Barry leaves Iris behind the car and runs back to Jitters. However, when he opens the door, flower confetti, half a foot high flows out around his feet. Noticing that the coffee shop is not blown to pieces, Barry takes two seconds to run back to Iris, get his bag, and change into his suit.
When he runs back into Jitters, he sees that there is minimal damage to the shop, if several inches of confetti covering everything: people, food, cups, the floor, could be called "damage." The only real problem Barry finds is the men who were, Barry assumes, the source of this disaster. They are laying on the floor, covered in confetti.
However, under the confetti, Barry sees that there are bright red burns on their chests, legs, and faces. They are also unconscious.
With a heavy sigh, he hates carrying more than one person at a time, he lifts them both up and runs them to the nearest hospital. He makes sure one of the E.R. doctors is taking care of them before he returns to Iris, changing back into his normal clothes as he goes.
"What was with that?" Iris asks him as he comes stand next to her. The police sirens echo around them and she is wrapped in a blanket from one of the EMTs.
"I don't really know..." Barry answers, semi-honestly. He had a hunch about who might be behind that particularly strange attack on Jitters. But he didn't want to be overheard, and anyway, Pandemonia doesn't know who he is....Right?
At that moment, Detective Joe West arrives. He instantly walks over to two of his children and wraps his arms around them securely.
"Are you okay?" He asks, pulling back to look at Iris. She nods and gestures to Barry. Joe smiles for a moment before his eyes turn toward Jitters behind them.
"Barry, maybe you should take a closer look. The other officers mentioned that the Flash was here and took two men to the hospital." Joe offers Barry his gloves, and Barry takes them.
"The bombers, if you can call them that." Barry replies with a sigh. He pulls his forensic gloves over his hands and walks over towards the mess. Joe follows him, and Iris sits down on the edge of the curb, her head aching. She is unaware that a man inside an Ice Cream truck watches her closely.
"Have you seen Iris?" Joe asks Barry as they sit down at the dinner table.
"Not since this morning. She said she felt well enough to go to work and I couldn't talk her out of it. Where's Wally?" Barry sighs, dishing out the food.
"He's working on a project at the school. So what happened in Jitters this morning then?" Joe asks, changing the subject. "I could tell you weren't saying everything."
"Well, from what I could tell, Johnson Adams and Hunter Dallon had bombs of a sort in the insides of their suits. When they hit the detonators, the confetti exploded outwards, causing the two of them to get burned."
"And...?" Joe can tell Barry is not sharing everything.
"I think it's from one of the new villains that I've come across recently. I don't wanna talk about it now though." Barry tries to finish the conversation, shoveling food into his mouth. But this doesn't fly with Joe.
"Barry." Joe warns. "I don't know what--"
Joe's phone rings loudly, cutting him off. He sighs, frustrated, and reaches into his pocket to pull it out.
"Hello?" He answers. He listens for a few moments before he shoots up out of his chair, slamming his phone shut without another word. Barry follows him as he stomps out towards his Police cruiser.
"Where are we going? What's going on?" Barry asks as Joe slides into the driver's seat and growls for Barry to get in.
"CCPN." Joe replies as he starts the car and flips on the sirens and the lights.
When they arrive at CCPN, the place is surrounded by police cars and what looks like a bomb squad.
"Joe?" Barry asks, terrified. He hadn't rushed over here earlier because he was worried about Joe and his inability to focus on the road, which was extremely unlike Joe. Barry had grabbed the wheel at least three times on the way over, and now, looking at Joe's face, he feels a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Joe doesn't respond as he runs into the building, Barry on his heels. Captain Singh is standing in the doorway of the first floor and stops Joe with a hand to his shoulder.
"Joe. She's not in there." The Captain says, trying to calm down his Detective.
"What happened?" Joe demands.
"Well, there was a maniac who walked in here, just like someone did earlier this morning with Jitters. Some guy who screamed at everyone to not move or he would blow the place up. He demanded that he be put on the news, so they took out their cameras and recorded him. But apparently, while everyone's attention was on the lunatic at the front door, a giant of a man entered from the back with a machine gun. He told everyone to get down on the floor, and when one of the men refused, he crushed his arm with one hand. The guy is at the hospital with all of the bones and muscles in that arm ruined. The doctors say that he probably won't be able to use it ever again."
The Captain takes a deep breath before continuing. "The people in the front didn't tell us any of this, of course. They had no idea there were two hostiles in the building. We learned this all from the witnesses from the back room. They told us that after the man with the machine gun crushed the man's arm, he told them to get on the floor again. They listened this time and then...well, then he seemed to single out Iris. Linda Park, who was next to her, told me personally that he walked straight over to them. He called her 'Flower Girl,' and dragged her away like a rag doll. She was kicking and screaming the whole time.
"After the second hostile dragged away Iris, the security was able to take down the bomber, and the Bomb Squad disabled it. We are all lucky it didn't go off; it was a real one this time." Singh rubs his eyes and looks cautiously at Joe as he finishes, "Now, Joe. I need you not to go beserk. We will find her. I am hoping we can somehow contact the Flash and let him know we need his help. I need you to focus on the case, though. No one is sure who the bomber is. He isn't from Central, we know that for certain. But I'm going to need your help on this. Can you do that?"
Joe takes a moment, flicking his eyes to his left where Barry has had to lean against the wall to support himself, before he answers. Barry meets his eyes and Joe knows that the Flash will not rest until he finds Iris.
"Okay. I'll try. What do you want me to do?"
Barry walks away from the Captain and Joe, unable to concentrate on their conversation. All he can do at the moment is kick himself mentally, as hard as possible. He knows now, with complete and utter certainty, that Pandemonia is behind all this.
What he doesn't know is...Why? Why Iris? Out of all his villains, only Pandemonia and Girder have targeted Iris. No one felt the need to...Because no one else ever made the connection.
Barry is haunted by this realization, and by the question of why as he begins his search for Iris.
