#he gets angy when he hears other people walking around and he’s in his crate

[tiredlinguist]

ich kann nicht einschlafen

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.27: I Know // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

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Chapter Summary: Thawne starts putting the pieces together for his final attack on team Flash while they're distracted with one talking gorilla.

{Previous chapters}

"So, you figured it out, then?" Noah laughed in Belén's face.

The ombre-blonde stood outside the pipeline, arms crossed, with a deep glare on the laughing man. She expected nothing less than this but it didn't mean it wasn't infuriating. He had known this whole time that Plasticine was Maritza, and much more that Maritza had been the one to get him to work at CC Pictures with her to be a spy.

"Maritza is gone and I need to find her and Rayan. Do you have any idea where they could be?" Belén got straight to the point of her visit.

Noah planted his palms against his pod's wall and smirked. "Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you a thing."

"Do you know something?"

"I've no idea where Maritza is but I'm pretty sure Rayan and Pixel are at the usual place."

Belén waited a moment before speaking again. She wanted to give Noah the chance to do something good but it was clear that he was not on the same page. "I'm taking care of Maritza's son and he's asking for his mom. What the hell do I tell him, hmm? You may be evil but even you didn't hurt kids, huh?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "My eyes were on STAR Labs, and for the last time I don't know where Maritza is. If she hasn't appeared with your brother then maybe she's not with him either."

Belén pursed her lips and thought for another moment. She had thought that was a possibility too. Perhaps Maritza was on her own this time, without Rayan at her side. It would explain Pixel's solo appearances in the city lately. Plasticine had vanished. Belén wasn't sure if this was better or worse, honestly.

"You all played me, you shot me...all I am asking is for you to tell me where Rayan or Maritza are, please," Belén wanted to spark the last shred of decency Noah had, but it appeared like there was nothing left.

He laughed so loudly that Belén was sure if there was anyone in the cortex they would have heard by now. "Forget it," she spat and moved to close the pipeline down.

"It doesn't even matter now, Belén," Noah started talking once her hand moved for the control panel. "Maritza's gone, Rayan is losing his mind, and Pixel will just destroy the city out of sheer fun. Your family's done - it's been done."

"We'll see," Belén upheld a glare as the pipeline shut down. But even when the pipeline was closed, she could still hear his laughter's echoes.

~ 0 ~

Rayan's finger boredly circled the cool metal of a pipe while Angie babbled on about the latest clothes she stole the previous night.

"Piece of cake!" she laughed and jumped to sit on one of the old crates of the warehouse. She pushed some of her hair behind her shoulders and looked over to Rayan only to find out he hadn't been listening to her at all. "Excuse me, I'm talking!"

"And if it was interesting, I would have paid attention," Rayan looked up from the pipe briefly to glare at her. "I asked you to go find Maritza and instead you steal from...Forever21?"

"It wasn't Forever21, and-"

Rayan balled his fist and forced a water pipe above them to come crushing down on the ground between them. As the water spilled, Rayan moved around the pipe he'd been messing with - using his power to deflect any water drops from hitting him - and walked straight up to Angie. "I haven't seen my sister in weeks and as far as I know, she's not living with Belén either."

"Maybe she ran away?"

"Yes, but from what?"

"I don't know," Angie shrugged. "But maybe if you'd been paying attention you would have noticed how strange Maritza had been acting lately. She was keeping something from us."

"But what?"

The two had a mini-stare down until a gust of wind broke them apart. Angie fell off the crate and hit the ground with a thud while Rayan was pushed back against a pipe.

"Your sister was keeping a big secret from you, Mr. Palayta," the Reverse Flash stood between the two metas.

Rayan shook his head as he sat upright and immediately glared at the intruder. Maritza had told him about the second speedster who'd murdered their father - this one had to be it. He focused his eyes on the speedster and used all of his power to control the intruder. However, after a minute, the speedster mockingly laughed.

"Don't bother with that blood control - my molecules move too fast for you to even attempt to control."

"Then I'll just kill you the old fashion way," Rayan began to get up on his feet when Reverse Flash sped towards Rayan and pinned him against a wall.

"Or we could be smart and you can listen to what I have to say and offer."

"I say we listen..." Angie sat upright and rubbed her back. "Mostly cos I don't feel like fighting in my new clothes."

"I'd never talk to the man who killed my father!" Rayan gripped Reverse Flash's hand curled around his neck.

"What if I were to tell you that I know why Maritza ran?" Reverse Flash smirked when Rayan froze. "Or how about I mention my knowledge of the Flash's identity?"

That piqued Rayan's interest. Though he had a cloudy mind, everything snapped back to the present at the mention of the Flash, or even Belén for that matter. "What do you want?"

Reverse Flash let Rayan go and surprised the two metas by pulling off his hood.

"Dr. Wells?" Angie got up on her feet and threw Rayan a look. "We were right - that guy was always hiding something."

"First of all, my name is Eobard Thawne and second of all, as I told Belén, it really was not my intention to kill your father, your entire family was collateral damage," Thawne explained calmly. "And do you know who's at fault?"

"You," Rayan accused.

"No, the Flash. I wanted him, I still do, and because of him I had to go through so many people - including your sister - to get him. And if things continue they way they are, I'll have no choice but to kill her too."

"Fine," Rayan said all too easily, even for him. "Belén chose him anyways. Our entire family is broken."

"Well, I'm sorry to say that it does not get better. See, in my time - because I'm from the future by the way-" Thawne paused only to take in the two's comical faces, "-she's, how do you say, the Mrs. Flash?"

"NO!" Rayan's face went completely red within the minute. He thrust his hands forwards, picking up multiple crates and crashing them against the walls. "You're lying!"

"Are you willing to wager on that based on everything you know so far? Everything you've seen so far?"

Rayan breathed heavily, his chest rising as anger bubbled underneath. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want to get home and you want revenge on STAR Labs - I'm sure there's something we can come up with together. After all, your mind is still sane enough for a decent plan."

