ACT IV
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL
Flash RACES in –
more forcefully than normal – in fact, even stopped, Flash is CRACKLING with
electrical energy.
And the force from
Barry’s entrance PUSHES Cisco back in his rolling chair.
CISCO
Whoa!
Flash holds out a
clear plastic bag with the carpet fibers in it.
FLASH
Test this.
Cisco takes the
bag.
CISCO
Ok, but…
Flash is gone in
a…well, you know.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MED BAY – CONTINUOUS
Doyle sits with
his legs hanging off the gurney – glued to his phone.
He hears something
– the slow build of a wave just before it crests – but he doesn’t have a second
to process it before…
Flash BURSTS in
with speed – his hand around Doyle’s THROAT an instant later – Doyle is
CHOKING.
FLASH
Who are these people?
Flash holds up a
photo of Doyle – taken from one of the frames.
ON PHOTO:
It’s the most
recent shot of Doyle – he looks the same in the photo as he does now – with his
parents that never aged.
DOYLE
(being choked)
My…parents…
A VOICE sounds in
Flash’s ear.
CISCO (O.S.)
What are you doing Barry?
FLASH
(to Cisco)
Not now.
(to Doyle)
What
happened to them? What did you do to
them?
On Doyle who SMILES
in reply.
And Flash SQUEEZES
– ROUNDING OUT Doyle’s smile.
CISCO
BARRY!
Flash lets go of
Doyle – looks at him for a beat – SPEEDS away.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL – CONTINUOUS
Flash MATERIALIZES
in front of the main computer where Cisco sits.
Cisco STANDS –
Flash PULLS OFF his mask.
CISCO
What the HELL?!
BARRY
Cisco, that guy is a
monster.
CISCO
You don’t know that.
BARRY
But
I know he becomes one. Not a big stretch
to assume it’s happened already.
Especially given what I saw in his house.
CISCO
Barry,
you’re a crime scene investigator. And a
scientist. You, above anyone else, know
how important it is to collect and examine
all the data before forming a hypothesis.
BARRY
I
hate him Cisco. Everything about him.
Beat.
BARRY
I
hate him more than Zoom, or Savitar.
CISCO
More
than Dr. Wells?
On Flash as he
AVOIDS looking his friend in the face.
CISCO
More than the man who
murdered your mother?
BARRY
Much more.
CISCO
Barry. Can’t you see? That doesn’t make any sense.
A BEEP goes off –
Cisco rushes to the computer.
CISCO
Testing on the fiber’s
done.
BARRY
Is it his parents?
CISCO
(Surprised)
No.
BARRY
Who is it then?
CISCO
Nobody.
BARRY
It’s
gotta be somebody, I know human blood when I see it.
CISCO
That’s
just it Barry. It’s not human
blood. It’s chimpanzee blood.
BARRY
What?
CISCO
It’s
a valid mistake. A great ape’s blood is
closest to a human’s, in both appearance and make-up.
BARRY
That
means he didn’t kill anybody. Then why
did he make it look like he had?
CISCO
Maybe
you should ask him. Nicely. After you
apologize.
BARRY
You
know this doesn’t change anything. He’s
still gonna murder thousands of people.
CISCO
Yeah,
maybe. If we let him. But we won’t.
On Flash as he
NODS at this.
CISCO
Go. Apologize.
See what you can learn. And try
not to be so quick to assume. Take it
slow.
Barry PULLS ON his
Flash mask – he PREPS TO SPEED AWAY – THINKS BETTER of it.
Barry walks out at
normal pace.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MED BAY – CONTINUOUS
Flash walks in –
from his POV, Doyle watches with a smirking intensity – a relaxed tiger.
FLASH
Let’s try this again.
DOYLE
Whatever you want. This is your time.
FLASH
First off…I’m sorry about
before.
DOYLE
Ok.
FLASH
I know you didn’t kill your
parents.
DOYLE
But you thought that,
right?
FLASH
Of course.
DOYLE
Haha, YES! Mission accomplished!
FLASH
Why
would you want people to think you killed your parents? Where are your parents?
DOYLE
Oh,
the answers to those questions are so boring.
I’d prefer to keep you mystified.
FLASH
(I
don’t give a damn about your mysteries)
You’re
gonna tell me.
CISCO (O.S.)
Easy
Barr.
On Doyle as he
considers.
DOYLE
Remember
how I told you I was invisible to my parents?
