Extra long chapter! Enjoy!

---

"I deserve some hot chocolate right now." Winnie announced as she walked into Jitters with Caitlin. 

"Long day?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah. I'll tell you all about it after we talk to this guy, Jason..." She trailied off, waiting for Caitlin to finish as Winnie couldn't remember the guy's last name.

"Rush. After, then." She nodded, "Why don't you go ahead and get our orders, I'll talk to Jason."

"Alright, the usual?"

"Yes, please." Caitlin responded, already walking away to talk to the man.

Winnie absentmindedly played with the drawstrings of her yellow pullover hoodie as she found a spot in line. It wasn't too long before she found herself in front of the counter, looking directly into the eyes of the barista taking orders.

"Hi, you're Iris's sister right?" The young woman asked.

"Yes, I am. You're..." Winnie said, focusing on the nametag the other was wearing. "Julie. Right, Iris has mentioned you a few times."

"Really? That's nice. She talks about you a lot. Should I assume that you're getting a hot chocolate, extra whipped cream?" Julie asked, smiling politely.

"Yes, and a coffee for my friend." Winnie added as she took out her wallet.

"Alright, that'll be $4.98." Julie said. 

Winnie looked through the wallet and pulled out a $5 bill, handing it over to the barista and smiling, "Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome." Julie said, walking off to get the order ready.

Once Winnie was finished, she searched the shop for Caitlin until she found her friend at a table for three in a corner with the man, Winnie could only assume was Jason Rush.

"Hi." Winnie said, smiling as she approached the two at the table.

"This is my friend, Winnie." Caitlin said, introducing her to Jason. "She came along for some support."

"Nice to meet you." Winnie said, eagerly shaking his hand as she took a seat.

"You too." He said, "I'm Jason."

"Yes, I know." Winnie stated, "...Because, Caitlin told me that we were going to be meeting with you."

"That makes sense." He said, nodding his head. "So, where were we?"

"The team skipped to stage three." Caitlin told him, "Which was?"

All of a sudden, his smile was wiped off his face as he glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. "We melted a concrete wall. But, the university threatened to shut us down. So, Professor Stein published the paper without them giving permission, and they went nuts. So, he went to talk to a friend of his to secure private backing."

"And who was that?" Caitlin asked leaning forward. Winnie was so caught up in the story that she didn't speak a word, though this was partially due to the fact that she didn't know that much about science and didn't want to interrupt. 

"He didn't say. He just said he'd call me later. And no one has seen or heard from Professor Stein since."

"What do you think happened to him?"

"All I know is that the army showed up the next day and confiscated all of our research. So tell me Dr. Snow, do you think I'm being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?"

"Maybe not paranoid enough?" Winnie jumped in before shrinking from the looks that Caitlin and Jason shot at her. "Sorry, it's just that if you were paranoid enough, you'd probably have walked away from us or you'd have skipped town and give yourself a new life or something. What if we're lying about everything? What if we're from the military or a spy pla..." 

She stopped having realized that Jason was starting to break out in a sweat, looking around suspiciously as if he were being watched.

"I'm sorry, I'm overthinking this. Thank you, Jason. I assure you that we're your friends. It was really nice meeting you." Winnie said, holding out her hand to shake his once more.

Hesitantly, he met her hand and shook it, moving on to shake Caitlin's. "Thank you so much, Jason."

"Your welcome. I just hope I helped you enough. I should probably go." He said, nodding his head to the two of them as he sat up and headed to the door.

"Well, at least we know what Firestorm means." Winnie said, trying to comfort her sullen looking friend.

"But, we're back to square one." Caitlin said, glancing up at Winnie, a feeling of defeat washing over her.

"We're going to figure this all out, Caitlin. Maybe, we can start by trying to find Stein. If we find him, maybe he can tell us what this has to do with Ronnie. And at the very least, we can at least help find someone who's missing. He probably has a family searching for him, too." Winnie said as Caitlin got up, causing her fall into step beside her. 

"Maybe." She whispered, taking a few steps into the parking lot. The cold night nipping at their noses.

