— 𝒮 —

"𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒!" 𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐀 grinned as she sat down next to Cisco at one of the main desks.

"Merry Christmas, Soph," Cisco replied with a similar smile. His eyes then widened dramatically as he noticed her empty hands and shook his head. "Didn't get me a gift?"

"Mm, are you saying you got a gift for me?" Sophia lifted her eyebrows, causing the man to raise his hands in surrender.

"You know what, my presence is a present," he pointed out, causing her to chuckle in amusement.

"Merry Christmas," they heard a voice call, and they turned to the middle of the room to see Barry, who was holding a red gift bag in his hand. He grinned as he handed each of them a rectangular box that was wrapped in blue gift wrapping. "Just a small token of my gratitude for everything you guys have done for me."

"Aw." Dr. Wells smiled down at the gift before saying, "I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say you've been a gift for us, Barry."

Barry pulled out a plaid thermos from his bag, causing Caitlin to furrow her eyebrows and question with a small smile, "What's that?"

Barry grinned as he put the bag down and showed off the Thermos. "This is compliments of Iris. Grandma Esther's famous eggnog."

Cisco grinned and pointed towards Barry. "That's what I'm talking about." He sent a quick wink to Sophia, mouthing "That's a true friend" as he walked over to put his gift away on the main desk, causing her to roll her eyes in amusement.

Dr. Wells cleared his throat, his smile fading slightly. "Maybe later for me. Wouldn't wanna drink and drive."

Barry cast a worried look in Sophia's direction as Dr. Wells left the room, pointing to himself as she stepped towards him. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," she reassured him with a shake of the head. She sighed, glancing towards the exit to see Dr. Wells disappearing as a frown formed on her lips. "This used to be his favourite time of the year, but the accident happened before Christmas, so . . . kinda ruined the holidays."

"I'm gonna buy him a present," Caitlin decided. "Maybe that'll cheer him up."

Cisco came back with his own cup, giving a small nod to Caitlin. "Yeah."

She gave them a quick smile before heading out of the Cortex, and Barry raised his eyebrows as Cisco handed him the cup. "So, what are your plans for Christmas, Cisco?"

"Well," Cisco started as he wrapped an arm around Sophia's shoulders, "it's kinda become tradition for me to go over to Soph's place, and we watch the entire Home Alone series while eating the chocolate we stole from Caitlin."

"We never make it past the second one," she sighed. "Cisco complains the whole damn time" —she mocked a high-pitch voice— "'How do they keep forgetting him?', 'Why doesn't anyone find it weird that two grown men are trying to murder a kid?' Yeah, we know it's weird, Cisco. We just ignore it."

"Why do you ignore it?" Cisco exclaimed. "It's weird! And anyway, the first two are the only good ones."

Barry gave a small chuckle, though his smile seemed a little more forced than before. "It is a little weird when you put it that way."

"Yeah," Sophia sighed. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Oh, you know" —Barry gave a small shrug— "celebrating at the West house. Assuming Christmas goes without any crime that the Flash needs to attend to."

Cisco crinkled his nose. "Bold assumption."

— 𝒮 —

"The witness described seeing a yellow blur," Joe said grimly to the group of people whose attention was solely on him. "Just like the one that killed Barry's mother."

"Then we need to get cracking and stop this speed psycho." Cisco shoved the end of a candy cane into his mouth before he quickly shook his head and moved his hand in a slashing motion over his neck. "That—I wasn't trying to give him a name."

Barry, who had been chewing on his nail, looked up from the seat he was in. "The crime scene at Mercury Labs was on a floor with highly secured vaults. And the witness said he was looking for something."

"Whatever it was," Dr. Wells sighed, "he wanted it badly enough to kill for it."

"Doctor, what do you know about this Mercury Labs?" asked Joe as he looked over to him.

"Mercury was one of STAR Labs' major competitors until . . . our little setback, and then it catapulted to the forefront, led by" —he pressed a button on the tablet connected to his wheelchair, which pulled up a woman's profile on the TV monitors— "Dr. Christina McGee, brilliant but egocentric physicist."

"It says here, Dr. McGee has secured half a billion dollars in private funding to develop, and I quote, 'prototypes for the technology of the future.'" Cisco read out.

"Well, I'll be . . ." Dr. Wells had a slight smile on his face as he looked up to Cisco. "Tina's messing with tachyons."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed as he turned around.

"Superluminal particles," Sophia clarified as she leaned next to Cisco against the desk.

"Of course," Joe sighed. "So, what could someone do with one of those . . . ?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Tachyons."

"Thank you." Joe nodded.

