Sibling Speedsters - DISCONTINUED

Chapter 14: Multiplex

Ashlynn's P.O.V
I woke up with light entering the room. I noticed that Barry was no longer beside me. I check the time on my phone. Everyone had headed to work so I was alone in the house. I set about making myself some breakfast, and setting up a mountain of pillows and blankets for myself. Then, I settled down to watch a Harry Potter marathon. I wish Cisco were here. It was lonely without him.I must have fallen asleep at one point because I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. "Hello?" I say into the phone. "Ash! You need to get to S.T.A.R Labs. Right. Now!" I hear Cisco's worried voice on the other end of the line. I got up and sprinted over to S.T.A.R Labs.

When I got there I saw Barry standing in front of Danton Black. "Barry, it's okay" I heard Caitlin saying to him. "It's not okay! Danton Black is here and he's.... just..... standing there, that's not him is it?" Barr exclaimed. "No, it's one of his clones" Cisco explained. "How did you get him?" I asked. "I grew him!" Caitlin said somewhat proud. "Why isn't he moving?" I ask. "His involuntary motion functions are active, but no other parts of his brain are. We think that Black's clones act like receivers, and Black is the prime. Shut down the prime, and you might shut them all down" Caitlin explains to me. ' How will we know which one is the prime?" Barry asked. "That occurred to me due to your passing out. Black has limits, just like you two. Controlling those clones must take up a lot of energy. Target the one showing any signs of weakness, that's the prime." Caitlin explains. "It's just a theory, but a good one" Wells explains. "Plus, I whipped you two up these high calorie bars to keep your metabolism up" Cisco says. 'Thanks" I say. Just then, Black's clone started moving. Both Caitlin and I started screaming. Then, gunshots went off and Black's clone collapsed to the ground. We look to the entrance of the cortex. Joe is standing there, his gun out. "Any more of them?" Joe asks. "Nope". "Why did it start moving?" I asked. "The prime is on the move" Barry says. "He was called to battle" Wells said. "And I know where. Stagg Industries" Joe says.

"You'd best call it in Joe" Barry says dully. "The police can't handle this. What Black's become, like Mardon, is beyond me, maybe way beyond them too. The only people it's not beyond is you two. You gotta do this! So for once in your lives, do what I say. Go get him!" Joe finishes his speech. Barry and I look to each other and nod. We then grabbed our suits and headed over to Stagg Industries. When we reach Stagg Industries, we get there just in time. Black is standing across from Stagg holding a gun when Barry and I rush over to Stagg and bring him to safety in his office. "Stay here" I tell him as Barry and I speed off to find Black.

"We know Stagg stole your research, but that doesn't give you the right to murder!" I hear Barry say. Black heads towards us holding a gun. "you think this is about my job?" he scoffs. I throw a punch to him, knocking him down. "This was about my wife, Elizabeth" I hear a voice from behind us say. I turn around and see another Black with a gun. Barry threw a kick at this one. "She had a degenerative coronary disease. She'd been on the transplant list for years, but time was running out. So if I couldn't get her a new heart, I was gonna grow her one. I was so close. Until Stagg stole my research. So he could reap the glory. And I got to bury my best friend. Now I'm alone. " Black's voices were coming from everywhere. No matter ho hard we fought, the wave of clones were never ending.

Eventually Barry and I had to leave. "There's too many of them!" I say. "Just find the prime!" I hear Caitlin say. "We can't do this, it's too much!" Barry says. "You need to isolate the prime" I hear Wells say. "It's impossible!" Barry and I cry at the same time. "Nothing's impossible, you two taught me that, so go get him!" I hear Joe say. If Joe thinks we can do this, we can. I felt the electricity running through my veins. Then, Barry and I run through the swarm of Black's pushing them out of our way. Then, we found the prime.Barry grabbed hold of him and rushed him upstairs. he hit Black's head off of a post, knocking him out cold. We both looked down, and saw the ground littered with Black's clones. "Guys? Guys, are you okay?" I hear Cisco say. "Yeah, we're fine" Barry says.

Just then, Black got up and held out his gun and ran towards Barry. "No" I yell as I push Barry out of the way. Black leaped out and we heard a crash of glass. We both rushed and grabbed one of his hands to stop him from falling. "Hold on!" I say. He starts to grow another hand, pulling my fingers from his hand. "No! Don't!" Barry yells, but it's too late. Black plummets to the ground below. I stare in shock, then turn to Barry and grab him tightly, my body starting to shake with sobs. "Shh. It's okay Ash, we're safe. It's okay" Barry says to me as he holds me close, rubbing my back. This has always helped me calm down from a young age. "Let's get back to S.T.A.R Labs, okay?" he says softly to me. I stand up and we rush back to S.T.A.R. Labs. I just put my suit back and run straight home. I didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment. I got home and collapsed onto my bed, the world dissolving in front of me.

I walked into S.T.A.R Labs the next morning. Barry, Caitlin, Cisco and Wells were watching a news report on last night on one of the monitors. "We tried to save him" Barry said. "Doesn't seem like he wanted to be saved. Some people, when they break, there is no fixing them" Wells says. "But some heal even stronger" I say. They all turn to me, only noticing my presence now. Barry comes over to me. "You okay?" he asks me. "Never been better" I say flashing a smile at me. "Well, at least Multiplex won't be able to hurt anyone else!" Cisco says. "See, told you I could come up with a better nickname" I smile at him. "Guys, we may be the ones in the suits doing all the running, but when we're out there helping people, making a difference, you guys are all out there with us." Barry says. "Wow Barry, as beautiful and heartfelt as that sounded, that was so incredibly cheesy! " I exclaim, which earned a laugh from everyone and a light tap on the arm from Barry. "Oh shut up" He says. "Here, I have to head to the CCPD. Wanna come?" Barry asks. "Yeah, I have nothing better to do" I say as we head out the door. " Ashynn, I have to tell you something. Iris has started writing a blog about the streaks" Barry tells me. "And that's bad because?" I ask. "This could put her in danger. You have to promise me not to encourage her, okay?" "Fine" I say.

I spent the majority of the day lounging around in Barry's lab, until it got dark. Joe came up to the lab with boxes of pizza. "Thought you might be hungry" Joe says. "Yes!" I exclaim as I dive for the pizza. "Ham, olives and jalapenos, just how you like it" "You are seriously the best person in the world right now" I say as I grab a slice of pizza. Joe and Barry laughed at me. "What? I'm starving!" Being a speedster means that you are hungry pretty much all of the time. "You were wrong, Bear" Joe says. "You'll have to be more specific, I've been wrong a lot this week." Barry replies. "You said that one of the things driving you was that you couldn't help your dad" Joe walked over to the board with our Mom's murder case and pulled up the cover. Barry and I stared at him, my mouth slightly a jarred. "You can help him, we can help him. I'm re-opening the case guys. We are gonna figure out who killed your mother that night, and we're gonna get you dad out of prison" Joe says. "I'm sorry about what I said, about you not being our father" Barry says. "No, you were right, I'm not your father" Joe says. "You're right, you're not. You're the guy that kept us fed, housed and clothed. You helped us with our homework, stayed with me 'til I fell asleep 'cause I was scared of the dark. You taught me how to drive, how to shave and you dropped me off on my first day of college. Sounds awfully like a father to me" Barry says. I nod my head in agreement. Joe was practically the only dad I knew. "Wow Barry, you're on a roll with these speeches today!" I say as Joe laughs. Barry and Joe grab a slice of pizza and we start talking until all the pizza is gone.