In Central City, Christmas was approaching.

Barry and Iris was due to come home today from their honeymoo, as Cisco and Harry were busy decorating the Cortex.

"What are you doing?" Harry demanded, wearing a lopsided Santa hat and holding the end of Cisco's decorations.

"Tinsel." Cisco told him, giving him a strange look before continuing to wrap the fluffy silver object around the oddly blue true.

"Your tinsel to surface ratio is terrible," Harry criticized.

"Are you kidding me?" Cisco demanded. "I've done extensive research to make sure that this tinsel is properly proportioned for this tree!"

"It's terrible." Harry informs him.

"It's terrible? I'll tell you what's terrible. Your Scrooge to Grinch ratio is terrible." Cisco replies.

"You're a mean one." Harry said, tugging the tinsel off of the tree. "I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole."

"Are they always like this?" Frankie asks Caitlin and Peter.

"Basically." Peter tells her.

"You get used to it." Caitlin promises as she walked into the room, a headband with a much smaller Santa hat than Harry's tucked behind her ears. "Hey, Cisco," she called, interrupting Harry and Cisco's brewing argument. "Where's Gypsy?"

"She had the holiday shift," Cisco sighed. He had planned to have his girlfriend stay over for a few nights and join everyone at the Annual West Christmas Party, but she hadn't been able to come. "But! I think I got her the perfect gift. A gulag class mech knife, forged in the unholy blood fires of Earth-22 by none other than Wireless 2.9. Of course..." Cisco tugged out his phone, looking at it curiously. "Gypsy should have sent something for me by now..."

Harry grimaced. "Awkward," he mumbled, before taking another bit of tinsel off the tree. "I'm sure it's fine."

Ralph walked into the room. "Uh...did Rudolph just diarrhea all over your tree?"

"Oh, great," Cisco said sarcastically. "Two humbugs. It's a Festive Miracle."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Ralphie loves Christmas," Ralph shrugged, walking over to observe the other side of the tree. "I bring it in every year with my Nana. She never remembers me, but I'm getting that inheritance."

Cisco gave him a disgusted look. "You...you are just...incorrect."

"Well, if you don't want to spend Christmas conning your grandma, you're more than welcome to join your friends at the West family...party.." Caitlin trailed off awkwardly as Harry ran a light hand under his jaw, symbolizing that she should stop talking.

"That sounds like a snooze-fest," Ralph groaned. "Unless, of course, you're serving bacon soda!" He threw out his arms and made a ridiculous voice, which Harry and Cisco immediately mirrored.

"Bacon soda!" Cisco and Harry copied, before laughing.

Caitlin shifted awkwardly. "Uh, what-sorry, what's that about?"

"Inside joke, Crystal started it." Peter explains while leaning on the doorframe.

"Classic Crystal Frost." Cisco says as he's working on the tinsel.

"You guys were hanging out with Crystal?" Caitlin asks them.

Both Cisco and Harry stopped their tree-decorating and turned to face her. All three of them nodded.

Caitlin swallowed back her jealousy as best she could, her voice still a little bitter when she muttered, "Hope you had a great time."

"Oh, we had the best time," Ralph stated, completely oblivious to her discomfort. "I mean, you're great Snow-Cone, but my girl Frostbite..ay yi yi!"

Harry, Peter and Cisco snapped at him to be quiet, but the damage was already done.

"I'm...going to go get a cup of coffee," Caitlin mumbled, before turning and hurrying out of the Cortex, ignoring Cisco and Harry's calls behind her.

"Hey, if you see my girl Crystal later, tell her what I said about the baking soda!" Ralph says as she leaves and Peter looks at him mad.

"What?" Ralph asks, not seeing what he did wrong.

Peter looks to Frankie. "Stay here with them, I'm gonna go talk to her." He tells his daughter and looks mad again to Ralph while leaving. "One of these days, I'm gonna stretch him with my webbing so far he'll turn into a puddle." He promises while as he left, the tinsel tree fell down.

