts to blare through the speakers, Ralph shutting it off, "Ugh, country. Music's tone deaf stepchild."

"All right, remember anyone on the bus with a fiddle?" asked Caitlin Snow, slight tease in her tone.

"There was a guy with a cowboy hat on sitting behind me. Maybe it was him." Ralph shrugs.

"Boy, I sure wish we had a way of finding out." Cisco sarcastically says, as I grab the CD, handing it to Caitlin, as she hands it to Cisco, "Izzy Bowen."

Cisco vibes her, then looks at us, "Okay, well, it's a her, not a him. And she's playing a gig at the Busted Saddle."

"All right. Ralph, let's go." Barry starts to walk.

"No, no way." Ralph shakes his head, "I hate country music."

"Well, buddy system." Barry continues, "It's my turn. Come on."

Ralph sighs, "If you insist."

-

"You two are lucky." Caitlin spoke, "Barry, your ear is almost healed, and Dibny, yours just stretched."

"Well, I still can't hear all that great." Barry touches his ear.

"Consider that a blessing in disguise." Ralph shoves his hands in his pockets, "Less twang in your future."

"Give it an hour." Caitlin looks at them, waving them off, "You'll be fine."

"So Izzy Bowen can control music?" I guess, looking at Cisco.

"More like sound waves." Cisco lightly shrugs.

"Soundwave." Ralph points at him, "That's a great name."

"It would be, if it wasn't already taken by a Transformer." Cisco stares at him.

"Okay, well, it looks like billions of tiny shrapnel- ripped through this." Iris looks at what I had pulled up on the screen.

"Exactly." Cisco nods, "Sound is just the force of billions of tiny gas molecules colliding into one another."

"So if you can harness and amplify kinetic energy, you get-" Barry began.

"Molecular shrapnel." Caitlin finished.

"Okay, well, we gotta keep searching." Barry shoves his hands into his front pockets, "If we can't track her down soon, she's gonna fall right into Devoe's hands."

Ralph questions, "Speaking of tracking people down, when's Harry getting back from Earth Two?"

-

"Satellite's been running all day, but it's still not picking up any irregular sound variances." I told Ralph, Caitlin and Cisco through a mumble, my head resting down on my arm, exhaustion running through my veins.

Barry runs in, placing my usual iced coffee next to me, "I checked the city. I can't find her."

My eyes widen with excitement, seeing the coffee, sitting up quickly, grabbing it, "Oh-"

Their eyes snap towards me, as I took a sip of the coffee, the caramel flavor still present on my tongue after I swallow it, clearing my throat, "I mean- you checked the whole city?"

"Yeah." Barry nods, "Look, we have to find her before Devoe. Her life's on the line."

"She had another gig this week." Ralph shrugs.

"Well, since she's so serious about her career- I doubt she'd skip town." I sip my coffee.

"How would Dibny P.I. suggest we find her?" Cisco asks Ralph.

"Well, since you asked, has anyone checked her web site?" Ralph asks.

"Has anyone checked her website?" Cisco wheezes, repeating the question, "Dibs, of course we've checked her website."

Cisco looks at all of us, as I slowly start to search her up, looking for website secretly, "No one has checked her website? Zee!"

"I've got it- I'm looking at it right now- give me a second-" I pull it up, reading off it, "I just picked up the first run of my next single and love the geniuses at Saloon Sounds."

"All right, Ralph. Take two." Barry turns to Cisco, "Cisco, we might need Vibe's help."

"Giddy up." Cisco follows them.

"Come on, let's go. We're in a hurry." Barry tells them, them following him out.

-

"So you're telling me that this three foot tall chick that tried to kill me is actually this Clifford Devoe?" Izzy Bowen asks, now joining us in the cortex.

"Oh, yeah. 100% dude." Cisco nods.

I hum, placing my hands in my back pockets, looking at her, "Devoe is transferring his consciousness to the other bodies of all the other people who were on the bus and got their powers with you."

"Wait, this this little girl wants my body?" She questions.

"That's why we're trying to protect you." Barry crosses his arms, "Devoe's already taken most of his targets."

"No, this ain't happening. Not now." Izzy shakes her head in denial, "I only got my powers recently. And now it's like I've got a deeper connection to my music than I've ever had. I'm about to record the rest of my new album. I'm about to go on tour-"

"Izzy, your album can wait." Barry told her, "This threat is real."

"So is my big break." She shot back, "Do you have any idea how hard I've had to work for this? I left my home.I lost friends and good men, and I have put up with more crap than you could imagine so that one day I would get my dream. And now you're telling me that some pint-sized lunatic is just gonna take it all away?"

"Which is exactly why we want you to stay here, at Star Labs." Caitlin informs her.

"Why? Are y'all gonna protect me or something?" Izzy scoffs.

"We're gonna train you." Barry told her.

