The Flash and The Streak (the flash's sister season 2)

Running to stand still part 2

I met up with Iris and Barry on the way back to the house. Apparently, Francine had a son. she was pregnant when she left. Joe just found out. we enter the house. "Do you think that he's gonna be okay?" I ask concerned for him "I do, yeah, I think... It's just a lot to take in. He just needs a little time to process it." Barry replies. "Ho, ho, ho." We look over to see who said that and it was Snart, he's sitting on our sofa. "Mmm. Cocoa isn't cocoa without the mini marshmallows. And you're out. I checked." he criticizes. "Naha you don't get to break into our house and criticise our food shortages. okay," I say a little annoyed and in a high pitched tone. Barry uses his speed and now he has his arm against Snart's neck against a wall. "Are you out of your mind? Breaking into my home?" barry sounds angry. Now he knows how it feels to have Jay around me. "Careful. I made an upgrade to the cold gun. If I release my grip from the handle, the core goes critical. You two might make it, she won't." He threatens looking at us then to Iris. Barry releases him. "Read your article on the disappearing middle class. Strong point of view. Nice prose style." Snart compliments her? okay, that's new. "Yeah, well, who needs a Pulitzer when you have a homicidal maniac's seal of approval." iris says coldly. "Didn't Barry tell you? I had a rough childhood." Okay, that peed me off. "Everyone in this room had a rough childhood. Get over it." I say rolling my eyes. Iris slings her bag onto the sofa. "Why are you here, Snart?" Barry questions not in the mood for this. "I got the Noel spirit, wanted to give you a gift. Mardon broke Jesse and me out to kill you both. Jesse's on board, of course. He's shaking with excitement. Me, I'm gonna pass." Snart explains. "Why? You grow a conscience?" I say quickly crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow. "Mardon wants revenge. Jesse wants chaos. I'm just not invested like they are." "You mean there's no money in it for you?" Iris says the truth. "I was never much for non-profit work." snart replies. Well at least it's two against two now that's more of a fair fight. "If you're not in with them, then tell me where they are," Barry says. "Nah, consider me more of a secret Santa. Besides, you and your friends love to solve a good mystery." Snart heads for the door. Barry and I scoff "You are full of it, Snart. I think my friends and I saved your sister's life and you can't stand owing me a marker. I hate to break it to you, but that... that right there is called honor." Barry half yells. "Go on, make your pitch. I can see you're dying to." Snart states. "Help me stop them." Wait 'Me' I think he means 'us' he better mean 'us' "Sorry, I'm not interested in being a hero." Snart declines the offer. I scoff "Well, you're doing a pretty lousy job of being a villain this week." "Merry Christmas, Barry. Bethany." He then leaves.

I walk into the pipeline where Joe is alone. "Hey. I was just thinking about a big drug bust that me and Singh made about ten years ago. Afterward, we went for a steak lunch to treat ourselves for a job well done and while we were ordering, I got this feeling in my chest. Like my heart was being squeezed. I knew something wasn't right. So I called your school and the nurse said to me that she was just about to call me. Iris was on her way to the hospital." Joe starts sounding sad. "When her appendix burst." I finished his sentence. "And I knew it. I could feel it, right here. I knew my kid needed me. So if I have that feeling as a parent, why didn't I feel it from my son?" Joe is starting to tear up. "Joe, it's not your fault that you didn't know about him." I try to comfort him. He's like my dad he raised me I hate to see him upset. "Yeah, it was. When Francine left rehab that last time, I should've looked for her. I'm a cop. I could've found her. Brought her back here. Tried again. Tried harder." Joe beats himself up. emotionally speaking off course. "You were protecting Iris." I try to make him feel better. "I've been telling myself that for 20 years. A 20-year lie, but I wasn't protecting her, I was protecting myself. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't... I hated not being able to help Francine. So it was easier for her to be dead. Out of my life. Out of our lives. But it wasn't for Iris. I was being selfish. And that poor boy paid the price. Joe... He never had a father... to read to him at night, show him to throw a football, to make him feel safe. and loved. Who taught him how to be a man, Bethany?" Joe is starting to cry now. "Him." I can't even say his name. What have I done?" "Joe, look, you have been there for me every day since you met me. You have. You would have done the exact same thing for him if you could have, I know it. I'm sorry." I say softly. "Bethany..." he starts. "no Joe. you are the best dad anyone could dream of so don't beat yourself up about this." I hug him and he hugs back and I let him cry.