~0~

Searching for Eddie and Thawne was a much more complicated job than anyone could have thought. Days turned into a week and still no one could find them. Feeling so overwhelmed, the group had finally brought in Nina to officially help them as well. Nina searched from above, Belén through the small spaces, and Barry anywhere else in the city.

Feeling even more cautious, the group decided to never be alone. Where one went, another person was to accompany. There was a special emphasis on Iris, being the one of them who suffered more considering her boyfriend remained missing and she had no idea why. Belén tried spending as much time as she could with Iris, but the woman seemed to be a little distant. Belén didn't press for any talking that Iris didn't want to do - she was just there to be with Iris.

But on the nights that Iris preferred to stay alone - although for the time being back at her dad's - Belén was to spend her nights alone at home...or so she thought. Barry had taken Iris' words very seriously, figuring that although Belén was focusing on helping to catch Wells - or Thawne at this point - she too was hurting as her siblings were basically hunting her down for a death match. She was still processing how her own life had been altered because one man chose to do it.

Barry made it his job, or his responsibility, to make sure Belén knew she wasn't alone no matter what.

Belén stopped being surprised each night she found her boyfriend on the other side of her front door with an idea of how to spend their night. Even though he didn't spend the night, it made her feel good, safe, and best of all she wasn't lonely.

One night it was dinner.

...that they bickered about because they couldn't decide whose lasagna was better.

"I'm Italian, Barry! My lasagna will top yours any day!" Belén shouted at him.

"Hey, adding something new to the recipe doesn't mean it'll taste bad!" Barry argued right back with the same determination she had. It was clear that neither would back down, which meant they needed to find a solution fast.

"Auntie Belén!" Axel skipped into the kitchen from the backyard. "What are we eating? I'm hungry!"

The two metas glanced at each other with the same idea popping into their heads. That night Axel had two different plates of lasagna he could taste and when he happened to choose the plate Belén made, Belén cheered and gave a smug smirk at Barry.

"Told you," she even added.

"This is not a pretty side of you, Bells," Barry said with a small 'tsk' afterwards.

The next night Barry came over, it was series marathon night and both decided they owed Cisco by catching up on the Walking Dead. When Axel was put to sleep, Belén and Barry settled on the couch and watched the series for as long as they could before sleepiness would take over.

"It's still unbelievable their effects are this crappy," Barry would say every five minutes or so.

Belén, sitting beside him, rolled her eyes. "Barry…"

"I know, I got it, shut up now," Barry nodded and forced himself to keep his mouth shut for as long as possible. Two minutes later, however… "The aim was completely disproportionate-"

"Barry," Belén looked at him expectantly. They were just trying to watch a television series and here he was rambling on about the reality of things. It was so...Barry.

"I know, sorry," Barry apologized and lowered his head a little. But, when he looked back at the television, he just couldn't control himself. "Oh c'mon-" he flapped a hand towards the television, "-that could never happen!"

"Oh my god!" Belén exclaimed and hit him with one of the cushions, giving up on ever being able to watch television without him yapping through it.

"I'm just saying-"

"SHUSH!" she nearly jumped over him as she pushed the cushion over his face. Maybe this way she could get an episode in silence!

The next night, feeling guilty he had ruined their marathon day, he offered a movie night...where he promised he wouldn't speak unless it was for a good reason that did not involve science and logic.

Belén said he was on probation.

"Well, Axel is fast asleep," Belén returned from upstairs after making sure Axel remained asleep. "You are, and I quote, his favorite 'new uncle'." She moved around the couch and promptly took a seat on Barry's lap. Barry couldn't help but think back to the future article written by Belén's future self. He coughed awkwardly, making Belén laugh. "Calm down, Barry, he's four. Axel will call anyone his favorite aunt or uncle if they give him ice cream for breakfast."

"Sorry," Barry still smiled awkwardly. He hadn't the nerve to tell her about the article because he didn't want to freak her out. Most people didn't like seeing their future planned out like that.

Belén chuckled and looped her arms around his neck. "You're too cute sometimes." She pecked his lips once then put a finger over his lips. "Even if you do talk throughout my shows."

"Sorry," he apologized once more, prompting her to laugh again.

The next night, it was an active search for Thawne and Eddie. Due to that, Belén left Axel with Iris at the latter's home. Belén came back first when she figured it was time to head back for her own house, but somehow Iris convinced Belén to stay over for the night.

"Do you know where Barry went off to?" Iris walked into her bedroom just as Belén had placed one of her bags over her armoire.

Belén didn't look up as she was fixing Axel on the mattress beside Iris' bed. "Em, I think he and Cisco had a guy's night planned out," she was so good at lying now it made her feel sick. Of course she knew where Barry was. He was still out searching for Eddie.

"Hm," Iris crossed her arms, and Belén missed her suspicious look directed at her. "Are you sure that's where he is?"

This time, Belén looked up and saw through the mirror's reflection Iris seemed a little bit off again. "Uh, yeah, where else would he be? With another girl? You would tell me though, right?" she smiled and went back to digging through her bag.

"Of course," Iris said, biting her lip unsurely. "Just like...you would tell me...if there was anything...I needed to know, right?"

"Course," Belén said, this time without looking up.

Iris felt bad for not completely believing Belén's word. There was no doubt in Iris' mind that Barry truly was the Flash and that he had purposely not told her about it. She wanted to know who was in league with him, besides STAR Labs. Because there was also no doubt in her mind that Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco also knew about it and were even helping him to be the Flash. She was just unsure if Belén was in the dark like she was. After all, Belén had seemed clueless that the Flash liked her. Of course he would, the Flash and Barry were the same person but...maybe Belén didn't know that?

Belén realized how uncomfortable Iris seemed after finally finding what she was looking for. "Are you okay?" She turned around.

"Yeah," Iris gave her an odd look in return. "I think...I'm just going to sleep early today."