"We are?" Ralph and Cisco question in unison.

"Guys, her powers weakened Devoe." Barry spoke, "Izzy, that makes you our best shot at stopping him."

"No, no, this- this is all too much." Izzy shook her head, "I don't even know who you people are."

"We don't have time for this." Barry says, his hands going to his cowl.

"Flash!" I call out, wanting him to stop, but he continued, taking off his mask, revealing his identity.

"You're that guy from before." Izzy realizes, her eyes rake him from head to toe.

"Yeah, Barry Allen." He introduces himself.

"And so are you, aren't you?" Izzy points at Ralph.

"Yeah." Ralph takes his mask off, "Ralph. Ralph Dibny."

"I'm, uh, Cisco. Cisco Ramon." Cisco shakes her hand after taking off his goggles, "It's nice to meet you."

"Look, look, I- I don't need training." Izzy denied, "Especially from you. All I need is my life back."

Izzy leaves the cortex, Ralph sighing, "I don't know, guys. I kinda feel like if I just followed her into that hallway and just gave her one of those "Hey, look," inspirational talks, I could probably get her to stay."

"Then what are you still doing here?" Cisco stares at him.

"Sorry, I don't know if you, like, drew straws for this stuff or something-" Ralph shrugs.

"Go!" Barry and Cisco raise their voices at him in unison, as Ralph runs right after Izzy.

I move over to Barry, grabbing his hands, lightly pulling him to the side.

I look up at him, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." Barry wraps his arms around me.

"You don't have to thank me." I held onto him, looking up at him, "I will always ask about your well being."

Barry lightly smiles down at me, pressing his lips into mine.

-

Izzy had agreed to take up the training due to Ralph's pep talk, and here we were. Six hours later. In the same room we were in six hours earlier. Training Izzy Bowen.

"You missed. Again." Ralph shot her a look.

"Well, what do you expect, Ralph? I've been doing this all day." Izzy sighs, "I need a water break."

"Maybe we should call it a night." I turn towards Barry as Izzy and Ralph move further away, Izzy sipping her water, "They've been at this non-stop, all day."

"Not yet." Barry shook his head, "She's barely landed another shot on Ralph."

"She needs more time, Barry." I place my hands on his chest, "She can't just be ready to face Devoe overnight. The best way to learn is to take a break and try again later. Not- two minutes after."

"She held her own against Devoe." Barry reasons, "Totally on raw instinct."

"That was probably pure luck." I shot him a look, "I mean, it took months to train Ralph."

"We don't have months." Barry looks at me.

I sigh, my hands falling from his chest, looking back at Ralph and Izzy.

"Look-" Barry grabs my forearms, turning me to face him again, "This is our chance to get ahead for once.

If Devoe shows up again, we have to be ready."

"All right-" I sigh, gesturing over to them, "Do what you gotta do."

Barry kisses my cheek, before heading over there, "All right, Ralph, I'm taking over."

"Uh, thanks, Bare, but we kinda got this- covered over here and-" Ralph starts.

"Gotta push her, Ralph." Barry simply says, "All right, Izzy, I wanna see if you can hit a moving target. You ready?"

Izzy nods, grabbing her violin, Barry tossing one of the objects we had for Izzy to destroy in the air, a sound wave hitting it from Izzy's violin, it shattering.

"Nice. Take it up a few notches." Barry smiles lightly at the process, before grabbing all of the objects, tossing them around Izzy, running around her, Izzy destroying most of them, but one cutting into her arm, a pained grunt leaving her, Barry halting.

"Barry-" I raise my voice, a sigh leaving my lips, walking over to Izzy, looking at her wound.

Ralph and I take her over to Caitlin, letting her check her up, Caitlin fixing her up, it not being a huge deal.

I slowly walk into the room Barry sat in alone, his hands folded together. His head turns at the sound of my footsteps, "How's Izzy?"

"She stitched her up, she'll be okay. Ralph won't leave her side. I think he has a thing for her." I walk over to him.

"Ralph shouldn't be bothering her at all." Barry sighs, turning in his chair, facing me, "I mean, she needs to stay focused."

"Barry, don't you think you're being a little hard on her?" I cross my arms.

"No, I'm trying to teach her how to protect herself." Barry shook his head at me.

"Okay, let me rephrase that." I slip my hands into my back pockets, "You're being hard on her."

"Zee, I'm trying to teach her how to protect herself." Barry repeats himself.

"No, it seems like you're trying to turn her into a hero." I shot back at him, "Not everyone is meant for that path. Even if- their powers weaken a super villain. I mean, Izzy's just trying to survive."

"Well, she's not going to- if I don't push her." Barry looked up at me.

"This isn't the only way to fight Devoe, Barry. We can find another way- we always do." I take a step closer to him.

