Frozen Flashpoint

Chapter 18: First Move

Summary: Some people don't appreciate having their day interrupted. DeVoe makes his first move, and so does Team Flash.

Barry entered the cortex using his speed. Once he reached the middle of the room, he stopped and gently put Caitlin down.

Barry looked around to see the worried faces of Harry, Cisco, and Wally. Before he could ask anything, a blue-and-orange lightning strike entered the room, and a moment later, Jessie and Lyra were standing in the cortex as well.

Both of them wore summer dresses with shorts underneath and sandals on their feet, their hair in ponytails, and sunglasses covering their eyes. Even through the glasses, both girls looked annoyed.

"Uncle Cisco, you'd better have a good reason to call us here. We were having a shwei time before your panic attack," Lyra said, clearly displeased by the interruption to her day.

Jessie took off her sunglasses and nodded. "Yeah, we had to drop a water volleyball game just before we won and come up with an excuse for suddenly leaving."

Lyra immediately pouted and grumbled, "Didn't have to say I was having my time of the month, though."

Caitlin giggled while Jessie shrugged helplessly. It was Wally's expression that made Barry angry. The young man was obviously still thinking about the water volleyball game—and the implication of the girls in swimsuits. Considering one of them was his underaged daughter, Barry took offense and used his super-speed to slap Wally upside the head before appearing next to Caitlin the next moment.

"Ow!" Wally cried, shaken out of his thoughts and rubbing the back of his head. When he realized what had happened, he glared at Barry and snapped, "I was thinking about Jessie! I'm not a pervert, you know!"

Before Barry could reply, Wally yelled again, "Ow!" This time it was because Harry had thrown a piece of metal he had nearby.

Wally turned to glare at the older man, only to take a step back when he saw the harsh look the genius was giving him. It was scary how Harry still spoke evenly. "Don't think like that about my daughter."

Lyra, on the other hand, stomped her foot and pouted. "Why is anyone who thinks about me a pervert?!"

Okay, this was getting ridiculous, and Barry really didn't want to have this conversation with his daughter. Luckily, before it could go any further, Joe entered the cortex.

Cisco let out a sigh of relief and said loudly, "Joe, the man of the hour, just in time."

Joe looked around in confusion for a moment before shaking his head and adopting a more serious expression.

He went behind the desk to plug something into the computer and displayed it on the large screen in the room. As he uploaded the videos, he said in his deep voice, "Two hours ago, two meta prisoners escaped Iron Heights."

Barry noticed that while Lyra's face paled slightly, her eyes shone with determination for what was about to come. Barry switched his gaze to the detective and asked, outraged, "How could they have broken out?"

"They didn't," was Joe's only response as he started to play the video.

It was a security feed from a cell. Inside, Simon, the meta Jessie and Frost had defeated over a month ago, was sitting on his bunk and scratching his already red neck, a look of fury on his face. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a small blue orb of light appeared. In two short moments, the orb expanded until the light faded, revealing a weak-looking man sitting in a hovering chair that took up almost all the available space in the cell.

Simon looked shocked at him, so the man in the chair took the lead. "Excuse me for my unannounced visit. My name is Clifford DeVoe, and I have a proposition to offer you."