"O-okay," Belén nodded. "Axel is out for the night and I'll be as quiet as a mouse," she placed a finger over her lips. Iris gave her a thankful smile and started getting her pajamas. In the meantime, Belén hurried to grab the last of her things to go downstairs. She had no intention of sleeping until Barry returned.

So, she waited, even when she felt the sleepiness taking over.

And she didn't know what time it was but she spent it all in the living room watching television until she felt the familiar wind as Barry zipped in straight for his bedroom. She rolled her eyes as she sat up, turning off the television. She got up and walked up the staircase to see what he had come up with. Acknowledging the late hour, she knocked lightly on his bedroom door asking if she could come in.

Course she could come in, he told her. And stepping in, she found him already changed for sleep as well...and with a very tired face.

"No luck?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

"I swear I am looking through every possible place," Barry began to pace, feeling even more stressed knowing Eddie was being forced to spend another night God knew where with Thawne.

"Hey," Belén moved over, stopping him in the middle of his pacing, "I know that. We all know that, I promise. But Thawne is just from the future so of course he's going to know things we don't. Doesn't mean we won't catch him, just...maybe it'll take a bit more of our time."

Barry sighed again, the stress combining with general tiredness.

"You're tired, get some rest and then tomorrow we'll both go out and search for Eddie again," she suggested, more like subtly ordered, but nonetheless kindly. She gave him a goodnight kiss and turned to leave.

But Barry wrapped his arms around her from behind, this time refusing to let her go. "Can you stay here instead?"

The question made her momentarily blush. "Um...I mean, if you'd like…"

"I really would," he admitted, keeping his arms tightly around him in case she actually left. "If Axel wakes up, I'll speed you to Iris' room myself."

She chuckled. "Lucky for you, Axel rarely wakes up in the night. I guess we can talk for a while," she tilted her head up to meet his gaze. "Fair warning, I might take all the blankets in the meantime."

"Fine, but I'm taking all of you then," he kissed her forehead and brought her back to bed.

"Wow, your jokes are even worse in the night," she said before climbing into bed with him.

"Right now, they're not good at any moment. I'm surprised this one was good," Barry sighed. He reached for her body to pull her closer to his. "Thanks for staying a while more."

Belén yawned before replying, "I needed this too. My siblings are M.I.A. and I'm a little scared of when they'll be coming back for me."

Barry tightened his hold on her just thinking about Maritza and Rayan. "I don't think Maritza would hurt you," he admitted. "When I told her everything, she seemed more broken and confused than...evil."

"Hmm..."

"Maybe, with luck, this time away from her son and you might give her a reality check," Barry continued but stopped when Belén gave no response. He shifted a little to look at her face and realized she'd fallen asleep too. She must have been really tired, then. Barry thought about bringing her back to Iris' room where Axel was but...he didn't want to.

Maybe it made him selfish to keep her with him but...he was comfortable where he was right now. He felt good. Lately, everything in his life had been confusing and terrifying but Belén made the feelings wash away when they were together.

Those were the last thoughts he had before he too fell asleep.

~ 0 ~

When Barry woke up the next morning he felt no less stressed. Although, when he felt his girlfriend's patterned-breathing hitting just below his jawline, it did make things better again. He leaned his head just the slightest to kiss her hair, but unfortunately she breathed in deeply, signaling she was waking up.

"Sorry," Barry apologized quietly, still pretty groggy himself.

"Good morning. I guess I fell asleep here, huh?" Belén greeted, languidly blinking and shifting herself a little to look at him. She had her head resting on his chest and refused to move at least for another while more. "I hope Axel hasn't woken up yet. Did I steal your blanket like I promised?"

"Mm, a but, but I kept you with me like I promised."

"I stand corrected - your jokes are worse in the mornings. Well I'm sorry, but your bed is actually really comfortable, and I learned that one the first time I stayed here." Belén smiled to herself as she then admitted, "It smelled like you."

Although still a bit sleepy, Barry cracked a smirk. "Well, being honest, when I moved back in it still kind of smelled like you in here."

"Shut up, you moved in like a month later," Belén chuckled lightly.

"No, I'm not kidding, it really did. Blankets, pillows, hell, there was even one particular shirt I swear smelled like you. I thought I was losing it."

Belén made a face he couldn't see. "That shirt...was it green and black? Plaid?"

"Yeah," Barry sniffed, beginning to will himself to finally wake up.

Belén shifted once more so that she could tilt her head up at him on his side. "I may have accidentally worn that at one point. Sorry."

"You wore my shirt?"

"Uh, yes, yes I did."

Barry looked down at her for a moment, thinking about this and how much sense it made later. Then, with a smirk on his face, he looked up to the ceiling. "That's kinda hot…"

Belén's face flushed bright red. "Barry…"

"No, I mean it," Barry rubbed one of his eyes, "Feel free to wear any of my clothes whenever you want."

Belén continued to blush but giggled. "I will make a mental note of that."

~ 0 ~

Cisco was hard at work on the many cameras Wells used to spy on them. He was busy taking one apart when Barry walked in.

"Hey. You planning on keeping all those cameras Wells used to spy on us? That's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

Cisco looked up completely disagreeing. "First rule of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech." Barry rolled his eyes but the computer beeping at them took over the conversation. Cisco moved over to see the problem. "Central City Gold Reserve's under attack."

"Gold?" Barry repeated. "That's the case Singh wants us on. I'll be right back."

Quickly in his suit, he sped over to the location of the ongoing crime. He was able to see the remnants of a violent car explosion when he spotted an armed figure covered in protective gear along with a helmet.

"You picked a bad day for this, pal," Barry intended on going forwards when he felt some sort of pressure in his brain. The pressure turned into a fierce pain that froze him to his spot. He saw brief images of irrelevant things such a medical lab, but in the process he fell to the ground unable to see more.

And then, just like that, the pain vanished. The armed figure ran away.

~ 0 ~

Caitlin flashed a light in Barry's eyes after hearing of the attack. "Your eye movement is normal. No signs of neurological damage."

"Do you think the thief might have been a meta-human who put the whammie on you or something?" asked Cisco who believed it could be a plausible reason for Barry's condition.