How they treated me like a ghost.
Well, I wasn’t being hyperbolic.
They didn’t talk to me, didn’t even look at me, for years. Then, about a month ago, they moved out. Didn’t tell me. So here I am, with the house I grew up in,
all to myself. What do I do with
it? I decided to use it. As part of my act.
FLASH
That
wasn’t magic.
DOYLE
No,
but it was misdirection. And you can’t
have magic without misdirection.
FLASH
What
were you trying to accomplish?
DOYLE
Making
you mad.
FLASH
Why?
DOYLE
People
have one of three reactions to me. They
ignore me. They dismiss me. Or they outright hate me. You remembered my name, and you always looked
me in the eye. So I knew you wouldn’t
like me.
FLASH
Then
why push me? Why play this game?
DOYLE
Because
now I’ve just about set the stage for the greatest trick I’ve ever performed.
On Flash.
DOYLE
When
this is over, and you and I are on that stage together, I’m gonna make you like
me.
CISCO (O.S.)
(Laughs)
I’m
sorry what? Is he serious?
FLASH
You’re
not gonna get me to like you.
DOYLE
Not
“get you”. That implies you’ll be in
control. I’ll make you. Change you.
You are gonna walk on that stage hating me. But when I’m done, you’ll walk off liking me.
FLASH
Ok,
I’m done.
Flash TURNS and
WALKS OUT.
DOYLE
Don’t
you worry Flash, I’ll make a believer
outta you.
INT. S.T.A.R. LABS
MAIN TERMINAL – CONTINUOUS
Flash enters –
Cisco is dressed in his Vibe outfit.
FLASH
Cisco
there’s more to this than we thought.
He’s genuinely unbalanced.
Flash notices
Cisco all dressed up – he STANDS in front of a white board with drawings of the
flash’s lightning bolt all over it.
FLASH
What’s going on?
VIBE
I
think I figured out a way to stop the nanites in his system.
FLASH
How?
VIBE
Well,
they may be microscopic but they’re still robots. Susceptible to everything any of our machines
are susceptible to. Like EMPs.
FLASH
You
want to shock him?
VIBE
We
send a single, measured, large pulse into Doyle’s body. As soon as it enters, I vibe him – open up
portals in the six regions where the nanites have spread by this point: the
head, torso, arms and legs.
FLASH
You
want to shock him to death.
VIBE
The
pulse, admittedly too large for the human body to handle, will effectively be
split up into six different mini-pulses.
Its energy, therefore, will be reduced accordingly. And those six mini-pulses will be broad waves
of electricity, passing through the nanites and frying their circuits.
FLASH
Let
me guesss, you want me to supply the pulse.
VIBE
No
one sparks up like you Barry.
FLASH
How
are you gonna vibe him while I’m shocking him?
I mean, the two would have to happen at practically the same time.
Cisco flips the
white board over. On the board are
grade-school kid drawings of three people – to the left, a guy with a Vibe logo
on his chest, in the middle a guy with nothing on his chest, and to the right a
guy with the lightning bolt on his chest.
FLASH
No.
VIBE
It’s the only way.
FLASH
The
electrolytes in the human body conduct electricity Cisco. Not well, maybe, but enough of a charge could
easily flow from me, through Fox, to you.
VIBE
That’s why you gotta stay in control Barry. We need pulses large enough to fry the nanites, which means we need a really big pulse at the top. Too big a pulse, and it’ll lock me into convulsions, same as Doyle. And if I can’t set off those portals inside his body, then he and I fry.
That’s why you gotta stay in control Barry. We need pulses large enough to fry the nanites, which means we need a really big pulse at the top. Too big a pulse, and it’ll lock me into convulsions, same as Doyle. And if I can’t set off those portals inside his body, then he and I fry.
FLASH
Cisco,
this kid isn’t worth the risk.
VIBE
Maybe
not. But you are. You let this kid die, and it’ll break
you.
On Barry.
VIBE
Stop
thinkin about it so much. You know this
is the right thing to do. So let’s go in
there and get it done. Then, when he’s
safe, we’ll have a lifetime to figure out how to take him down before he ever
gets the chance to hurt anyone.
FLASH
You’re
right.
VIBE
Damn
right.
Flash looks back
at the white board.
FLASH
I
really gotta hold his hand?
VIBE
Yep. Without gloves.
FLASH
Have
I ever told you how much I hate your plans?
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