-

Caitlin was at Jitters having a Crystal Frost, one of their newest drinks on the menus when Peter found her.

"Why would someone who looks her beautifulest be having a self pity roast?" Peter asks her, causing her to smile at him.

"I wish." Caitlin says and shows the pamphlet for the new drink.

Peter takes a look and then begins to chuckle. "The Crystal Frost."

"Finally got a drink, woo hoo." Caitlin says, still being pitiful. "I'm thrilled Crystal helped fight the Reichmen, but now it's like I can't escape her. Everybody keeps saying, Crystal Frost is so funny. Crystal Frost is so badass. I spent so much time worried she would hurt people, but now, turns out people would rather hang out with my villainous alter ego."

Peter looks hypothetical since he also enjoys his time with Crystal as much as he does with Caitlin, not wanting to love one more than the other. "Look, Cait, Crystal is cool. Pun not intended. And I enjoy spending time with her, but Frankie cherish the time spent with you than your alter ego." He tells her and Caitlin is happy to hear that.

"Thanks, Pete." Caitlin says.

"I'm always here for you." Peter promises when his senses go off and they turn to see Amunett Black is back wearing a Christmas hat.

"Ho, ho, ho," Amunett Black mumbled. She stepped further into Jitters, patrons steaming out of the now open space where the storefront had once been. "Caity!" she called in a singsong voice, looking around.

"Hide," Peter ordered, standing up and pulling out his web shooters. "Hide. Hide!"

Amunet strode forward and grabbed hold of his hand with a metal encased fist, knocking him out with her own weapon.

Caitlin had taken cover behind a decorated Christmas tree, but when Peter went down, she stepped out and held out her hands. Today was not the day she wanted to transform, but she allowed her hair to turn white and Crystal to take over as Amunet approached.

Before the transformation could complete, however, Amunet had spun her around, grabbed her wrist, and slapped a power-dampening cuff to it. "Frosty melted away," Amunett crooned. "I've come for you, Caity."

-

Everyone in the Cortex was surprised to see Iris West striding through the door. "DeVoe," she said, her voice low as she just walked into the cortex. "He attacked us in the street. He took Barry."

"What?!" Cisco gasped, and it was then that Joe realized they all already looked grim. Peter was sitting at Iris' desk, an icepack to his head. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What happened here?" Iris asked, staring at Peter.

"Amunett Black abducted Caitlin," Joe filled her in.

"Two people missing at the same time," Ralph added. "That's quite a coink-idink."

"Yeah. Great observation, Captain Obvious," Cisco snapped.

"Did we set the satellite to look for Caitlin's criokinetic energy or Barry's speed force signatures?" Harry asked.

"No, no," Iris muttered. "We've got to look for both of them. Cisco, I need you to vibe Barry. We need to know that he's alive."

Cisco looked unsure, but as Iris' eyes bore into him he pressed his fingers to his temples and concentrated.

A second later he was being tossed against the room by an invisible force, smashing into a rolling table and the Christmas tree.

Peter ran over to him, hand on his chest. "Hey! Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Cisco winced, rubbing his forehead, eyes shut tightly. "Just not gonna be vibing against for awhile."

"What about Allen?" Harry demanded.

"Wherever he is...I've never experience anything like it," Cisco murmured.

That, of course, told them absolutely nothing. They were back to square one.

-

Meanwhile, Caitlin had been blindfolded and dragged to Amunet's newest secret lair.

"Here we are," Amunett announced, leading Caitlin into a dimly lit, starkly decorated building made mostly of cement.

Caitlin glanced around. "You're really moving up in the world," she commented sarcastically.

"You know," Amunett huffed. "A sprinkle of enthusiasm would not kill you."

Caitlin wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. She was supposed to be spending Christmas with her little family by watching old movies, or doing anything. She did not want to be here at the moment. "Listen, Amunett, whatever you have planned, I guarantee you Crystal Frost wants nothing to do with it."