"Well, I don't know," Dr. Wells sighed, a frown settling on his lips as he shrugged. "Become invincible. If you could devise a matrix stable enough to harness their power, you could" —his gaze shifted to Barry— "travel faster than light."

"He's gonna try again to get them again," Barry pointed out. "We need to get what Mercury has and use it as a lure."

"He's exactly right. Cisco, Caitlin, Sophia" —Dr. Wells looked towards them— "start engineering a trap."

— 𝒮 —

Sophia frowned as she leaned back against the main desk the next day, standing behind Joe and Dr. Wells as Barry hastily explained to them how he had encountered the evil speedster the night before.

"He acted like he knew me," Barry continued, "like we'd done this before."

"He was antagonizing you, Barry," Joe reasoned as he crossed his arms.

"I—I would get close, and he'd pull away," Barry exclaimed. "This was just some sick game to him."

"You'll catch him, we'll help," Dr. Wells reassured him as he glanced back at Sophia, who nodded in agreement.

"No, you don't get it, all right?" Barry sighed. "His speed, i-it's beyond me. I'm not the fastest man alive. He is. So how do we catch somebody that even I can't keep up with?"

Dr. Wells sighed. "The beautiful thing about force fields, Mr. Allen, is they're impervious to speed."

"We're almost finished fabricating the trap," Sophia added with an encouraging nod. "All we need is for Joe to get the bait."

"I'm on it." Joe nodded before turning to head out. Noticing that Barry was beginning to trail him, he questioned, "Barry, why don't you stay here?"

"No, Joe, today is not the day to tell me to stay behind," Barry refused angrily.

Joe paused at the doorway, letting Barry pass him as he turned back to the other two. He let out a small sigh as he raised his eyebrows, "Soph, why don't you come with us? Could use someone else to keep him in check."

She furrowed her eyebrows as she glanced over to Dr. Wells, who nodded in agreement. "I don't work for the police, how am I gonna be allowed?"

Joe gave a dismissive wave. "We'll just say you're a consultant for something. You do know everything, right?"

"Well . . ." Her eyes squinted. There was still plenty she didn't know, especially when it came to meta-humans. "Technically . . ."

"No time for technicalities," Dr. Wells chuckled. "Just go."

She nodded, joining Joe as they caught up with Barry and headed over to the station.

It wasn't long until Dr. McGee joined them in the middle of the foyer of CCPD. Sophia had never met her before, though she had seen pictures of her in the past, and she looked exactly as those photographs had portrayed: thin, short, greying hair; and an unkind smile upon her thin lips.

Sophia nervously watched as Joe handed Dr. McGee the search warrant that he had received; she had never done anything this . . . official before.

Dr. McGee scoffed as she looked down at the paper. "If the judge was gonna sign this, he would've done so already."

"Look," Joe sighed as she handed him the warrant back, "I'm sure you don't want this investigation to get any more public than it's already been, do you, Doctor?"

"This has Harrison Wells written all over it—big, black letters. I am not giving you my tachyon prototype," she said earnestly.

Sophia did her best to look as intimidating as possible (which was definitely not at all intimidating), and firmly said, "Detective West told me that it was quite the tour of your facility, doctor. You were fine to let those dumb cops walk around" —she ignored Joe's glare— "but I majored in mechatronics, and I saw a whole lot of stuff that Science Showcase Magazine would love. So should I call their editors directly, or just leave a few posts on their website?"

Dr. McGee stared at Sophia's plastered smile before conceding, "You'll have the tachyon device within the hour. I see why Harrison holds you in such esteem. You're very much alike."

Joe turned to her as the doctor walked towards the elevator, an impressed smile on his face. "Nicely done. We should bring you more often."

She smiled, though it turned into a frown as Barry brushed past them to head towards the elevators. She murmured a quick goodbye to Joe before following Barry, squeezing inside before the doors closed.

She folded her arms as she leaned against the elevator wall and raised her eyebrows. "Listen, Barry, I know—"

"I don't wanna talk about it," he cut her off, his gaze staring straight at the elevator doors.

"But—"

"Not now, Sophia."

She frowned, though she knew better than to press any further. "Okay."

— 𝒮 —

Sophia peered into the live footage that was being displayed on the monitor, a hand on Cisco's shoulder as she examined the trap they had built.

It was meant to create a force field, with its four half-rings that were all attached to a circular platform. With any luck, it would be strong enough to contain the evil speedster.

"The tachyon device is in place," Cisco confirmed.

"You think it'll work?" Barry asked tentatively, leaning forward next to Sophia on the main desk.

"It'll work," Cisco reassured him with a nod before turning around and heading out, presumably to the trap.