"It's not just about that." He shook his head, crossing his arms, "Zee, you weren't at Iron Heights. I saw up close what Devoe did to Becky. To all of them. And I- I couldn't do anything except just stand and watch it happen. Devoe is ruthless. He's not gonna stop until he's taken her powers and her life. He's not gonna go easy on her, so neither can I."

I sigh, sitting on his lap, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, holding his hand, as he wrapped his arms around me, "I'm sorry that you had to witness their lives being taken. But, we can't be like Devoe to beat Devoe. He's willing to sacrifice anyone and anything in his way to accomplish this finishing plan of his."

Barry stays silent, taking in my words, "We're the good guys. We're supposed to be different- we're supposed to find a way to accomplish and save without becoming what we're against. Just remember that- the next time you're pushing too hard. You of all people know that heroes aren't made overnight."

-

"Initially I envisioned the mental activity dampener as just disrupting inbound brainwave broadcasts, but I talked to DA Cecille Horton and we had the idea to invert the polarity allowing this to disrupt outbound brainwave broadcasts as well." Harry explained, "So we-"

"We could use this against Devoe." Barry beats him to it.

Harry nods, "We could use this against Devoe."

"That's brilliant. I'm totally on board." Cisco stays seated, "Except mental activity dampener?"

"Ramon, the name's no good. Which is why, drum roll, please-" Harry began, "I have decided to rename this the cerebral inhibitor."

My eyes slowly widen when I hear what Harry has names the small device that rested in his hand, only one thought burning into my mind.

Savitar.

My head turns towards Barry, the small look on his face, him already looking at me, as I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"What's that? What are you guys doing?" Harry questions, noticing the look on our faces and our reactions, gesturing between the two of us repeatedly, "What are- what are those faces?"

"When Savitar came to Star Labs, he said we would build a device to use against Devoe-" I start.

"-The cerebral inhibitor." Barry finishes my sentence.

"I wish I had known that before I spent all this time trying to come up with the second name." Harry spoke, "Naming is hard."

"Okay, so we can use this on DeVoe to keep him from projecting his consciousness- into new bodies." Caitlin moves her hands.

"Precisely." Harry nods.

"How does it work?" I question.

"Just affix it to his forehead." Harry gestures, "It activates. Simple as that. I'll make a few adjustments, you'll be good to go." Harry leaves the room.

"All right." Hope flashes in Barry's eyes, "Okay, when Harry's done, we go after DeVoe. I mean, we have Izzy's powers, the cerebral inhibitor- I mean, we have everything that we need to stop him."

"Except that we don't." Ralph walks in, holding Izzy's violin case, "Izzy's gone."

"What? What happened? What did you say to her?" Barry bombards him with questions.

"Me?" Ralph repeats, "Rookie, Homeslice hit the road because of you.She's convinced she can take on Devoe by herself. That's what she's gone to do. You kept pushing and pushing her. Pushed her right out the door, man."

"Okay, that's not fair." I began to defend Barry.

"No, it's all right." Barry stops me, taking responsibility, "I did, I pushed her too hard. It's my fault that she's out there. But if Devoe gets to her before we do-

"That cannot happen." Ralph hands Cisco the case, "Cisco, you need to use your ESPN and find out where she is."

Cisco vibes where she is, only to be thrown, knocking over things, landing on the ground, grunting in pain.

Caitlin gasps and runs to him, "Cisco, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"She's at the warehouse district." Cisco's fingers touch his temples, "Devoe's there."

"I can't go with you guys. I gotta take care of Cisco." Caitlin told Barry.

"All right, Ralph, it's just me and you." Barry nods towards Ralph.

-

"How's Ralph?" Barry questions Caitlin after she walks in. Ralph was upset, due to Devoe taking her away from him, killing her, taking her body.

"Not great." Caitlin sighs.

"This shouldn't have happened." Barry exhales, "Devoe wasn't supposed to walk away from this."

"Yeah, well, he did." Harry continued to pace, "Because of me."

"We all tried to protect her." Caitlin says, sympathy in her tone.

"I built the inhibitor, Snow. If it failed, it's my fault.

And I don't even know why." Harry took the blame.

"Now that I think about it," I quietly spoke, looking up at Harry, "Savitar never said it would work. This isn't your fault."

"Allen-" Harry calls my name, Barry's head snapping up, "Not you, Allen- Her Allen- I- Allen." Harry points at me, "This is my fault."

"Harry-" I start to say.

Harry cuts me off, "Maybe I overestimated the micro-combustion infrastructure, or maybe I underestimated the amount of time between each synapse router, or-"

"Maybe it didn't malfunction at all." Cisco says from beside me.

"Guys, Savitar said that we would use the cerebral inhibitor against Devoe." Iris spoke.

"Yeah, but Zee's right, he didn't say it was gonna work." Cisco looks up.