"I... I don't know. When Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger. But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear," Barry tried to explain as best as possible, but really the feeling was all new for him as well.

Cisco sat down at the small desk in the side room with them and brought up the security feed of the site of the rob. There they saw both Barry and the armed figure going down as if they had been both attacked.

"Hmm. Looks like when you went down, the thief got disoriented too," Cisco pointed out, moving to the side so that Caitlin and Barry could see as well.

"Maybe we both got whammied," Barry weakly theorized.

Iris walked in at that moment, shocking everyone, but not that she cared. She was...upset, and very. "Then you know how it feels. Hi, Barry. Or should I say The Flash?"

In less than five minutes, Iris and Barry had relocated to the training room to speak more privately, or so they believed as they didn't know they were being heard by Caitlin and Cisco out in the cortex.

"How did you find out?" Barry failed to wrap his mind around this.

"When I touched The Flash the other night, I felt a jolt of electricity. The only other time I have ever felt anything like that was when you were in a coma after the accident." Iris shared a bitter chuckle. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner."

"I can only imagine how angry you are-"

"I'm not angry, Barry. I'm just disappointed." Iris shook her head. "Does Eddie know?"

Barry hated to put Eddie on the spot like that when the man wasn't even here to give his own defence statement, but Iris was so upset he thought it was just better to get through with the truth. "Yes, he does."

Iris' eyes filled with tears. "Is that why he got kidnapped?"

"No, I don't know why Wells took Eddie. I…"

Iris once again gaped. "Dr. Wells is the Man in Yellow?"

Barry sighed and began to explain. "Everything he's been doing, helping me... it was all a lie. Wells killed my mom."

"Is he gonna kill Eddie?"

"No, he's not. I'm gonna get Eddie back, I swear."

Iris crossed her arms. "Yeah, the Flash said the same thing yet here we are."

"Look, Iris, you have to believe me, I... There were so many times I wanted to tell you. You were the first person I wanted to tell, but everything started getting crazy, and I thought maybe Joe was right and I shouldn't say…"

Iris made a gesture for him to stop talking. "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me that my dad knew and he told you not to tell me?"

"He was trying to protect you. We both were-"

"Yeah, well, maybe it's time you both stopped," Iris lowered her hand and took a moment before speaking again. "Did everyone know before me?" she asked quietly, tilting her head. "I mean, what about Belén? Does she know that you're…"

But Barry couldn't hide it anymore on his face.

Iris sighed in utter deception. "Of course she did," she once again bitterly smiled. "Of course she did. How couldn't she, hm?" She shook her head and promptly stormed out of the room.

~ 0 ~

Feeling incredibly guilty he was the source of the newfound problem, Barry had a quick, brief conversation with Belén over the phone to warn her that Iris could very well be on her way to speak with Belén next...probably to show her disappointment. Well, Belén decided she didn't want to wait until Iris showed up. She would be brave and face her close friend first. And that was why she had come into CC Picture News that following night, knowing Iris would probably be delving into work to forget or to distract herself.

"Hey," she politely greeted Iris, the latter only looking up briefly before returning to whatever was on her computer screen. Belén sighed and walked over to the desk opposite of Iris'. "I know you know…"

Iris didn't give her another look. "And what do you happen to know, Bells? That I know Barry lied, that my own Dad lied, or that you lied?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you-"

Setting down her pen rather loudly on her desk, Iris' eyes flickered to Belén. "It was your place because you knew that my best friend - my brother - was out there on the streets being the freaking Flash. When you are this close to me-" she gestured between herself and Belén, "-it is your right to tell me."

"It wasn't," Belén insisted, unable to get a bit teary. "When Barry told me he was the Flash I was just as mad - hell, I was more mad. And I figured it out like you did, so it wasn't even him deciding to tell me. I wanted to punch him in the face for about two weeks after I learned."

"When you went to Starling, huh?" Iris had put two and two afterwards, thinking it was way more sensible than Belén just spontaneously visiting her mother in Starling.

"I left because of that but also for other reasons. But look, in the beginning I was so mad that I didn't want to hear what Barry had to say. I just thought that he was a liar and that he was just laughing at me behind my back. But then I realized it wasn't as easy to do. I was kidnapped - twice - because people thought I had a connection to the Flash. I mean, Barry has to carry that with him - he has to carry with the fact things can happen to people around him because of who he is."

"It doesn't matter," Iris laid it out the way she saw it. "Because I could have helped instead of continuously getting in his way, getting in everyone's way. We grew up together, we shared everything."

"I know, I get that it's difficult, but please just look at it from his perspective," Belén tried reasoning with her.

"You want me to look from another perspective?" Iris challenged, crossing her arms as she feigned to think for a moment. "Hm, well, let's start with you then. You must have had your share of laughs with Barry behind my back when I stupidly theorized the Flash had a thing for you."

"That was-"

"That was a proper concern for me, you know that? That you could get seduced or swooned by this man who could run at lightspeed and...and forget that someone as sweet and caring as Barry was right there with you," Iris' anger simmered as she revealed this thought.

"I would never have done that even if they were two separate people," Belén whispered.

"But I thought it could happen, because I didn't know," Iris' voice shook. "But I mean, Barry liked you-" she gestured with one hand, "-and so the Flash liked you," she gestured with her other arm like a weighing scale. "How much did you laugh?"

"No one laughed, Iris, I swear," Belén sighed. "Look, you deserved to know, I'm not going to argue, but this is what happened and I'm sorry. And…" she sighed again, pausing as she considered if her next move was even worth it, "...since you know about Barry then...I guess you should know who I am."

"What?" Iris lowered her arms, growing confused again.

"I'm the Azalea, Iris. It's the other reason why I left for Starling," Belén shrugged while Iris' eyes widened. "I was affected too, and I didn't tell anyone - including STAR Labs - about it for a very long time."

