— 𝑆 —

"𝐘𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘'𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓 from a Star City vigilante, who is calling himself the 'Green Arrow' has spawned a massive outcry . . ."

Sophia raised her eyebrows at the TV, which showed Oliver Queen in his superhero get-up. "Catchy."

Cisco, on the other hand, frowned. "I hate it when they put a colour in their name."

"Yo."

Sophia turned from the TV to see Barry walking in, Iris just behind him. 

"Yo," replied Cisco. He walked over to the desk beside the TV and picked up the remote. "The sample you gave us—not sand." He switched the screen to the cell analysis, which proved his point. "Definitely human cells."

"Yeah, I know," Barry sighed, staring at the screen with disappointment. "It's not him. I get it."

Cisco crossed his arms. "I hate to say it, I think this Earth Two theory is starting to make sense."

Barry raised his eyebrows incredulously. "For real?"

"What," questioned Iris, "you think Jay is lying about the Sand Demon?"

"I don't know!" Barry shrugged. Sophia knew that he wasn't feeling as nonchalant as his expression was showing, though she decided to keep that for a private conversation. "That's my point. But I'm not gonna just believe some guy that walks in here and says a few things that sort of check out."

"'Sort of'?" repeated Cisco with a scoff. "He was—he was right about Zoom."

"We don't even know anything about Zoom," Barry protested. "Or what is Zoom? Is Zoom even real? Right now, that's just, you know, a story around a campfire." He spun around to face Stein, who was watching from the main desk. "I mean, have you discovered a breach yet?"

"Not yet," answered Stein tentatively, "but we know how to now."

Barry turned to Caitlin. "Have you found one thing to suggest that Jay is a speedster? Is the Speed Force even in his system?"

Caitlin closed her eyes and exhaled. "It doesn't appear to be, no."

"See?" Barry said softly. "We are scientists." He looked to Iris, adding, "You are a journalist. We test, we prove, we report. That's what we do! Except, right now, nobody here wants to do any of that, except me."

Sophia sighed, and based on the looks on everyone else's faces, they weren't as moved by his speech, either.

She didn't know what his problem was. 

Well, she knew. He didn't trust Jay, because Dr. Wells—or Eobard Thawne—had left him with concerns of having faith in people. But what she wasn't so sure of, was why he suddenly had no trust in them or their judgement, too.

"Can we have the room for a minute?" asked Iris, and they all nodded.

Sophia headed toward the workshop, and the other three were close behind.

"Why is he being like this?" murmured Caitlin as they entered the room, her frown prominent. "He's so . . . sure that Jay can't be trusted."

"Yeah, it's so weird," Cisco agreed, sitting on one of the stools. "Soph, have you talked to him at all?"

"I tried," she muttered, sitting on the stool beside him and rubbing her forehead. "But you know how stubborn he gets. I'm not sure how to prove to him that Jay's telling the truth—though, to be fair, I don't know if I believe him a hundred percent."

Caitlin's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't?"

She shrugged. "You can never be too sure with anyone. I think we all learned that lesson."

"So, basically, you're saying you don't trust any of us," accused Cisco, though his tone was more teasing than anything.

She smacked his arm. "You guys are different."

When Iris peeked her head in to tell them they were done talking, the rest of them headed back into the Cortex.

Barry was at one of the side desks, sitting on the edge of it. The look on his face was nothing short of sullen.

Sophia walked up to him, and though he gave her a small smile, he obviously wasn't very happy.

She put her hand on his knee. "Barry—"

"I need some air," he interjected. She had a feeling he knew what she was about to say. "Do you wanna go for a walk?"

She studied his face for a moment, though she didn't press. Iris probably gave him a good talking to, anyway. "Sure."

It was long past sunset, but the Moon and the streetlamps kept their path well-lit. It was a little chilly—the light breeze didn't help—though her sweater protected her. And when Barry wrapped his arm around her waist, the warmth that started in her stomach and travelled up to her cheeks was enough to last her for the walk.

For the first five minutes, they were both quiet. Sophia didn't mind; his company was all she needed. Besides, a little peace and quiet was nice in the midst of constant chaos. 

Then, he broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

Her eyebrows knitted together as she turned to look at him. "For what?"

"For the way I've been acting." His expression was guilty as he glanced down at her. "I don't want you guys to think I don't trust you. I do—you more than anyone—but it's just . . . I don't know. I've got a gut feeling about Jay."

"I get it," she said softly. "And I'm sure the whole thing with Wells doesn't help either. But I don't think it's the same case."

"Yeah," Barry mumbled. "Everyone loves him."

She squinted her eyes. "You're not still mad about the sweatshirt, are you?"