"So how do we advertise to him that the prototype's here?" asked Barry as he looked towards the side, where Dr. Wells gave him a smile.

"We'll take care of that," Dr. Wells assured the man as he leaned back and folded his arms.

Barry's uncertain gaze roamed over Sophia, Dr. Wells, and Joe before his eyebrows furrowed. "What's the problem?"

"Look, Barry," Joe sighed as he shared a nervous look with Dr. Wells, "the three of us have spoken, and . . . we think it would be best if you weren't here for this."

Barry's expression quickly grew into an exasperated one as he shifted his weight from one side to another. "What are you talking about?"

"You're too close to this," Joe answered as he shook his head.

"Maybe you're not close enough," Barry rebutted. "If you hadn't been too scared and warned me that he was here weeks ago, I could have been prepared for this."

"I think we can all appreciate Joe's concern for Iris, Barry," Dr. Wells spoke up.

"That's why I have to be here!" Barry exclaimed as he turned his attention to the man. "I'm the best chance at catching this guy!"

"Not right now," Joe countered, "not in this state."

Barry took a breath before he lowered his voice, "This man stabbed my mother through the heart and sent my father to prison for it. This is my fight!"

Still, Joe shook his head. "Not today, son."

Barry sighed as he looked over at Sophia with a pleading gaze, but she only gave him a sympathetic smile in response.

Angrily, he grabbed his jacket and turned, not bothering to give them a second glance as he stormed out of the Cortex.

"It's for the best," Dr. Wells quietly reassured Joe, whose eyes had begun to moisten, "he'll be fine."

"I'm gonna go help with the trap," Sophia mumbled, earning a nod of approval from the man beside her.

She tied her hair back into a low ponytail as she headed down, though her direction changed when she heard familiar voices in the Pipeline.

". . . we will find Ronnie again."

Sophia suddenly paused. Ronnie? Ronnie, Ronnie? Ronnie, as in the Ronnie that had died in this very building?

Tentatively, she stepped into the narrow hall, seeing Caitlin and Cisco sitting at the side. Caitlin was sniffling, her eyes a little red as she toyed with her engagement ring.

"Hey, guys . . ." Sophia said hesitantly, immediately drawing their attention to her. "I feel like I missed something."

Cisco shifted towards her as she sat down next to him, keeping a reassuring hand on Caitlin's back as he murmured, "Ronnie . . . he's still alive."

"What?" Sophia breathed out, her eyes widening as she glanced towards Caitlin, whose eyes were fixated on the glittering diamond.

"Yeah, except he . . . Well, he's a meta-human. Fire," Cisco added, causing Sophia to frown. "But when Cait tried to talk to him . . . it didn't exactly go well. It's like he isn't himself."

"Shit," Sophia muttered, and she quickly headed over to sit on Caitlin's other side. "Cait, we'll do the best we can to find him," she promised softly, glancing over at Cisco as he gave a nod of agreement.

"Why?" Caitlin questioned, her voice quivering as she looked over to her. "So we can throw him in there" —she nodded towards the cells— "with all the other meta-human psychos?"

Sophia and Cisco shared a look of sorrow, not knowing how to respond; she was right, if Ronnie truly acted like the other meta-humans that they had encountered, there wouldn't be any other option. . . .

"I used to play this game in my head," Caitlin began as she lowered her gaze to the ground. "What would I give up for just one more minute with him?" She paused, sniffling as a tear rolled down her cheek, though a small smile introduced itself onto her face. "My house, my career . . . the rest of my life?" She looked towards Cisco, who watched her carefully. "Today, I finally got that minute." She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut as more tears trailed down her cheeks as she breathed out, "And I wish I hadn't. Seeing him like that, what he's become . . . Dear God . . . I wish he had just died that day."

Sophia wrapped an arm around Caitlin as she pressed her hands to her face and sobbed, pulling her close as she placed a kiss on the side of her head.

She looked up to Cisco with furrowed eyebrows, and he only gave her a hopeless shrug in return; there was no mending this.

— 𝒮 —

Sophia kept her fidgety hands in her lap as she watched the live footage of the trap that was displayed on the monitor that Dr. Wells sat in front of.

She was more than aware of the presence of Joe and Eddie behind them, along with multiple officers dressed in full tactical gear, though she ignored them as she glanced over at Cisco, who sat on the right of Dr. Wells.

"Sending out another pulse," he told them as he tapped one of the keys.

"Are you certain this trap will work?" questioned Eddie from behind Sophia, clearly as nervous as her as he shifted in his spot.

"I've sent up at least three charges into open satellite," Cisco answered. "If anyone's looking for tachyonic particles, they'll know we got 'em."