"H-how...what…?" Iris looked to the side, now dumbfounded. "So you and Barry were just...out there...saving people…"

"Well, not exactly always but...sort of...yeah…"

"Unbelievable," Iris sat down on her chair to think things through.

"I'm sorry," Belén said, but Iris said no more. Feeling like she was done, Belén grabbed her purse and walked out of the building.

~ 0 ~

"And so I told her," Belén recounted her meeting with Iris to Barry that same night, but much later. The two were at Belén's house, both finding it easier not to face Iris for that night at her place. "Like...everything. And now she's kinda mad at me too."

"It's my fault," Barry rubbed his forehead with a deep sigh escaping through his lips.

Belén scooted closer to him on the couch, draping one arm around his shoulders. "It's not-"

"It is. I should have never listened to Joe-"

"If you hadn't and something happened then you would've blamed yourself too. This is a game that's hard to win at, Barry."

Barry lowered his hand from his face and looked at her, the tiniest of smiles on his lips. "I should count myself lucky, I guess, that she didn't react like you."

"I told Iris the same thing," Belén said in amusement. "I really did want to punch you, you know."

"Well deserved, I guess," Barry gave a sway of his head. "And if Iris wants to do it too then I'll just let her."

"So does that mean I still get to punch you?"

"Uh, no, it expired when you left to Starling for a month."

"It has no expiration date!"

"Oh yes it does! And besides, you owe me too, you know."

Belén feigned offence. "And what for?"

"For going to Oliver for help," Barry made a face that really did have offence written all over it.

Belén dropped her charade and smirked. "Barry Allen are you jealous I chose the Arrow over the Flash?"

"I'm just saying that I could have helped more than Oliver. And it would have involved a lot less arrows on your back." Belén burst out laughing much to Barry's disappointment. "I'm being serious!"

Belén just laughed some more.

~0~

The next day, the group of metahumans had come across their mysterious culprit in armed clothing as he tried to steal golden bricks, only to be caught this time by the Flash and Joe. Upon tearing off the helmet of the culprit, however, they came to the shock of finding General Eiling underneath. Although quickly they realized that Eiling wasn't quite there with them as the man had gone through an entire transition to the pipeline without so much as a word.

"I don't get it, what's wrong with him?" Belén looked away from Eiling who was now imprisoned in one of the pipeline pods.

Caitlin was making a face that said she was just as lost as they were. "I pulled a bullet out of his shoulder and he didn't even flinch."

"And that should have hurt him like hell," Joe mumbled, as he had been there with Caitlin to provide any security should Eiling have acted in the process.

"It didn't even seem like he felt it," Caitlin continued with her story. "I did a complete body scan, and otherwise, General Eiling is perfectly healthy."

"So why is he just standing there like a robot?" Barry asked the million-dollar question.

Cisco walked into the pipeline after finishing his talk on the phone. "I just got off the phone with ARGUS. Officially, Eiling is on administrative leave."

"Unofficially, then?" Belén gave a tint of a smile.

"I spoke with Diggle's wife, Lyla, and she said Eiling's been missing for the past three months and ARGUS is covering up for it."

"There you go," Belén glanced back at the imprisoned man.

"Last time I saw the general was when Ronnie and us broke Professor Stein out of that military facility. I'm sure they're covering that up too," Barry remarked.

"So where has he been since then?" Joe inquired and moved up closer to Eiling's pod. "General Eiling, why were you trying to rob the gold reserve?"

"Maybe he's in some kind of a trance?" Caitlin theorized, but she would of course need more studies.

"General, do you remember me?" Barry tried his hand at it and received an instant reaction from Eiling.

"Flash," went the man in a gruff voice.

"How does he know you're the Flash?" Belén panicked and looked at Barry.

"I've no idea," Barry honestly replied, eyes now glued to Eiling.

"General...Eiling not here. Eiling bad."

"Maybe it's some kind of psychotic break presenting itself as dissociative identity disorder," Caitlin said shortly afterwards.

Eiling's eyes flickered to the brunette. "Caitlin. Caitlin good."

"Oh, uh, thank you?" went Caitlin who became confused. She hadn't even met Eiling face to face before.

"Mm. Forget multiple personalities," Cisco said, just totally freaked out. "You guys have seen the Exorcist, right?"

Belén couldn't help smile as she glanced back at him. "You and your movies."

"Keep talking to him, Barry," Joe encouraged the metahuman. "He seems to respond to you."

"And Caitlin," Belén added curiously, wondering what kind of connection that could have.

Barry looked at Eiling again, a bit nervous and out of good question. "Uh, why is Eiling bad?"

"Eiling hurt me. I hurt Eiling."

"Okay, uh, so if you're not Eiling, then who are you?"

"I... Am...Grodd. Fear...me."

Joe looked back at Caitlin and Cisco, the two sharing a look between each other, and asked, "What is a...Grodd?"

~ 0 ~

"Oh, Grodd is a...gorilla," Barry sounded unimpressed as he, Belén and Joe watched a short video Caitlin had put up for them in the cortex that showed Grodd the Gorilla being fed through a cage by Caitlin herself.

"You guys had a gorilla?" Belén was just dumbfounded STAR Labs went this far to study. "No, wait, and you named him Grodd?"

"Five years ago, Eiling and Wells were working on a project to expand soldiers' cognitive abilities during battle," Caitlin began to explain. "What we didn't realize is that Eiling was trying to create soldiers with psychic abilities."

Joe frowned. "What do you mean "psychic"?

"Eiling was trying to create these super-soldiers with telepathic and telekinetic capabilities," Cisco clarified for them.

"But when Dr. Wells found out about the terrible experiments that Eiling was doing, he shut down the entire project," Caitlin finished.

"So our psycho-killer has a soft spot for animals," Joe made another face and looked back at the video. "That's sweet."

"What happened to Grodd?" Barry asked, figuring neither really knew.

"We don't know," Caitlin admitted. "After the Particle Accelerator exploded, I went down to check on him, and his cage was empty."

