- Barry and Team Flash get closer to figuring out the Fire Meta but no closer to finding him; Iris, needing a distraction, follows a story to Coast City.
- Iris gets bad news from Deon, and heads off to Coast City with Sue Dearbon to track down a new meta who can seemingly walk through walls. Meanwhile, Team Flash takes on the black fire meta, and Chester discovers that it may have a connection to his past.—Gislef
- At the apartment, Deon checks Iris with his temporal senses and says that she's good. She tells him about the time she's had memory gaps recently. She says that she remembered a time station and Deon was there, but Deon doesn't remember it and says that he'll find out what's going on. Then he stares at Iris and says that he's picking up mutation, but dismisses it as a side effect of his treatments. Deon goes to meet with his "Force sibs", advises Iris not to tell Barry anything until he figures out what's going on. With that, he teleports out.
At STAR Labs, Team Flash goes over the evidence from the two murder sites and the people who were burned to death. Barry tells Joe that he feels like there's something they missed, and Joe goes to check evidence from the crime scene. Chester comes in and says that he built a cold fusion detector that will sound an alarm when it senses anything. He sees the photos of the charred corpses and briefly freezes up, and then dismisses it as nothing, then explains how his alarm detects drops in barometric pressure such as the killer gives off when he kills. Barry figure he'll be fast enough to get there when the alarm goes off, before the intended victim gets hurt. Chester stares at the photos again.
Sue Dearbon goes to Iris' office at the CCC and meets with her and Allegra. Iris stares off into space, and Allegra notices and gets her attention. Sue says that she's in charge of revitalizing the family business, and has come to check out the employees and reassure them. She goes to jet off to Coast City, and tells them that there have been multiple sighting of a "phantom" walking through walls. Sue says that she has run into metas all over the world, and Allegra figures that it could be a good story. Iris offers to go with Sue and let Allegra run things, and figures it could let the CCC expand to the West Coast.
At STAR labs, the cold fusion alarm goes off. Flash speeds to the site and finds a burning corpse surrounded by black fire that fades away, and reports to Frost and Chester that he's too late. The crime team arrives along with Chester, and Barry tells him what he saw. The victim is Parker DeStefano, a yoga teacher at the studio where she was killed. A spot on the body is still burning with the black fire, and Chester has a containment unit, a MCCU, that he can store the flame in. He describes it Barry, who speeds off to his lab and comes back with the unit. Chester takes the sample, and goes to reprogram their satellites with the trace.
Sue and Iris go to Coast City, and Sue has determined all the Phantom sighting have taken place on the docks. Iris and Sue talk about Sue's relationship with Barry, and Sue points out that Iris leaped at the chance to get away from Barry. Before Iris has to say anything, they get a meta hit. Iris and sue follow it to a local Jitters, and Sue tells Iris to give it a minute. A girl there stops working in her journal and phases it into her duffle bag. The two women go over and introduce themselves, and tell the girl--Tinya Wazzo--that they're investigating the phantom. They get Tinya's name from her coffee cup, and Iris tells Tinya that they have experience working with metas. Iris says that she was the reporter who helped break Flash's story. Iris explains how she found Tinya with the app on her phone. Tinya phases her finger into it and shorts it out so they can't find her, and leaves.
At STAR Labs, Chester doesn't find a chemical sample of the black fire or anything in Cisco's meta file. Barry speeds off to brief Kristin, and Chester hears an indistinct whispering behind him and feels like someone is watching him. He goes back to the vial with the sample and discovers that it's gone, and spots it nearby burning, and spreading. It burst out at him, and Chester backs away.
Allegra, Cecile, and Frost come in and wake up Chester from his nightmare. Chester dismisses it as nothing and leaves with the MCCU. Cecile can emotionally sense Chester having a hard time recently, and figures Chester is going through something personal. Allegra figures Chester will talk to her and goes after him.
In Coast City, Sue downloads Chester's dark matter app, but warns it will take over seven hours. They go to a café to strategize, and Sue asks Iris why she's really there. Iris explains that Deon has been looking at her and discovered she's gotten a "time sickness". They don't know what it is, and Deon found something that morning he had never seen before. Iris admits that's why she threw herself into the case, and Sue understands because she finally faced up her to her parents when she discovered they were criminals. She tells Iris that she has to stop running from her fear of the unknown. Iris figures that Tinya is running from something, and know where to find her.