There was silence for a moment, and suddenly, Sophia's heart rate increased by a million.

The yellow speedster had sped into their trap, and the force-field came up, just as planned. Then realizing what had happened, he continuously sped around as he tried to get out, but to no avail.

Dr. Wells had a triumphant smile on his face as he murmured, "Let's see what we caught."

Sophia, Cisco, and Caitlin continued to man the computers as the armed officers, Joe, Eddie, and Dr. Wells headed down to the trap.

Sophia shifted into Dr. Wells' spot and kept her eyes on the footage, her foot tapping against the ground at a quickening pace.

It wasn't long until they saw the doors open, and the group entered the room, where the yellow speedster was still attempting to get out. The speedster then stopped in the middle of the trap, his gaze set straight forward as the officers approached.

"Cisco!" Dr. Wells called out. "Lights!"

"Sure thing, Dr. Wells," Cisco answered through the microphone, his eyebrows furrowing as he clicked a button.

With Caitlin peering over her shoulder, Sophia watched as the room suddenly lit up, though it didn't add much to the overall view.

"Detective Thawne?" Dr. Wells questioned as he leaned towards the officer, who nervously glanced at him as he readjusted his grip on his gun. "Would you like to read him his rights?"

Joe began to step towards the forcefield, his gun clutched tightly in both hands as he stared at the speedster.

"Joe," Eddie exclaimed, "what are you doing?!"

"Getting some answers," responded Joe. He took a step closer and began, "Fourteen years ago, you murdered Nora Allen. I wanna know why. Why?"

The speedster, however, ignored him as he stepped forward to the edge of the trap and spoke, "Dr. Wells, we meet at last."

Dr. Wells rolled forward as he questioned, "What do you want with the tachyonic particles?"

"My goals are beyond your understanding."

"Oh, I don't know . . ." mused Dr. Wells as he clasped his hands in his lap and gave the speedster an amused smile. "I'm a pretty smart guy. I knew you were exceptionally fast, so any trap we manufactured would have to be invisible. I knew your cells could repair themselves at extraordinary speed, so you could withstand the damage this is doing to your body right now."

"The supercapacitors, the containment field is fluctuating," Cisco said quickly, his eyes widening as red began flashing over his screen. "They need to get out of there now."

"The reason I know all this . . ." Dr. Wells continued, completely unaware of the danger they were now in, "is because your powers are almost exactly like those of the Flash."

"Oh, I'm not like the Flash at all," the speedster reassured them. "Some would say I'm the reverse."

All three of their eyes widened as all the screens around them began to glitch out, a mixture of white and black as static filled their ears.

"Dr. Wells, evacuate," Caitlin said hurriedly into the microphone. "Get out of there now! Dr. Wells!"

"Cisco!" they suddenly heard Joe yell. "Turn off the barrier!"

"If I turn it off, that thing's gonna get out!" Cisco answered nervously.

"Cisco, he's gonna kill Wells!"

Sophia grabbed her phone, furiously swiping through her contacts before reaching Barry's and texting him 'S.O.S.'

"Come on." Cisco grabbed his coat and beckoned for the two women to follow him, which they then heeded.

Just as they pushed past the doors and arrived outside, the sound of glass shattering filled the air, and they looked to see a mixture of red and yellow lightning racing up the side of the building.

Sophia's eyes widened as she watched the blur mix together. Yellow and red lightning—just like what Barry had seen when he was a child.

This thought didn't linger for too long as she watched the two speedsters come to the ground, and Barry was thrown back into the windshield of a car, effectively cracking it.

The three of them watched in horror as the yellow speedster grabbed Barry and threw him to the ground of the parking lot, repeatedly throwing punches and tossing him to the ground.

Barry remained limp on the ground after a few minutes of being beaten up, and the yellow speedster stood triumphantly over his body. He was about to finish him off when a burst of fire blew him backwards.

The fire soon disappeared, and Sophia's eyes widened as she realized the source: Ronnie.

Although, he hardly looked like the Ronnie she was used to. His face was grimy, his hair was down to his chin and greasy, and he wore shabby clothes that looked like they had been worn for a week too long.

The yellow speedster got to his feet, though he retaliated no longer as he spoke, "Our race is not yet done. See you soon, Flash."

And with a burst of red lightning, he was gone.

Immediately, the trio ran in Barry's direction, and while Caitlin ran past the man and to Ronnie, Sophia and Cisco helped Barry to his feet.

Sophia put a hand to Barry's cheek, her eyes worriedly roaming over the blood that was streaming down the side of his face as she hurriedly asked, "Are you okay?"

There was no time for him to answer, however, as their attention turned to the front to watch as Ronnie flew off, his fire trailing under him.

