F O R T Y - T H R E E:
lit on fire

"There he is," Caitlin said, while she, Bibiana, Barry, and Clarissa all approached Ronnie/Martin. "Looks like the tracker Barry placed on him worked." Bibiana watched as Martin crawled out from his hiding place. "Professor Stein?"

"I told you to stay away from me," Ronnie or Martin told Caitlin.

"And I will but there's someone else who wants to talk to you," Caitlin said. Clarissa walked towards the man she loved who was trapped in another body.

"Martin?" Clarrisa asked. "Do you know who I am?

"Clarissa?" Martin asked.

"Is it really you?" Clarissa asked.

"I don't know," Martin/Ronnie answered. "I hear the other inside me, and he wants to go home to her." Bibiana turned to look at her friend. "But we can't. I just want to be me again."

"Martin," Clarissa said. "What's my favorite color?"

"You could-- You could never decide," Martin answered. "So you chose stripes. You shouldn't see me like this."

"I see you," Clarissa told Martin. Bibiana wanted to cry from the emotional scene in front of her. "I see you, Martin. These people can help you. They say they can. Please, let them."

"Please, help us," Ronnie/Martin told the three friends.

⇝⇝⇝

"Well, we got him-- Them. Now what?" Barry asked. The hacker looked up from her computer screen and wondered the same thing.

"Stein clearly thinks he can separate himself from Ronnie's body using nuclear fission," Dr. Wells said.

"What do you think?" Caitlin asked.

"What do I think?" Dr. Wells asked. "Is it possible? Theoretically. Splitting an atom and splitting a man are two very different things."

Bibiana looked at Ronnie/Martin who had cleaned up himself. he has entered the room looking fresh.

"I don't suppose it's necessary to point out you're all staring," Ronnie/Martin said. Everyone stayed quiet for three seconds.

"Our apologies," Dr. Wells said.

"I'm adjusting to this," Bibiana muttered.

"It is remarkable," Martin said. "I feel clearer than I have since the accident. What did you give me?"

"A cocktail of antipsychotics," Dr. Wells answered. "Depressants, mood stabilizers."

"And a piece of mint gum," Bibiana said, holding up a pack of gum. "Can never go wrong with a nice breath."

"The same formula used to treat dissociative identity disorder," Martin said, turning towards Caitlin. "I assume this was your idea?" Caitlin nodded her head. "Very clever, Cait."

"Don't call me that, please," Caitlin said.

"I apologize," Martin said.

"We'd like to run some tests on you if you don't mind," Caitlin said.

"Of course, Dr. Snow," Martin said. He followed Caitlin to another room to be examined. Barry walked over to Bibiana and motioned towards the hallway. The girl got up and followed him.

"Remember that time in the bank where you went evil on us?" Barry asked. Bibiana furrowed her eyebrows together. She remembered being controlled perfectly and saying things she would never say.

"Yes," Bibiana said. The girl didn't want to go through those dark times again. Some things are better buried but they always pop up again.

"Something you said that day. It never really left my mind," Barry said. He finally had sorted out his feelings a month ago but with everything going on. It was really hard to say anything.

"I said a lot of things that day," Bibiana said. "A lot of those things were things I didn't even mean."

"You said something about Iris and how I'll never get over her," Barry said. He took in a deep breath before he left it all out. "With every passing moment I spend with you, I grow to care for you more. My feelings for Iris have subsided a bit but they will always be there. They have slowly turned into a sibling love ever since we started dating. I will always feel the need to protect her, but you will always be just as important to be."

"Barry, I honestly don't know what to say," Bibiana said, shaking her head. "But I know you wouldn't hurt me with all of this. I am just going to be trusting you through this."

"Good, good," Barry said. The two hugged for a few seconds before Bibiana pulled apart.

"So last night," Bibiana said with a cough. "Are we ever going to finish that or forget that it happened?"

"Barry, Bibiana," Dr. Wells called for them.

"I guess we'll find out later," Barry told Bibiana. They both went back into the cortex for work.

•
•
•

"You okay?" Barry asked Caitlin. She had just entered the room after Dr. Wells called for her.

"Yeah, it's just confusing," Caitlin said.

"What isn't confusing is what's happening to him now," Dr. Wells told them, looking at the data. "Ronnie's body is rejecting Stein's atoms like a host rejecting a parasite. The resulting instability is causing an exothermic reaction. I worry if his temperature continues to rise it'll set off a chain reaction."

"And then what happens?" Barry asked.

"Boom," Bibiana whispered.

"He could go nuclear," Dr. Wells said, turning towards them. Not after a minute later after moving around the room, Cisco entered the room.