"Wait, are you telling me that Grodd could've been affected by the Particle Accelerator too?" Belén turned to the two scientists. "Can that happen?"

Cisco contemplated on the concept with a sigh. "When the dark matter hit Grodd, all the drugs and serums that Eiling injected him with could've activated. Maybe the Accelerator explosion created a meta-gorilla-" and then he became excited, "-And I think we know what happens when a super-intelligent ape who's pissed off at humans escapes captivity."

"Oh my God," Belén was once again amused by his movie sharing.

Caitlin moved over to the desk and started searching for Grodd's old file. "Cisco's right about the first part. This is the first brain scan that I did on Grodd."

She brought up one brain scan of Grodd's to the computer wall for the others to see. A good section of the brain were lit up with colorful shades.

"Whoa. His primary motor cortex and Broca's area are lit up like a Christmas tree," Barry remarked with widened eyes.

"From Eiling's experiments. And this is the brain scan that I just did on Eiling," Caitlin pulled up a second scan on the side of the first, revealing two near exact brain color shades. "His brain is lit up in the exact same way."

"So Grodd and Eiling are connected somehow?" Joe deduced after a moment.

"I think that somehow, Grodd is transmitting neural signals to Eiling's primary motor cortex. Mind control, telepathy…" Caitlin theorized, "Who knows what Grodd is capable of now?"

"What do we think Grodd wants? Revenge?"

"I do not like the fact that Wells rescued Grodd," Joe looked away from the screens. "I don't think it's a coincidence that this gorilla shows up at the very same time we're looking for Wells."

Caitlin could see that perhaps Joe could be right. "Grodd and Wells always did have a special bond."

"It wouldn't surprise me if Wells was using Grodd to distract us. If we find Grodd, we find Wells. If we find Wells…"

"We find Eddie," Iris walked in determinedly, expecting a good share of arguments just to stay there. "And I'm gonna help."

Caitlin looked at the rest nervously, and decided she would step in for Iris' case. "Know anything about gorillas?"

A grateful smile spread across Iris' face at Caitlin. "I just might."

~ 0 ~

Iris was given a seat at the desk to show the information she had gathered over her blog period and time at CC Picture News.

"There have been reports of some sort of animal down in the sewers," she explained as she brought in an article having to do with the topic.

"Mm. Alligators. C.H.U.D.S. R.O.U.S'es?" Cisco thought out loud but everyone gave him blank looks. With a frown, he sighed. "Am I the only one who watches movies around here?"

Iris continued searching. "Uh, a few months ago, two sewer workers went missing. The search party reported hearing strange animal like noises down in the tunnels."

"Where exactly did they go missing?" Caitlin asked her.

"Uh, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street."

Cisco then took a seat on Iris' other side to turn on the third computer. "There's an access point to the sewers about two blocks east of that intersection."

"I'll start there," Barry said without a moment's thought.

"Not alone," Joe warned him. "I'm coming too."

"Huh, wading through miles of rats, roaches, and human excrement... count me out," Cisco said but then got a sharp look from Joe. "Count me in?" he amended disappointingly.

"He's your monkey," Joe had a brief laugh as he walked out of the cortex.

~ 0 ~

"Can we see them, still?" Belén asked Caitlin for about the third time after the men's cameras went online. Caitlin smiled and nodded her head, reassuring Belén that everything was going good so far. She knew Belén was annoyed that she had to stay back so Caitlin would answer her as many times as Belén asked.

"Well we can definitely hear Cisco yelp every time he sees a rat," Caitlin said thoughtfully before chuckling.

"Shush," they promptly heard Cisco over the comm.

Caitlin and Belén shared a mini-laugh afterwards.

"Belén? they heard Iris return. The woman had gone for a coffee down the hallway after their friends and her father decided to go on their own.

"Yeah, Iris?" Belén slowly looked at her, wondering where they stood in regards to their friendship.

"Why didn't Barry want to let you go?" Iris came up to the side of the desk they were sitting at, placing her cup over the taller side of said desk.

"Because your brother is overprotective, that's why," Belén sighed, but she knew Iris deserved a better explanation than that. "But that's not it. I...wanted to show you something." Iris gave her a questionable look but saw that Belén and Caitlin seemed to be on the same page. "Follow me," Belén started leading Iris out of the cortex.

Iris didn't ask any questions on their way into the pipeline, not even when Belén opened up the pipeline. But once she saw the familiar face of Noah inside a pod, her eyes widened in shock. "Is that...?"

"Oh, so now she knows too?" Noah jerked a thumb at Iris while looking at Belén.

"Why is he in there?" Iris was almost covering her mouth in shock. At first glance, Noah didn't look dangerous.

"Because he's Azul," Belén crossed her arms. "He's the one who tried killing us when the Trickster and James Jesse attacked, remember?"

Upon remembering, Iris fixated a glare on Noah. "You were Azul? This whole time you were playing us!"

"He was a spy..." Belén said slowly, "...for my brother and sister."

Iris opened her mouth with the intention of saying something when Belén's words registered in her head. "I'm sorry - brother? What?"

"My brother's alive, Iris, and he's a metahuman," Belén sighed as she got ready to say the next part, the most important part of the story. "And he's decided to use his powers for evil. Literally. Maritza's known about it all along and the reason she's gone is because Barry gave her an ultimatum: tell me the truth or leave. She chose to leave."

Iris looked between Belén and Noah with her mouth falling in a gape. "Oh my God..."

"You see why we didn't want to tell you everything? It's drama, and it's painful, and you didn't have to share the burden."

"If I had known I would have helped you," Iris said without the anger that had been lacing her words with everyone else. "At the very least I could have helped by just being there for you. Because learning all of this couldn't have been easy." Belén's gaze lowered, proving Iris' point. "I was there when you lost your brother, I could have been there when you learned he wasn't dead, but just...gone."

"I know," Belén slowly moved to close the pipeline. "It would have been nice..."

Iris could feel that Belén was doing her best not to show any tears. "Oh, Belén," Iris moved forwards to hug her friend. She expected to be there whenever any of their friends needed her from now on.

