If sending your lover on a date with another woman was already weird, asking about it with curious eyes felt weirder.
For a second, Barry didn't know what to say to Caitlin. He really didn't understand this version of Caitlin. Maybe his very involvement in this universe or the multiverse has twisted everything in very weird ways.
Of course, Barry's not one to complain; he does have a good heart, but that doesn't mean he will stop having fun, especially now that he has two special friends.
Well, right now, just one, because once again, there is something wrong with Caitlin, and Barry has some ideas as to what it is.
"It was good," Barry says, not wanting to go into detail.
'I am not surprised, you did spend the night at her place," Caitlin says. Those words came out of her mouth with little to no hesitation, catching Barry off guard once again. All this time he has spent around her, she has never been this straightforward with her words.
It's as if her other personality is rubbing off on the real her.
"Ughhh," Barry didn't know how to answer her. "Come on, did you think I would be mad? I was the one you told you to go, didn't I?" Caitlin says, looking right into his eyes.
That is when Barry notices it. Other people might not be able to, but he can in Caitlin's eyes. There are streaks of white lines that seem to have become permanent.
Caitlin's other half is slowly taking over; the more she uses her powers, the more of herself she will lose, or at least a part of herself.
Ultimately, both personalities within her are manifestations of the same person.
With how things have changed with the timeline, Barry has no idea how this is gonna go.
"You sure did," Barry says, smiling awkwardly.
The next hour was very awkward for Barry as Caitlin seemed a lot more interested in what happened with him and Linda last night. She tried to get every detail out of him.
Sometimes there would be flashes of extreme curiosity in her eyes; sometimes she looked very interested, asking Barry everything he did with her, even going so far as to compare herself to Linda regarding the experience. At other times, she would show flashes of jealousy.
The more Barry watched Caitlin have these sudden mood swings, the more he realized that she was losing herself.
'I need to fix this,' Barry thinks as he feels responsible for Caitlin's current state. It is his own dark matter that triggered Caitlin's powers to awaken, and from the looks of it, her strength is rapidly increasing.
She has grown in physical strength, her healing speed has skyrocketed, but her ability to control them is still lacking.
Day by day, her power grows, and day by day, Caitlin is no longer the same person she was yesterday. Soon, there will come a day when she will no longer be Caitlin in personality but a completely different person.
'I need to talk to Dr. Wells and Cisco about this,' Barry thinks.
He continues hanging out with her for another hour.
____________________
Two hours later, the entire team is standing inside the particle accelerator, looking at Firestorm.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Barry asks, looking at Dr. Wells, who has a weird-looking device in his hand.
"Trust me, Barry, this will work," He says, sounding very confident in his creation.
"I ran some tests, this Quantum Splicer is definitely going to work," Cisco says, excited.
"Great, now what?" Barry asks.
"Now we have to get this on him," Wells says, pointing at Firestorm.
*BANG* *BANG* "Get me out of here! I am going to kill you all!" Firestorm shouts in anger, banging his fist against the glass.
"And how do we do that?" Cisco asks.
"With this," Dr. Wells says, pulling out a syringe. "A fast-acting sedative, enough to knock out a Meta for at least a few hours," He completes his sentence with a smile.
"Barry," He says, handing over the syringe to Barry. Barry grabs it. "Cisco, when I give the signal, release the gate. Barry, you know what to do when that happens," Wells gives his instruction.
"Now!" Cisco immediately hits the button to release the door. The pressure is released, and the door opens. As soon as the door opens. Firestorm grits his teeth in anger and is ready to turn everyone in front of him to ash.
As soon as he lifts his hands up, the world slows down. Barry starts walking as flashes of lightning trail behind him.
He grabs Firestorm's hands and folds them in so if by chance the sedative doesn't work fast enough, he doesn't blast his friends into smithereens.
He then plunges the sedative into Firestorm and slowly pushes the plunger in.
Barry then backs off, and time returns to normal.
With his hands folded, Firestorm shoots fire blasts to the sides, which clearly lack in power.
There is a moment of realization in Firestorm's eyes before his body gives in and he ragdolls down on the floor.
"Good, let's get this over with," Dr Wells says and rolls towards the fallen Firestorm and attaches the Quantum Splicer on Firestorm's chest.