"That's right, darling, but I don't need her," Amunett said. "I need you."

She strode towards a grungy white curtain hiding a section of the room and tugged it open, revealing a medical gurney. Caitlin stepped closer. There was a lying on the bed, his head wrapped in white gauze and his eyes closed. "Meet your patient," Amunett introduced.

"What've you done?" Caitlin asked, striding forward and toward the man.

"Oh, there's not need to be overdramatic; he's alive," Amunett tutted. "And I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you just as soon as that...tranquilizer wears off."

"Why do you have him?" Caitlin asked, brow furrowing. "What is he to you?"

"My Golden Goose..." Amunett sighed dreamily. "See, Dominic here is a new meta that I...found. And I'd intended on selling him but unfortunately he didn't want to go so gently into the good night. And, um..." She lifted up a piece of the gauze with fingers and Caitlin inhaled sharply through her teeth. There was a nasty looking piece of metal lodged in Dominic's skin, right under his ear.

"Well, I shot him," Amunett admitted.

"That is-"

"In desperate need of medical attention; I know," Amunett finished. "And now you know why I need you, Caity MD."

Caitlin gave her a shocked look. "You're talking about an intricate cranial forebody retraction at best, and at worst that's a-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Amunett interrupted, holding up a finger. "Because I have absolutely no idea what you're saying. But you see, it does not matter. Because I knew that you would understand what needed to happen." She shrugged, problem solved.

But Caitlin shook her head. "Amunett, I won't. I can't. The environment isn't sterilized; the equipment is ancient..."

Amunett leaned forward, peering at the wound. "I suppose I could just yank it out myself."

"And risk him bleeding out and a dozen other brain deficits." Caitlin countered.

"Right," Amunett agreed. "Good point." She straightened up and held out her metal-encased fist. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Caitlin dove in front of Dominic. "No! No." She let out a deep sigh, knowing if there was any chance of Dominic surviving, she would have to at least attempt the operation. "I'll do what I can."

"Excellent!" Amunett said, turning and clicking toward the door. She grabbed her coffee and then stopped, turning back around. "Oh, I almost forgot. Should he die...you die as well." And then she left the room. "This Crystal Frost mug is really delicious."

As she waited for Dominic to wake up, Caitlin took a look around. "Well..." she sighed out loud to herself. "It's not exactly Star Labs."

There was a rustling from behind her and Caitlin turned, instinctively taking a step back as Dominic groaned and sat up. "Who are you?" he asked, eyes wide like a scared child.

"My name is Caitlin Snow," Caitlin introduced herself, trying to seem as harmless as possible. "And your at St. Andrew's Hospital. At least...I think that's where we are; it's been closed down for awhile."

"Please," Dominic begged. "You have to help me get out of here."

"Easier said than done," Caitlin sighed.

"The blond lady? She took you too?"

Caitlin nodded.

"God, I don't understand why this is happening to us," Dominic mumbled, his eyes filling. Caitlin wasn't sure if it was from pain or fear.

"Dominic, do you know what a metahuman is?" Caitlin asked gently.

"Listen-I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't rob a bank or-"

"No, I know," Caitlin assured him. "People with abilities, people like you...they're a commodity, especially to-"

"Especially to Amunett," Dominic finished, and Caitlin stopped.

"Yeah." She said cautiously. "Listen, I'm going to be honest with you. It would be very difficult to fix what she did to you, even under the best of circumstances with the right equipment."

"I feel fine," Dominic argued. "My head doesn't even hurt."

"Which is a minor miracle," Caitlin said. "But if that shard were to fracture..."

"It would cause permanent motor skills impairment or brain deficits."

Once again, Caitlin paused. "How did you..." Then the pieces clicked, and she looked at him in wonder. "You have telepathic abilities. Can you here what I'm thinking right now?"