— 𝒮 —

"This ain't no Home Alone, but this is still pretty nice," Cisco remarked as he gazed at the brightly lit Christmas tree in front of him.

It was Christmas Eve, and, in an attempt to lighten everyone's spirits from what had happened a few hours before, Joe had invited the group to the West household Christmas party. This invitation was one they gladly accepted, and Sophia had thought she had escaped Home Alone, but apparently not.

"Oh, come on," Sophia laughed as she nudged his arm. "You would've been complaining about the physics of the traps by now."

"And you would've fallen asleep by now," Cisco countered with a grin as he grabbed a pillow and held it against his chest.

"You guys argue like an old, married couple," laughed Iris, who was sitting on Eddie's lap on the sofa chair in front of them. "An old, nerdy couple. You sure you aren't dating?"

"Me? Dating that? Never in a million years," Cisco scoffed, feigning a look of disgust as he looked at Sophia. "Besides" —a grin grew onto his face— "she definitely has a thing for Ba—"

"Basketball!" Sophia quickly interrupted, sending a glare his way. "I love basketball."

"We all know you've never played a sport in your life," Caitlin, who was sitting on Sophia's other side, laughed, shaking her head. "Nice try, though."

"Was he gonna say Barry?" questioned Iris, the corners of her lips beginning to tug upwards as she leaned forward. "Do you have a thing for Barry?"

"Yeah, this is how I wanted to spend my Christmas Eve," Sophia sighed as she leaned back against the couch, staring into the hearty fire that sat under a few hung stockings, "getting roasted and exposed."

"So you do!" Iris exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with delight. "Do you—"

Before Iris could continue her thought, the door creaked open, and they all turned their attention to see Barry and Joe walk in.

"Hey!" everyone chorused in greeting.

"Hey!" Barry replied, his eyebrows furrowing, though he had a smile on his face as he took off his coat and put it away. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I invited them," Joe answered with a smile. "Where's Dr. Wells?"

"Uh, he wasn't feeling up to a social gathering, but he appreciated the invitation," said Caitlin with a small shrug. "Eggnog?"

Sophia remained in her spot on the couch as everyone walked over to the dining table, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought of the yellow and red blur from earlier.

If it was what she thought it was . . . Well, that wouldn't exactly be good news. But it was still an answer—an unexpected one, but . . .

"Hey."

Sophia relaxed her expression as she turned to see that Barry had sat down next to her, a small smile on his face.

"Hi," she murmured, attempting to return the favour of a smile.

"You okay?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the worried expression she had failed to get rid of.

"Yeah, just . . ." She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she shrugged. "Thinking about what happened."

Barry gave a small nod as he put his hand on her shoulder, and she tried to ignore the butterflies that had entered her stomach as he asked, "Did I look stupid out there? Getting beaten up?"

She forced a chuckle as she shook her head. "Would you believe me if I said no?"

"So I did," he sighed as he leaned back. His eyes turned back to her and roamed her face for a moment before he raised his eyebrows. "Is something bothering you?" He paused, his eyes squinting. "That was a dumb question, let me rephrase: Do you wanna tell me what's bothering you?"

"It's fine," she reassured him. He was the last person she needed to tell her suspicions to. She brushed off her dress as she got up, and gave him a smile. "I think I'm gonna ask Joe something, actually."

He nodded, and she quickly headed over to Joe, who was chatting casually with Cisco, both men holding mugs of eggnog.

"Hey, you two," she said quietly, catching their attention. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening before she began, "I saw something weird tonight."

"Yeah, Soph, I saw it too," Cisco scoffed.

"No, I mean . . ." She swallowed. "When the Flash and the man in yellow were going full-on bumper cars on each other, I was watching the electricity coming off of them—yellow and red electricity. When Barry was a kid, he said he saw red and yellow lightning in his house the night his mother died."

Joe's back stiffened, realization dawning on his face. "There were two of them."

"The man in yellow may have killed Barry's mother but . . ." Sophia took a breath as she shook her head before she continued, "there was another speedster there that night."

Joe pointed a finger at her as he nodded, and Cisco did the same.

"Dad," Iris called, "it's time!"

The group quickly followed him as he headed towards the Christmas tree, huddling around him as they watched him pick up the angel ornament and place it on top of the tree. He plugged the cord into a nearby outlet with one hand as he adjusted the angel with another, and the ornament quickly lit up.

Barry came to Sophia's side as Cisco pumped his fists into the air, and he nudged her, a small grin on his face.

"Merry Christmas, Soph," he murmured to her.

She turned so that her eyes met his as she smiled. "Merry Christmas, Barry."