"No. I never was," he chuckled. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I don't know if I can trust him. But I trust you. You know that, right?"

"Of course," she murmured.

They stopped when his phone began to ring.

"Sorry," he muttered, pulling it out of his pocket. "It's Joe."

As he answered the call, Sophia turned her attention to the sidewalk in front of her. She figured Iris had knocked some sense into him—she had to thank her later—but still, he wasn't quite convinced. That really wasn't a problem they could fix.

"Soph," Barry said quickly, shoving his phone back into his pocket. The urgency in his voice caught her attention. "We have to go. Sand Demon just kidnapped an officer."

— 𝐵 —

"Finally come to your senses?"

Barry sighed as he stopped in front of Jay's cell. As much as he hated it, he needed all the help he could get; Patty, a police officer who couldn't seem to convince Joe to let her on the anti-metahuman task force, was taken by Sand Demon. He had only met her the day before—at the crime scene where the Sand Demon had first attacked him. 

"Sand Demon kidnapped a police officer," Barry informed him. "A woman that I know."

"And you need my help?"

"I need you to help us save her," he replied. "Before something happens."

Jay took a couple of steps forward in his cell. "I guess you're gonna have to trust me now, huh, kid?"

Barry let out a humourless chuckle. Unfortunately.

His finger was reluctant when he pressed the button to open up the cell, but he did it nonetheless. If this turned out badly, the only good thing was that he could tell everyone else 'I told you so.'

Barry led him into the Cortex, where the rest of the team were waiting. They gathered around Jay, and he began:

"We're looking for any structures that promote humidity. Greenhouses, grow rooms—anything of the sort. His body will literally start to fall apart if he becomes dehydrated."

"Like dry sand," offered Caitlin.

"Exactly." Jay nodded. "Sand Demon always attacks on two fronts: He creates a diversion, then strikes when you're distracted."

"Okay, then what do we do?" questioned Barry.

"We use your speed to get to him before the distraction can happen," he answered.

Barry sighed. "Jay, how do I stop somebody who can slip through my fingers?"

"The way I was never able to. With lightning."

Cisco clapped his hands together in excitement. "Yo, are you about to pull a Zeus right now?

"What are you talking about?" asked Caitlin in confusion.

Jay lifted an eyebrow. "Barry's gonna hurl lightning from the energy he creates when he runs."

Sophia nodded. "Because lightning plus sand equals—"

"Glass," Barry finished.

Jay gave him a small smile. "Time to learn something new, kid."

"All right," Barry chuckled. He had to admit—that would definitely be a cool new trick to add to the roster. As he turned, he spotted Joe in the hallway, getting off the phone. His smile faded.

He put his hand on Sophia's shoulder, muttering, "Give me a sec."

He hurried into the hallway, just behind Joe. "Hey, are you good?"

Joe raised his phone. "That was Singh. CCPD still hasn't found anything yet. Irony is, I didn't want Patty to have anything to do with the damn task force in the first place—and she gets taken because of me."

"No, no, no," Barry said quickly, shaking his head, "this isn't your fault, all right?"

He gave him an incredulous look. "It's hard not to think that."

"Well, look, we're gonna find Patty, all right?" Barry reassured him. "Whatever it takes."

— 𝑆 —

"I've searched all the vacant buildings in Central City and none of them fit the description that we need," sighed Caitlin.

"And I've looked at any draw upticks on the electrical grid," added Stein, working from the computers of the main desk. "Nothing out of the norm, I'm afraid.

"We gotta do whatever it takes," murmured Cisco.

Sophia groaned, staring at the TV that showed the vacant buildings on a map. This definitely was one of the more frustrating meta-humans they had to deal with. She just hoped that Barry, who was training with Jay, was making better progress than they were. 

Suddenly, Cisco got up. "I'll be back."

As he dashed out of the Cortex, Sophia exchanged furrowed eyebrows with the other two.

For a moment, she wondered what epiphany he must've gotten. And then she figured that she could just ask.

He wasn't in the hallway, so she tried the workshop. He was there, his back turned to her, just in front of the microscope. She wasn't sure what he was doing, though her concern grew when he let out a sharp gasp.

"Cisco?" she called quietly, and he whipped around in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"I figured out where Patty is," he breathed out.

Her face scrunched. A minute ago, they had nothing. Now, he knows the exact location? "And how exactly did you do that?"

"Just a hunch." He gave her an awkward smile, and she knew for a fact there was more than he was letting on. It was strange that he wouldn't tell her—they never kept secrets from each other. 

"Cisco—"

He ignored her call and began to hurry toward the door. "We gotta tell Barry."