"When did I get my powers?" Dominic guessed, and Caitlin nodded, intrigued. "A couple months ago. Uh...I took the bus to my job at the airport. TSA. When we got there it was like...everyone was yelling at me, screaming mad. But mouths weren't moving. It only works when I'm close enough to see someone."

Caitlin nodded again, and Dominic sent her a sideways glance. "You don't think we're getting out of here?"

She let out a sigh. There was no point in hiding something from a man who could read her mind. "I'm gonna do everything I can to fix you but...I can't get you away from here." She glanced toward the door, where a couple of guards were hovering. "Not on my own."

"Caitlin," Dominic said seriously, and she looked back to him. "I'm scared, too."

-

Peter found himself outside of DeVoe's home and finds the man in question inside.

"Mr. Parker, what can I help you with?" DeVoe asks him.

"Where's...Barry?" Peter asks him back.

"Has he gone missing?" DeVoe wonders as if he doesn't know.

"Don't play dumb with me. I don't know what you have planned, but I know you're not lazy enough to just kidnap the Flash. And we both know you're not stupid enough to keep him in your home. I know you have a endgame to all of this. The metas, your mind, even letting them get married. I know that was part of your plan. You're not as smart as-"

"Yes, I am." DeVoe interrupts him.

"Just know this; we will stop you. I've stoped men who thought were smarter than me. And I proved how stupid they are when they're blinded by their ego." Peter informs him.

"Dr. Octavius, or as you call him Doc Ock. Was in fact blinded by his ego. I have no ego to fulfil. I am here to enlighten everyone." DeVoe tells him.

"Then it's survival of the smartest. Just know this; I have friends. And I'm not threatening you...just thought you should know. I have a private eye, a Kung fu warrior. Hell, I have a friend who can use animals as a power under my belt. I will find your weakness...because everyone has one. It might be as big as an exhaust port on a giant Death Star, or as small as a microchip controlling mechanical arms."

"It's not survival of the smartest, mr. Parker. I've already won." DeVoe says and Peter just stares at the man, hoping he gave fox enough time before leaving.

-

Peter returns to Star labs, followed by Drone-y alongside him.

"Did I give you enough time?" Peter asks Fox.

"Hacked into his security cameras. But why do you need this footage of your argument?" Fox wonders.

"You think that there was something wrong with how happy I was showing while talking to him? He has something planned. Kidnapping Barry is just a play. And if we have this evidenced with what the spider drone caught of him abducting Barry, we have an upper edge." Peter explains to him.

"Clever." Fox comments seeing he's doing everything he can to be ahead of the game.

"Let's hope it's something he didn't see coming." Peter says, praying he's one step ahead of the man.

-

The only thing Caitlin could think to do was try to break the power dampening cuff. She had explained to Dominic about Frost and how, if she could get the cuff off, Frost could save them.

As she struggled with the cuff, Dominic gave her a quizzical look. "Who's Peter?"

Caitlin paused, the screwdriver she was using to attempt to get her cuff off falling to her side.

"He's on your mind a lot," Dominic elaborated quickly, noticing her expression. "Almost as much as Crystal Frost."

Caitlin sighed, turning around to give Dominic her attention. "He's my boyfriend," she explained, the words rolling off her tongue with delightful ease.

Dominic's eyebrows went up. "Oh!" he said. "Does he know about your powers?"

"Yes. He has some, too," Caitlin told him, deciding not to elaborate.

"Then can he come save us?"

Caitlin shook her head. "He could, but...well, he doesn't know where we are. But I know he will stop at nothing until he finds us. But for now, I think we're on our own." She paused, looking at Dominic. "I'm going to be honest with you. It's too risky to preform this surgery here, and I don't have any powers to save us." A thought suddenly struck her and Caitlin started to smile. "But you do."

In just a few seconds Caitlin had slid the curtains across the bed, blocking the door-guards view of them. She and Dominic ran around the corner and towards the hallway.