"We'll find him." Winnie said, assuringly. "You just have to have faith."

"Yeah." Caitlin said as she pulled out her phone and began looking through articles on Professor Stein's disappearance.

They trudged through all the cars eventually making it to Caitlin's small mint one. Caitlin moved to the driver's side and Winnie to the passenger's as Caitlin reached into her bag for the keys.

All of a sudden, a bright flash appeared and an icy coating covered Winnie's door as the two gasped in surprise.

"Car trouble?" Snart retorted in his blue winter gear, his cold gun resting casually on his shoulder. Winnie was about to scream when his hand wrapped around her mouth, muffling any attempts to call for help, her phone dropping to the floor.

Instead, Caitlin screamed for Winnie as another man, wearing a similar outfit as Snart, came from the other side and snatched Caitlin up from the ground.

Winnie tried to fight against him but, found it useless as he was dragging her towards a van. She tried to control some plants to pick him up but, it was too hard as she couldn't focus, her mind a flurry of thoughts bouncing around. A bag was thrown over her head, her arms and legs bound behind her and she was pushed into what she could assume was a van. She just hoped that whatever happened, nobody would have to get hurt.

---

The Next Morning...

Joe was abruptly woken up to the sounds of Frank scratching at his door, his whines becoming louder by the minute.

Groaning, Joe sat up and rubbed his eyes before taking a look at his alarm clock which read 6:15.  He tried his best to ignore the noise and lay back down but, after several more minutes of Frank trying to catch the man's attention, Joe finally got up.

Annoyed, Joe stumbled to the door and made his way down the hall to Winnie's room. Frank eagerly followed him, trying his best to hold it in until Joe let him out. 

Upon entering, Joe found the room empty and untouched, just as it was the night before he'd fallen asleep. He scratched his head in confusion as he wandered downstairs only to find the rest of the house just as vacant. 

"Winnie?" He whisper-shouted. "Winnie?"

Out of nowhere, something bumped into his leg causing him to jump. Frank looked up at Joe, his eyes big and pleading him to open the front door.

"You scared me, Frank." Joe said, clutching his heart. Yet, the dog continued staring, his eyes piercing into Joe's. "What do you want? Want to go to the bathroom?"

In response, the dog wagged his tail, happy that the human had finally understood his request. In the next few minutes, Frank had been able to relieve himself, no longer feeling that matter pressing on within him but, he still had another problem, Winnie still hadn't come home yet.

"Do you know where Winnie is?" He asked Frank, who just tilted his head in response. "Right, I must be tired and now, I'm talking to a dog."

He made his way up the stairs and knocked on Iris's door, opening it a crack to peek his head into the barren room.

"Hey, Iris!" He whisper-shouted once more. "Iris!"

"Hmm? Dad, it's not even 7, yet. What do you want?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"Winnie's not home. Do you know where she is?" Joe questioned, his concern growing.

"She's probably staying over at somebody else's house. Caitlin, Barry, Danny. I have no idea. Why don't you call her in the morning just to check." Iris suggested, more interested in sleeping than worrying over her sister, who she was sure was just fine.

"Good idea." Joe said, nodding his head. He silently walked back down to his room and was about to close the door when a certain husky poked his head in the crack. "Frank, what do you think you're doing? I want to get the little bit of sleep I have left."

The dog looked up at the man, his puppy eyes activating, drawing Joe in like a moth to the flame. 

"Fine. But, you sleep on the floor, my bed's off limits." Joe said to the dog sternly as he opened the door wide enough for Frank to slip in.

Once Frank was in the room, Joe walked towards his bed, glancing over to the dog, sadly trying to find a "comfortable" position on the floor. 

"Oh, what the heck." He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as he sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the side. Heartily, Frank sprung up from the spot he was in and jumped onto the bed, curling up beside Joe, who wrapped his arms around the large dog.

Joe smiled as he hugged the soft animal, feeling the warmth radiating onto him. For now he could just sleep but, the first thing he was going to do when he woke up was call Winnie.

---

Later That Morning...