"That's not freaky at all," Cisco said, after talking with Martin.

"It seems Ronnie's fight with the Flash has exacerbated the Firestorm matrix," Dr. Wells said, heading towards the cortex. Everyone followed him  "It's unstable. It's exponentially increasing the rate of fission inside his body."

"How long does he have?" Caitlin asked.

"If his temperature keeps rising at the current pace no more than a couple of hours," Dr. Wells said, turning his wheelchair.

"That means we have to fix it soon," Bibiana said.

"But you can fix it, right? I mean, you can separate them before it's too late?" Barry asked.

"Any attempt we make to separate the two of them could be catastrophic," Dr. Wells said. "A nuclear explosion. And a nuclear explosion of this magnitude would level this entire city. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Barry asked. Bibiana feared for the worst to happen.

"Unless the host body was no longer functional," Dr. Wells said. This caught everyone's attention.

"You want to kill Ronnie?" Caitlin asked. It was called murder in Bibiana's book.

"No, I don't wanna kill Ronnie," Dr. Wells told Caitlin. "But in this scenario, Ronnie is the host body."

"If you kill Ronnie, you kill Stein," Cisco said. "That's two people."

"In other words, murder," Bibiana said.

"I don't know how else to stop it," Dr. Wells said. "And my guess is that of Ronnie and Professor Stein knew the consequences that we were all facing they would make the same decision. It's two lives for millions."

There was a silence before Caitlin spoke up. "Can you give us a minute?"

Bibiana walked out of the cortex and into another room. She took out her work laptop and started to type on it.

⇝⇝⇝

"Hey, anything?" Barry asked walking into the cortex. Bibiana turned to look at him and offered him a smile before turning back to the screens.

"I have an idea," Dr. Wells said. "It's a bit of a Hail Mary, but Cisco and I are gonna give it a try."

"Thank you," Caitlin told Dr. Wells.

"I'll get Professor Stein," Barry said, leaving the room.

"Looking for the professor?" Cisco asked, entering the cortex. "Yeah, he's gone.

•
•
•

"You guys almost done?" Barry asked Dr. Wells and Cisco.

"Hang on, hang on," Cisco said. Bibiana typed away on the tablet making the missing parts. She would've made the whole device but it was risky. Especially if she messed up a code.

"I found Stein," Caitlin said, entering the room. "He's in the Badlands. The middle of nowhere, thirty miles outside Central City."

"Minimum safe distance," Cisco said, working on the answer.

"He's sacrificing himself," Dr. Wells said.

"That can't be good for him," Bibiana said, shutting off the tablet.

"How much time does he have left?" Barry asked.

"Twelve minutes," Cisco answered.

"And we're done," Dr. Wells said.

"What is it?" Barry asked.

"This is a quantum splicer," Dr. Wells said, sealing it off.

"Will it work to separate them?" Caitlin asked.

"We'll know in twelve minutes," Dr. Wells said. "Now, Barry, even you can't outrun a nuclear blast so you get this device to Professor Stein and you get out of there as fast as you can."

Caitlin grabbed the device and started to walk out of the room.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked.

"Going with you," Caitlin said. Bibiana ran after Caitlin.

"You can't, Caitlin," Bibiana said

"No you're not," Barry said.

"It's too dangerous," Dr. Wells added.

"Barry doesn't know how to operate the splicer," Caitlin said, putting on her jacket. "Neither does Bibiana."

"I would know if I had paid attention before," Bibiana said. She was dressed in her normal clothes. The girl wasn't going to go and that was decided earlier. Now if Caitlin was going, she couldn't go because that would make two people Barry would have to get out of there.

Cisco's gonna talk me through it," Barry said.

"There's not enough time," Caitlin said. "Let's go."

"Go," Dr. Wells told them. Barry picked Caitlin up and took off running with her.

"They're going to come back. Right?" Bibiana asked, her eyes were trained on the papers that went flying.

"I hope so," Cisco said. There was a beep coming from the table, causing Cisco to rush to it. Bibiana started to pick up the fallen papers.

"What was that?" Dr. Wells asked.

"Uh, comment system's on the fritz," Cisco said. "I'll be right back."

•
•
•

"He's not gonna make it," Cisco said, staring at the data. "He's gonna blow."

"We have to have faith," Bibiana said, looking at her screen. Barry had to make it with Caitlin. They have to save Ronnie and Professor Stein.

"Get out of there," Dr. Wells said over the comms. "Barry, get out of there now."

"Come on, Barry," Bibiana whispered. There was a big explosion.

•○•

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jazz