"Come on," Caitlin whispered, running down a shot flight of steps and turning the corner into another corridor.

"No, Caitlin, get back!" Dominic hissed, and they pressed themselves against the wall just as two of Amunett's men rounded the corner.

They dove into a side room just in time to avoid getting seen, and as soon as the guards passed they were on the move again.

Caitlin could see the end of the hall. They were almost there when a wall of interlacing metal pieces sprung up in front of them. Filled with dread, Caitlin and Dominic slowly turned around.

"Somebody's made my naughty list," Amunett Black growled.

-

After a strangely comforting and also alarming talk with Amunett about her past, Frost's powers, and Caitlin's remarkableness as herself and as a doctor, the stirrings of a plan began to develop in Caitlin's brain.

She had managed to rig an x-ray machine from some equipment from the basement, and she believed that she could preform the surgery on Dominic and get them both out of there. Caitlin called in Amunet and a couple of her guards and had them stand back, wrapping a mask over her mouth and nose and pressing a breathing tube to Dominic's face.

"Now, I'm going to need you to hold still," Caitlin said as she flicked on her impromptu x-ray machine, showing and image of Dominic's collarbone, head, and neck. "You're going to feel some pressure," Caitlin told him, reaching for a pair of tweezers. Her eyes on the x-ray, she began to carefully remove the bullet. "Extracting the foreign object..." she murmured, hands steady and eyes concentrated.

And then it was out. "Foreign object extracted," Caitlin reported, triumphant. "Applying some surgical glue."

The heart monitor began to beep rapidly. "He's going into shock," Caitlin said, glancing back and forth.

"So, unshock him!" Amunett ordered.

"I can't," Caitlin said, starting to press her hands against Dominic's chest.

He flatlined, and the metal shards in Amunett's bag began to rattle. "I need to hear a beep beep beep or Dominic won't be the only flatliner in the room."

The two guards collapsed, and Caitlin stopped pumping on Dominic's chest.

Amunett got a odd look on her face. "Oh," she murmured, tilting to the side. "Oh, you're good." She said as she crumpled to the ground, having inhaled too much of the steadily leaking knockout gas Caitlin had been spraying into the room.

Almost immediately, Caitlin plugged the gas tube back in and Dominic sat up. He unstrapped the mask from around his head and Caitlin took off her medical coverup. "They're out cold," Dominic said, amazed.

"40PSI of ventilation anesthetic. That'll keep them out, but not for long," Caitlin told him. "Let's go."

They began to sprint down the hallway, up the short flight up stairs, and into the street. Caitlin was relieved when they got outside, the frigid night air hitting her like a slap in the face. This was the kind of weather Frost enjoyed, but anything was better than the stuffy, dusty air of the abandoned hospital

They kept running, and a second later Dominic yelled, "Caitlin!" and forced her to the ground. Not a moment too soon, three shards off metal spat over their heads and imbedded themselves in the parked truck in front of them.

"Darn it!" Amunett said, her gaze dark. "I was aiming for your head."

She shot out her fist, and with nowhere to go, Dominic and Caitlin could only flinch backwards as more metal shards came spinning towards them.

Caitlin winced, shut her eyes, and waited for death. Instead, none other than Ralph Dibney stretched himself in front of them. The metal struck him in the chest and then quickly popped out. "So pointy!" Ralph grunted. "That is not very nice, lady."

Enraged, Amunet lifted her arm again. This time, she didn't even have time to fire- a stream of blue vibe knocking her backwards and to the ground.

"Are you a time traveler?" Cisco quipped. "'Cause those white girl dreads came straight from the 90s."

"Hey, I do the quipping." Peter informs his friend as Amunett glowered at him but didn't try to get up again. Cisco quickly opened a breach and Caitlin, Dominic, Ralph and Cisco all hopped through. In seconds, they were at STAR Labs.

Safe.