Joe opened his eyes to find a face full of fur inches from his. Frank had been watching Joe for the last ten minutes, and noticing him waking up, he took it upon himself to stick out his tongue and very slowly drag it across the man's face.

"Ugh. Gross, Frank. Disgusting." He said as he pushed the dog away from him. After taking the time to clean himself up and change, he made his way downstairs to find Iris pouring out bowls of cereal for her and her dad.

"No, Winnie isn't back, yet. But, I'm sure she's fine." Iris told him, already knowing what he was about to ask.

"I'm going to call her." Joe said, pulling out his phone. He dialed the number and waited impatiently for her to pick up. But, when no one answered, he felt a pit form in his stomach, telling him something was off. "She didn't pick up, Iris."

"Just leave her a text and call someone else." Iris stated rather calmly.

Next Joe went on to call Danny, maybe she'd slept over. A few rings later, a voice answered, "Hello?"

"Danny, is Winnie over at your place?"

"What? No, why?" 

"Do you know where she might be? She hasn't come home and didn't say anything about staying over at somebody else's."

"Well, the last I saw of her, was yesterday. She stopped by the shelter for about an hour before saying that she had to go help out a friend but, that's all I know." Danny informed Winnie's nervous dad.

"Alright, thank you, Danny."

"Do you mind calling me or having her call when you've found her? You're making me a bit worried now, too."

"Of course." Joe nodded before hanging up. With a big sigh, he sat down at the table and ate a few spoons of his breakfast. 

"No luck?" Iris asked, starting to feel just a tad over edge. Though, part of her was still relaxed as she was certain that Winnie was just at Barry's or something.

"No." Joe said, unsure of how to handle the situation. Right as he was about to take another bite, however, his phone began ringing and without bothering to look at the caller ID, Joe picked up, hoping it was Winnie.

"Hey, Joe." He heard his boss, Captain Singh, say through the speaker. "You might want to get down here."

"Okay." Joe said, listening to the rest of the details he scooped up his jacket and left the house in a matter of minutes.

---

Half an Hour Later...

"Joe, anything?" Barry asked, his pace exceptionally quick. He'd just received a call from Joe saying that Winnie and Caitlin were missing.

"There's no sign of either one of them." Joe said as the two approached the car door.

"Oh my god." Barry whispered, rubbing his hands down his face. He could feel an anger rising up within him, the thoughts of what they could be doing to either one of them, especially Winnie. Now that Snart had a flame gun, Barry could only imagine how scared Winnie could be and it only fueled his determination and rage. "We're getting them back. We have to find Snart."

"Damn right, we do." Joe said, equally fired up at the thought of those criminals laying a hand on his daughter. Already revved up, Joe began walking away, "Come on, let's go."

Once the pair had made it back to the CCPD, they were greeted by Eddie who was racing down one of the stairwells. "Joe, Joe. We got a hit, a second pair of prints. They belong to a Mick Rory."

"Who is he?" Barry asked, his whole facade completely serious. 

"Big-time arsonist. He and Snart worked a job last year that went bad. Half of Rory's body burned in a fire that got out of control. He escaped from an ambulance on the way to the hospital, hasn't been seen since." Eddie explained as the three of them walked into the main office area or the department. Reaching Joe's desk, Eddie turned around to face them, his hands on his hips, "Why would they kidnap people like Caitlin and Winnie?"

"Joe, Thawne, it's on every station." Captain Singh yelled out from his office, pointing at the televisions.

Barry turned his head as he heard the sounds of Caitlin struggling, he could see Snart's face pressed up against the camera practically breathing on the lens. He looked around for Caitlin but, could only hear her grunts of frustration as she struggled with something. From behind, he could see Mick Rory was holding Winnie back, her whimpers just barely audible from the background but, that didn't stop Barry from hearing it. 