~0 ~

After a failed attempt of facing Grodd - that resulted in Joe's kidnapping - Cisco brought Barry back to immediately get checked over by Caitlin. Grodd had attacked Barry again, which resulted in the metahuman being knocked out cold.

Caitlin had pulled up his results of the brain scan and came to a familiar conclusion. "You're experiencing a spike of activity in your primary motor cortex. It's the same thing we saw in Eiling. The images you saw were some kind of psychic attack by Grodd."

Iris was in near tears at the side of the room. "First Eddie gets taken by The Man in Yellow, and now my dad…"

"And we're going to find them," Belén promised her, holding her hand. "We're getting them back, don't you worry."

"Hold up. I put a tracker in the tranq dart you shot Grodd with," Cisco recalled and started heading for the controller of said tracker. "As soon as it activates…"

Barry pulled off the device around his head meant to scan him and got up from his chair. "No, Cisco. I can't wait for that. I will search every inch of that sewer if I have to."

But Belén turned him around, slightly irritated he was entering his impulsive side again. "And then what, genius? Grodd is a gorilla that can telepathically attack you."

Barry knew she was right and sighed. He looked back at Caitlin and Cisco, pleading. "I don't... I mean... Can you guys build me something? Some kind of tech so he can't get into my head?"

Cisco looked unsure, matching Caitlin's expression. "I don't know. Maybe if Dr. Wells were here."

Iris looked between the two in disbelief. "I don't understand," she spoke up, making everyone glance at her to see her becoming upset. "Every day you guys figure out a way to help people. All of The Flash's powers and all of this equipment, and you can't save Eddie and my dad?"

"It's not that, we're just...a bit disoriented," Caitlin tried not to argue knowing that Iris was going through hardships. "We're lost, okay? But make no doubt Cisco and I are going to try. Aren't we?"

Seeing her looking at him expectantly, Cisco nodded his head. "Yes! On it! Now!"

And partly to avoid more accusations, the two scientists walked out the side room to get working.

Iris was left to look at Barry and Belén, and still mighty upset. "I can't get that sound out of my head. My dad screaming. Why did he insist on going down there with you? He's always preaching about being safe, but not once does he think about running into danger himself."

"That's just-"

"No," Iris said before either one could say more. "He's just a regular cop. He is not some meta-human with superpowers. He's not you two."

"We understand how you feel, and believe us, we're going to find him" Barry promised her.

~ 0 ~

It had taken them a little over two hours, but Caitlin and Cisco came through with a device meant to help Barry avoid being telepathically attacked by Grodd.

Caitlin presented to them a head device in her hands. "An anti-telepathy strip. It uses magnetic resonance to neutralize any foreign neurological stimulus."

"So it'll protect Barry from being mind-controlled?" Belén inquired.

Caitlin nodded but slowly came to a stop as she sighed and admitted to them, "That's the hope, but we have no way of knowing if it actually works."

Barry had faith in his friends' work and rook the device from Caitlin. "It'll work."

One of the computers started beeping and prompted Cisco to rush forwards. "The tracker just came online. We have Grodd's location."

Barry wasted no time and changed in a second. Belén sighed with full concern as he came towards them.

"You know we still have to work on your powers," he said as she continued to give him those worried eyes of hers.

"Doesn't mean I can't wish I was there with you," she countered glumly.

"We an't risk you losing control against a gorilla. A regular metahuman, fine. At least this way if we get our assess kicked it'll just be mine."

"My hero," Belén chuckled. She leaned forwards and gave him a short kiss on the lips.

"Always," Barry hugged her tight.

"Please get my dad back," Iris said after the two metas had pulled away.

"Promise," Barry nodded and sped off.

"Barry, what's your ETA?" Cisco had taken a seat by the desk in order to begin their plan.

"I'm in position," Barry called back.

"Wait for my signal."

Iris and Belén looked over to one of the computers on the wall. Iris saw two dots meaning to represent Barry and Grodd but was yet to understand what they were supposed to do next.

"Cisco?" Caitlin called after a minute.

"Okay. Here goes nothing," Cisco dramatically pressed on the keyboard."The steam's working. Grodd's on the move."

"I don't understand. What is the plan?" Iris asked from them, a bit impatient.

"He's maneuvering Grodd into a tunnel 5.3 miles from Barry…" Caitlin began and stopped as Belén gasped.

Iris saw her friend's off reaction and frowned. "So Barry can do what?"

"Oh, hell no," Belén glanced back at Cisco rather annoyed. "Is that why you didn't want to tell me?"

"Well, if we had then you wouldn't have let me say this-" Cisco took an excited breath in and exclaimed, "-Supersonic BOOM!"

"CISCO!" Belén half shouted but the man laughed anyways.

At the same time Barry took off from his position and made it towards the sewer. Soon as his balled fist made contact with Grodd, the gorilla grasped it effortlessly and threw Barry to the side.

Barry tumbled a bit until he landed flat on his back. "The supersonic punch failed." He pushed himself up and faced Grodd, seeing the gorilla narrowing its large eyes as it prepared for another mental attack. "Uh-oh. Here we go." He remained strong against Grodd, feeling nothing in his head. "It's okay, Cisco. The headset's working."

"Yes. Okay, uh, try some speed punches on him," Cisco suggested.

Barry nodded and endeavored in a series of super punches. "This isn't working!"

Cisco faltered as he came up with another idea. "Okay, what if you try…"

But Grodd acted first and seized Barry by the neck. Immediately the others saw his vitals acting out. Grodd threw Barry through one of the brick walls. From such a force Barry had to stay down over what felt like train railroad tracks. The built device malfunctioned after the strong blow and left Barry vulnerable against the telepathic attacks. Even as he tried getting upwards Grodd would mentally push him down with another attack.

Caitlin couldn't look at the screen anymore that showed Barry's vitals. "Barry's brain activity is off the charts. It's way worse than last time."