We are at Star labs and suddenly the news changes to us seeing a video of the trickster. " Streaky, Flash-y the red, purple-nosed speedster Had very shiny suits And if you ever saw them You might even want to puke" he sings them gags. "That is one terrible song, I mean it doesn't even rhyme." "not now kid." Hary spits. okay, this guy really hates me and I want to know why but let's leave that for another time. "Merry Christmas, kiddie-winks. I'm back! Get TARU down here now. I want to know how he's doing this. Citizens, you know, the holidays can be a time for gentle reflection on the year past. Our ups and downs, our triumphs and heartaches, but don't forget, it can also be a time for disemboweling our enemies." the trickster starts speaking. "We don't have a Trickster on Earth-2." Screw earth two. "He's one of a kind," Caitlin replies. Cisco's been telling me about a relationship sparking between them. this asshat has to stay away from my unbio sister. "My stocking won't be completely stuffed until it's filled to the brim with bloody Flash parts. "So what do you say, speed freaks? Want to roast chestnuts?" "Are there any clues as to where he is based on the video?" I ask. "None that I can see," Cisco replies. "Guys, there's a reflection of something in his cornea, see?" Jay points out. I roll my eyes at him. I could have seen that... If I was looking close enough. "What is that?" Barry asks. "That's Mr. Jiggle Wiggle." me and Harry point out. "Come again?" Cisco questions. "It's a doll," I state. "A stuffed children's toy. I gave one to my daughter when she was six." Harry replies. "Mr. Jiggle Wiggle was manufactured by Okamura Toys... Yahtzee! Okamura once had a shipping facility in Central City that shut down four years ago; it's been abandoned ever since." Cisco tells us after he searched up the toy. Joe got me one for my 5th birthday, I've still got it somewhere in my room. "What if Weather Wizard's there? The wand's not finished." Chase states with a little worry. I look at him and give him a reassuring smile. "well The Trickster is." Barry says. We suit up and go to the abandoned warehouse.

"What are you doing here?" Barry asks as we flash into the warehouse and see Patty with a gun and a flashlight in her hand. "Same thing as you. Trying to catch a murderer," she replies with a scary type of determination. "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I made it out of clay" Creepy singing starts. "We can't let Christmas hog all the holiday fun! Happy Hanukkah!" we then hear the tricksters voice but we can't see him. The voice is coming from a weird looking doll. "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I made you out of C-4!" the trickster sings and laughs. "Put that in your pipe and smoke it!" he says threw the dolls recorded message. "Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel" the song plays again but it gets creepier each time. "I'm afraid we are definitely looking at closed casket funerals." the trickster says threw the doll. Hell NO I'm not dying because of a toy. "There's nowhere for me to run us too!" Barry Exclaims. "So what should we do?" Patty asks as we are now surrounded by explosive round spiney tops. I nudge Barry and point to the opening up. "Hold me," Barry commands. "I'm seeing someone," Patty says doing it. "Me too. Don't let go." Barry replies. we use our speed in our hands and we lift off of the ground and we land far enough away where the explosion won't kill us. 

Patty starts walking away. "Detective," Barry says trying to stop her. "It was all just a trap for you two. Mardon and Jesse aren't even here. They're still on the loose." "How did you know to come here?" I question her. "Because there was a reflection in Jesse's eye of Mr. Jiggle Wiggle. And that's the thing that my dad... It doesn't even matter." She seems really upset and distraught. "That's why you came here alone without any backup? Because of your father?" Barry questions pretending not to know what happened to her father because at the moment he is the Flash and she doesn't know that so if he says anything she'll find out he's the Flash. "You don't know anything about me," Patty replies coldly. "I know that you're being reckless. And I'm sure the people in your life care enough about you to not want to see you get hurt." I say in concern for her. "Except Mardon didn't kill my father. I did. See, he had a little shoe shop, and we didn't have any money, so I worked there after school. Except one day I decided not to show up because I was being stupid and silly with my friends. I didn't even call to tell him that I was ditching. So he brought the deposits to the bank, not me. He was shot and killed by Mardon, not me." She's starting to cry. I can't help but feel sorry for her. "That's why you became a cop. Joined the meta-human task force." Barry states. "It'll be legal when I kill Mardon. I have made my whole life about getting justice for my father, even if it meant I didn't have a life and now I met a really great guy, and that doesn't even feel real to me and I'm scared he's gonna find out how angry I am. I don't even know why I'm telling you this." Och that's got to hurt Barry. "Sometimes it's just easier to say things to someone with no face," I say. "Thank you for saving me." She starts walking away. "You know, even if you get this guy that wronged you, it doesn't always make things better," Barry tells her from experience. "It has to be better than this." She says crying and getting into her car and driving away