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Cisco, Haylee and Joe stood in Barry's lab for the blood sample results, Haylee had been responding to messages from Jesse about Iris' words getting between him and Linda causing Haylee to realise that Iris may have hidden feelings for Jesse. "Yes, yes, yes!" Cisco's cheers caught Haylee's attention, she shoved her phone into her jacket pocket. "See? We got two different blood samples," Cisco told them. "One for each speedster," Joe replied. "That's right. One is A-positive, and the other one's AB-negative... super rare," Cisco explained.

"I'm gonna run them both through the CCPD criminal database to see if I get any matches," Cisco told Joe. "Can you run them against a specific person?" Joe asked Cisco who looked up at him. "Yeah, sure, if we have something to match it to. Who are we looking at?" Cisco asked as he turned to the screen. "Dr Harrison Wells," Joe answered straight away. "I thought we were trying to solve Barry's mom's murder," Cisco said with a confused expression.

"We are," Haylee spoke up with a reassuring smile. "And I'm asking you to keep this between us," Joe added. "You think Dr Wells killed Barry's mom? No way. He didn't even know Barry then. Why would he kill his mom?" Cisco asked with an incredulous look. "I don't know yet. But I do know that Wells keeps secrets. And this may be one of them," Joe explained to the younger man. "Dr Wells is a great man. I was nothing when he gave me a job, a chance to change my life. He has helped so many people. He's not a murderer," Cisco argued.

"Cisco, I'm a cop. I'm good at reading people, so I know I can trust you with my suspicion. When I go talk to the family and friends of a murder suspect, somebody I know is guilty, and I tell them the person they love is a killer, guess what they all say; "That's not the person I know"," Joe explained to Cisco who looked at him with a glint of denial. "I think I'm done being a cop for today," Cisco said before making his way out of the lab. "I'll handle it, Joe," Haylee assured before kissing Joe's cheek and following after Cisco.

Haylee caught Cisco in the elevator, the two of them were silent for a moment. "You think it could've been Dr Wells?" Cisco asked Haylee in a soft voice. "I don't know, Co. My instincts go haywire around him now and I just... Maybe I'm just being paranoid due to my past but something isn't right and I need to find out what," Haylee explained to him with full honesty. "I don't know how to feel about this," Cisco told her without looking at her. "That's okay, Cisco. You take your time, we trust you," Haylee assured.

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Cisco didn't say a word to Haylee as he drove them to Star Labs and she stayed quiet to respect his need to process his own thoughts. They made their way into the Cortex where Caitlin, Barry and Dr Wells usually were, but a familiar face caused Haylee and Cisco to look at them with wide eyes. "Ronnie?" Haylee spoke but the Ronnie lookalike shook his head. "Not Ronnie," Cisco then said before looking at Haylee, the two of them were very confused.

"Martin Stein," Not-Ronnie spoke causing Haylee to gasp lightly. "Cisco Ramon and-" Cisco introduced by Not-Ronnie cut him off, "Haylee Brager. One of my finest students." Haylee blushed at that knowing that Martin Stein was not someone who complements others often. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Miss Brager," Not-Ronnie spoke, the woman nodded. "It's good to see you but it'd be nicer to see you within your own... vessel," Haylee replied.

"Your colleagues are in the next room, not so subtly discussing my condition," Not-Ronnie spoke up with a stoic expression. Haylee and Cisco smiled at him before making their way towards the others, sending each other a subtle glance before focusing on the team. "That's not freaky at all," Cisco announced as they walked in. "It seems Ronnie's fight with The Flash has exacerbated the Firestorm Matrix. It's unstable," Dr Wells expressed as he wheeled into the Cortex.

"Exponentially increasing the rate of fission inside his body," Dr Wells continued while Haylee looked back at Not-Ronnie with a sympathetic expression. "Well, 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 answered her. "But you can fix it, right?" Barry asked as Haylee stood next to him, the couple leaning back against the desk looking at Dr Wells. "I mean, you... you can separate them before it's too late," Barry added.

"Any attempt we make to separate the two of them could be catastrophic... a nuclear explosion. And a nuclear explosion of this magnitude would level this entire city," Dr Wells explained to Barry who looked down, Haylee grabbed his hand for both of their comforts. "Unless..." Dr Wells breathed out, gaining their attention. "Unless what?" Haylee asked as she stood up straight. "Unless the host body were no longer functional," Dr Wells finished off.