"That's because of the device failing, no?" Belén panicked as she got a glimpse of the screen.

"Grodd's attacking him psychically. He's paralyzed!"

"But it's at a railroad track!" Iris exclaimed.

Cisco hated making things worse but he warmed them. "Come on. There's a service train coming!"

Iris frantically looked at the three. "Do something please!"

"I can't stop the train!" Cisco said as he fiercely tried getting himself into the system.

"I-I have to get there!" Belén decided and made a move for her old suit when Cisco called her.

"You'd never make it and besides, you risk losing your control!'

Belén whirled around frantically. "I have to do something!" she ran back to the desk and situated herself between Caitlin and Cisco where the comm. was. "Barry, listen to me, okay? You have to concentrate on my voice. Whatever is happening to you, you have to fight it. I know you can do this. You've shown me how strong you are. I know you are so please, please stand up to Grodd. You can do this. Please. Barry, do it for me."

Her words rang true in Barry's head. He forced himself to get up, albeit wobbly, and quickly sped to the near wall as the train zoomed by. When it passed, he saw Grodd coming in through the giant hole of the other wall. Barry stepped forwards, back into the railroad tracks once he heard Cisco's warning. Grodd lunged towards him, nearly getting him if Barry hadn't sped back against the wall and the second train hadn't passed by. Grodd was swept away.

Barry then wasted no time and went through the tunnels to get Joe.

~0~

"Joe is going to be just fine," Caitlij emerged from the side room Joe was being kept in to recuperate. She had left Iris with him to look after him seeing the man was far more interested in getting back in the fight than to rest.

Belén had clung to Barry the moment he'd return from the tunnels. Even now she had her arm wrapped around him, refusing toblet him go in case he wanted to still go and find out what became of Grodd. "Maybe it's a good thing we didn't catch Grodd," she spoke up. "I mean, I doubt you guys have a super pipeline that can hold back a super-intelligent, telepathic gorilla."

"As always, right," Cisco pointed at her from the desk.

"Joe mentioned that Grodd called Wells 'Father.' And Wells must have ordered Grodd to come after us," Barry had thought about it long and hard and realized this was the only plausible reason. "It's why Grodd didn't kill Joe. I think Joe is right. Everything Grodd did, it was just to distract us." He then noticed Cisco's distant face. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Just thinking about this headset. It wasn't strong enough. You could've been killed out there, man."

Barry smiled. "No, dude, your tech worked, and it proved that we don't need Wells. The three of us took on Grodd and rescued Joe. Together, we can do anything."

"Actually, it was the five of us," Belén corrected, smiling. "If it wasn't for Iris, we wouldn't have even known where to begin our search."

Barry agreed with a nod. He lowered his head and kissed her hair. Perhaps he could relax just a little now...

~0~

Later on, Barry had wanted to see how Joe was doing before taking Belén home. In the meantime, Cisco had begun making other searches for their missing gorilla at the desk while Belén, Caitlin and Iris lounged about.

"You really think Grodd would actually still be in the city?" Iris looked at Cisco.

Cisco continued typing with eyes glued to the screen. "If he was working with Wells then I would assume though."

"Yeah, but where would they be?" Caitlin sighed as none of them came any closer to figuring out the answer.

"I don't know," Cisco answered truthfully. "He could be like Planet of the Apes and be plotting to destroy us again or maybe more classical like King Kong climbing up the tallest building in our city-"

Belén clapped a hand over his mouth. "No more movie talks, got it?" Cisco playfully narrowed his eyes on her. Belén slowly lifted her hand from his mouth and leaned back on her chair, laughing as she shook her head. "Sometimes I think this is the real reason we didn't work out as a date - you kept talking over the movie!"

Caitlin and Iris exchanged amused looks while Cisco became offended.

"I was trying to inform you!"

"It was a movie I'd never seen, Cisco, I didn't want to be informed," Belén shook her head.

"I didn't hear you complaining with all that popcorn you were eating!"

"That was me trying to focus on the movie!"

"But you say Barry does the same thing!"

"Yeah but at least he quiets down when I make him!"

Caitlin and Iris had to laugh as the other two got more worked up over their failed date. Unfortunately, Iris spotted Barry slowly coming into the cortex and immediately stopped. She whacked Caitlin and made the brunette see him as well.

"You two went out?" Barry walked around the desk leaving Caitlin and Iris behind him and Cisco and Belén in front.

Cisco exchanged a look with Belén, the latter getting more nervous by the second. He stood up and tried to explain as best as possible so there could be no room for doubts. "It was way before you woke up from your coma and then, as I'm sure you heard, it didn't work out!"

Belén got up as well to help Cisco out. The last thing they needed was to be divided among themselves while Wells was still out there. "We saw we were better as friends and that's how we stayed. Always."

Suddenly there were so many things that made sense to Barry. It explained why Belén and Cisco always seemed to share a closer bond than with anyone else. It explained why often times it seemed like Belén was more concerned for Cisco than a regular friend would be.

"You two…" he rubbed his temples, "...you two went on an actual date…? Like, Like with hand-holding, and-and kissing-"

"No!" went both Belén and Cisco.

"Well…" Belén sighed as she realized it wasn't entirely true. "It was...it was just at the end, and...and…"

"It didn't happen!" Cisco insisted. "Because we couldn't do it at the last moment. We leaned in but we couldn't go through with it."

Barry tried to understand that but the more he thought about it, the less he liked it. Picturing it was not helpful. He shook his head and looked at the two in question. "I-I..."

"Barry, you can't be mad..." Belén whispered, her heart actually hammering under her chest. Now all she was thinking was that she should have said something earlier, something even in passing...anything would have been better than Barry learning about it this way. "I'm sorry..."

Barry made a hand gesture for everyone to stop talking, despite Belén being the only one talking. Without saying a word, he turned and left the cortex.

Cisco drew out a long breath as everyone remained silent probably for their sakes. He looked over to Belén, seeing her close to tears, and wished he had never, ever gotten the idea to ask her out.