-

Later that afternoon, Barry was discovered and he says that DeVoe did kidnap him, but he didn't explain why.

Peter, Frankie, and Caitlin went home to get ready, and they made it to the West's house.

They arrived at around the same time as the rest of the Team, and walked inside to find an explosion of decorations and none other than Ralph Dibney standing with a Santa suit on while they heard Spidey Bells playing.

"What the-?" May broke off, staring around in shock.

"Ho ho ho!" Ralph laughed. "Wait." He turned sideways and stretched out his stomach. "Like a bowl full of jelly."

"Ralph, what is all this?" Peter asked with a smile, taking off his coat and placing it over the back of the couch before helping Caitlin with hers and Frankie.

"Well, Joe said he didn't have any time to decorate, and I wanted to do something nice for... my friends," Ralph explained, nodding a few times. "I realize that I don't usually say or do the right things, and I just wanted to say...I'm sorry."

"Well, you- you went all out, Ralph," Caitlin said. "Thanks."

"Yeah, this looks great, man!" Barry agreed. "Thank you!"

"I'm glad you like it," Ralph said, smiling happily. "And, uh, Caitlin," he added as people began to filter into the house. "Uh...It was wrong of me to say that Crystal Frost is better than you. Because, the truth is...no one is better than you."

Caitlin smiled at the sweet comment. "Thank you. And, I know. I'm the one who saved the day this time." She sent him another smile, and then followed her boyfriend into the dinning area.

After Cisco accidentally opened up a message cube from Gypsy he had thought it was a breakup cube but quickly found out that Gypsy was not looking to break up with him tonight and he hurried to compose himself, Dominic arrived. Caitlin introduced him to the rest of the team and Dominic glanced around a little awkwardly.

"This house is..."

"Bitchin'?" Cisco suggested.

"Festive," Dominic finished slowly, giving him an odd look.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ralph grinned. "But who the heck are you again?"

Cisco gave him a weird look. "He's the guy you just helped save."

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed. "The meta who can read your mind?"

Dominic smiled and glanced across the room. "And...this must be Peter and Frankie?"

Peter glanced up, eyebrows raised. "Um, yes, that's me. Hello."

"She...thinks about you a lot," Dominic explained, nodding at Caitlin. "And I may have read her mind a couple times when she was helping me escape."

"Oh!" Peter looked pleased.

"Anyway," Dominic said. "I'm not really here to fight crime or anything...more just brainstorm ideas about my powers."

Cisco lifted his mug. "Aha! I christen thee Brainstorm."

"Oh, come on, man!" Ralph complained, pouting. "I've been here for months and I don't have a name yet."

Peter and Caitlin were watching them bicker and laughs when Frankie approached Peter and she seemed nervous.

"Hey, kiddo, you okay?" Peter asks her.

"Yeah. I'm fine...can we talk alone? For a minute?" Frankie asks and Caitlin takes that as a que to leave the two alone.

"What's up?" Peter asks her.

"I was...there's something...I...I wanna help you guys." Frankie says and Peter's confused.

"What do you mean by help?" Peter wonders.

"I wanna learn how to be a superhero." Frankie explains and Peter doesn't know what to say.

-

That was before the alarm at Barry's loft went off, and he ran off to check up on it.

That was before he found DeVoe's dead body lying in their apartment, the odd, anonymously sent knife wedding gift sticking out of his chest. That was before Captain Singh began hammering on the door.

-

211 West 47th street, suite 316 New York, New York 10019

One of Hell's Kitchen's greatest lawyers was in his office when his phone started to ring.

"Peter. Peter. Peter." His phone rang and Mathew Murdock answers it.

"Peter. What can I help you with?" Matt asks his friend.

"Hey, Matt, I need you to get to Central City. My friend, Barry Allen, he's being framed for murder and I need the best lawyer I know." Peter explains to him.

Matt listens to the details and sees why Peter called him.

He was also told Peter already booked him a private flight to Central City.