"No way!" Haylee exclaimed instantly as she looked at Dr Wells, Cisco noticing the distrust seeping into her gaze. "You want to kill Ronnie?" Caitlin asked with gritted teeth. "No, I don't want to kill Ronnie. But in this scenario, Ronnie is the host body," Dr Wells expressed to the woman as she lightly glared at the man. "If you kill Ronnie, you kill Stein. That's two people," Cisco spoke up as he stepped up closer to them. "I don't know how else to stop it," Dr Wells told them.

"And my guess is that if Ronnie and Professor Stein knew the consequences that we were all facing, they would make the same decision. It's two lives for millions," Dr Wells expressed to them but Cisco and Haylee shared a disappointed glance, a secret conversation of understanding. "Can you give us a minute?" Caitlin asked them. Cisco walked away with Barry and Haylee following behind him, Haylee shook her head at Harrison's lack of empathy in that decision, she could see it in his eyes.

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Barry and Caitlin were talking as Haylee and Martin were discussing her time in college when she studied Astrophysics. "I have an idea," Dr Wells announced as they entered the room minus Not-Ronnie, Haylee looked over to him with hesitancy while the others focused on him. "It's a bit of a Hail Mary, but Cisco and I are going to give it a try," Dr Wells explained before Caitlin sent him a thankful glance. Unfortunately, Professor Stein had left the building which meant they needed to work quickly.

"I found Stein. He's in the Badlands," Caitlin announced. "Middle of nowhere, thirty miles outside of Central City," Haylee added on to Caitlin's words. "Minimum safe distance," Cisco added. "He's sacrificing himself," Dr Wells told them. "How much time does he have left?" Barry asked quickly. "Twelve minutes," Cisco answered Barry. Cisco and Harrison finished the Quantum Splicer, handing it over to Barry.

"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," Dr Wells explained to the speedster who was now in his suit. "What are you doing?" Barry asked Caitlin. "I'm going with you," Caitlin told him. "Cait, I'm gonna go with him to glitch us out," Haylee announced having changed into her suit. "It's too dangerous!" Cisco told Caitlin. "Barry doesn't know how to operate the splicer," Caitlin told them.

"Cisco's gonna talk me through it," Barry told her while Haylee sighed in annoyance. "We are running out of time and I know how to do it," Haylee told them sending Caitlin a stern look. "O-Okay..." Caitlin lowered her head. "Barry and I will handle this," Haylee told them before she and Barry sped out of Star Labs and straight to the Badlands where Professor Stein was. The older man spotted the two of them, "What are you doing here? You can't be here! Get out of here now!"

Haylee approached him with the Quantum Splicer, "We have a way to save them all, Martin Stein. I won't let you and Ronnie play sacrifice when you taught me there is always another way." Haylee looked at him with determination in her eyes. "We can separate you, we can stop the explosion," Barry told him. "How?" Stein asked them. "A Quantum Splicer," Barry told him as Haylee nodded. "It's a fission device designed to bombard your atoms with as much energy as they experience in the particle accelerator explosion," Haylee explained to him.

"It should be enough to separate you. Please, Professor, you have nothing left to lose," Haylee begged him with watery eyes that stung due to her power usage. "Alright. Let's do it then," Martin told her with a stiff nod. Barry and Haylee sped away after Haylee activated the Splicer, the two of them watching from a distance. "It's not working!" Barry called out but Haylee shook her head. "It'll work," Haylee muttered.

"Get out of there! Both of you, get out of there now!" Dr Wells called through the comms but Haylee refused to move from her spot. "Haylee, we have to go!" Barry called out before grabbing her hand and pulling her away before the explosion hit suddenly. Barry held Haylee tight in his arms as they dropped to the ground from the impact wave of the explosion. Haylee let out a shaky breath with tears falling from her eyes, she tested the calculations in her mind a thousand times so they should be fine.

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Author Note
It's gonna get real tense soon...

Also, yes, Jesse did eat the hot pepper to win Linda back... Poor Haylee missed it aha!

-Rose <3
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