Night falls in Central study, and Allegra joins Chester in the lounge. He apologizes for being a little out of it, and Allegra figures that he's under a lot of pressure. She says that Chester can talk to her if he needs to, and the fire gets out and spreads along the counter. Allegra sees it as well, and it burns Chester's arm as he falls back. Allegra and Chester back away and Allegra sends out an alarm on her app. Barry arrives and tries to put out the flames with a vortex, but it doesn't work. A faceless humanoid shape briefly appears in the flames, and then they disappear on their own.
Cecile and Frost join them, and Allegra wonders why anyone would want to hurt Chester. He doesn't know, and Barry assures him they'll keep him safe. Chester says that he didn't rig the inside of STAR labs with his detection system, and Allegra points out the black fire meta appears and disappears, seemingly at random. Chester gets an idea and then goes out to get some air. Cecile empathically senses that Chester is hurting, and points out the meta could be anywhere. Barry suggests the meta is controlling the black fire remotely, and tells the others to put STAR Labs on lockdown while he searches the city until he finds the meta.
Tinya goes to an apartment and finds the door locked. She phases through it and finds the place empty and everything covered in dust. Iris tells Tinya that "she" isn't there, and Sue comes up behind Tinya and tells the girl that the team gave her a molecular destabilizing matrix that will negate Tinya's power. Iris says that they know Tinya is looking for her mother, and she looked through the city's missing person database and discovered that Tinya ran away from the foster care home, and her mother used to live at the apartment. Tinya tells them that her real mother abandoned her when she was young, and has never contacted her. The girl admits that it's been hell recently, but not she has new powers she has a chance to be someone and wanted to show her mother so she would take her back.
Iris asks Tinya to let them help her find their mother, and Sue admits the device is really a paperweight. She tells Tinya that Iris is a great reporter and can help Tinya if she'll let Iris help her.
Allegra tells Chester that she won't abandon him and he's a part of his life. Chester tells Allegra that he knows who the person in fire was, and they were a ghost. He figures his father is in the fire, and that's how he died, and somehow he came back. Allegra points out the shape didn't have a face, and Chester explains that his father died 24 years ago, and he could almost feel the heat from the wreckage and could his father yelling for help, but no one came. Allegra insists the shape wasn't Chester's father Quincy, and says that a good father wouldn't terrorize Chester. She tells Chester that what he saw was a life, and Chester tells her that he hated his father. Allegra says that neither of them believe in ghosts, so they have to figure out what's really going on.
The alarm goes off and the lights go out. They go to the main lab, and the others tell them that there's cold fire on multiple levels and heading their way. The flame spreads through the walls, and Chester blames himself. Allegra tells him that it isn't his fault, and he has to concentrate. Barry asks Chester to initiate a search protocol while they buy him some time, and Chester goes to work. The flames are converging on the speed lab, and Barry takes Frost there. The lab is on fire, and Frost uses her power against the flames but she does nothing.
Chester tells Allegra and Cecile he can't do it, and Cecile says that she's feeling the pain of thousands of people. Barry calls them on the comms and tells them to evacuate, but Allegra refuses. The flames burn in and turn into Quincy, and Cecile sense the pain and grief.
In the speed lab, Barry takes Frost's hand and vibrates them through the flames.
"Quincy" tells Chester that it's time to come home. Cecile senses the sadness from "Quincy" and tells Chester that it's not his father. Everything in Chester is moving to the creature, feeding on his grief. Cecile tells Chester to let go of his grief, and the creature is hungry for Chester's grief. Allegra tells Chester to hold on to his feelings for his father. The creature extends its hand and Chester reaches for it. Chester says that his father would love the life Chester has built there, and would lover that his son was working with an actual superhero and saved the world every day. He insists that his father would be proud of the man he's become, and refuses to take the creature's hand and tells it to go to hell. The creature dissolves into black flame and then disappears, and the power comes back up. Allegra hugs Chester, and Chester tells Barry that he sent the flames packing with a little help from his friends.
Later, Joe arrives and the others tell him what happened. Joe did some digging and found out that the three victims all suffered grief. The new meta gets grief and suffering, and Cecile says that she also felt determination, passion, and desire, from the creature. She figures it has a mind of its own, and the flames are alive and the killer.
Chester goes back to his lab, and Cecile and Allegra come in. Cecile points out that they've all been through grief, and helping each other deal with it was makes them a family. Cecile quickly excuses herself when she picks up on their feelings, and they talk about their D&D group. Allegra tells Chester that she'll always be there for her, and he says that she's a very big part of her life.
At one of Sue's place, Tinya sleeps at one of the places while Iris, in the next room, Skype with Barry. They talk about what happened, and Barry finally tells her that it's not safe with the black fires. The couple sign off, and then Deon appears to Iris and tells her that what's happening to her isn't good news.
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