Barry could feel himself tense as a spark lit itself within him and it could only grow into flames at the sound of Snart's drawling voice. "Greetings, citizens of Central City. I am Leonard Snart but, you can call me Cold. I'm gonna make this very simple for everyone. That red streak you've been hearing whispers about, the one mysteriously saving people these past few months? Well, surprise, he's real. He calls himself, heh... the Flash. Porter and Main, tonight, sundown. Come out, come out, wherever you are, Flash. Show the whole world you're real... or these women die."

"No, don't come for us! Stay away!" Caitlin yelled from wherever she was. And, even though Barry was certainly worried for his dear friend Caitlin, all he could focus on was Winnie in the background, a look of terror across her face. Yet, just as Mick started dragging away Winnie, he could see her look directly into the camera, a calm washing over her face as she mouthed out, "Do what you need to do. We'll be safe."

Barry wasn't completely sure if that was exactly what Winnie wanted to convey but, he no longer had any more time to think it over as the camera shut off and the two women were gone. He could feel his jaw hurting from clenching it too hard, and he wasn't able to unfurl his fists just yet as both him and Joe glanced at the other, apprehension written all over their faces.

We're going to get them back. We're going to get Winnie back. He thought to himself over and over as a mantra to keep himself from exploding with rage.

---

5 Minutes Earlier...

Winnie let out a gasp as the thick burlap sack was lifted from her head, finally able to breathe and see again, Winnie could take a look at her surroundings. The musty grey warehouse was definitely not the most comforting of settings but, it was one Winnie could settle with as it could have been a place much worse than the one she was in.

 She was seated on a rickety chair, untied and able to see Snart leaning against a table across from her. His stony expression was soon replaced with a cool grin, noticing her attention on him.

"Ah, glad to see you're not hurt." He droned as Winnie studied his attiire. It was the same blue jacket she'd seen him wear the night at the theatre, though this time his goggles were resting on his forehead and his was gun in his hand, lazily rested against the table.

Narrowing her eyes, she was about to ask him what they'd done to Caitlin but, was soon interrupted by Caitlin being dragged into the room by the other man. Her friend struggled against his grip as he plopped her down into a seat and tied her up. 

"You and your friend aren't going to be hurt... at least, not yet." He told her, turning around and bringing his attention to a camera. Playing around with it, Snart was busy setting it up as he continued speaking. "You're probably wondering why you arenn't tied up right now. That's because, I believe that you won't be any trouble for us. As long as you do what we say, your friend here, will be fine. First, I'd like you to stand up."

Despite the urge not to, Winnie obeyed Snart's instructions and stood up as the other man pulled away her chair. Then, he grabbed her from behind, holding her firmly in place, not allowing for much choice in the matter.

"Oh yeah, this is Mick. You could say he's my... partner. Now, we're going to be going live in just a minute, please put on a nice scared face for us. We need to really sell it." Snart said, gesturing to his partner as he got everything set up.

"Greetings, citizens of Central City..." He began as the broadcast started, his face barely two inches away from the camera.

Winnie felt a rush of terror wash over her as she felt her face contort into a scared one at the words that Snart announced began sinking in. He was challenging Barry to some sort of cowboy showdown and Winnie couldn't help but worry that Barry would get hurt. 

Caitlin could be heard making noises, trying to wiggle free from her restraints as Snart spoke but, the second he finished, she yelled out, attempting to tell Barry, "No, don't come for us! Stay away!"

With that, Mick began dragging her away. So, with all of her bravery, she found a way to try and relax as she stared straight into where she thought the camera was and mouthed, "Do what you need to do. We'll be safe." 

It was her message to Barry, to tell him to do what's right, for him and the people of Central City. Winnie would do what she could to rescue Caitlin and if possible, herself so Barry could save the day.

Bringing back the chair that she'd been sitting on before, Snart helped Mick sit her down and supplied him with ropes to tie her up as well, before walking back over to his table. 

Kneeling beside her, Mick began tying up Winnie's feet. "So, you're friends of his, huh? He's fast..." He said, stopping his work to pull out a lighter. "Like fire. Fire, it's undefineable. Heat, light, energy. It's an evolution when things burn."

He liked gettting to talk about how much he adored the dangerously tantalizing element, the ability to see if others enjoyed it as much as he did. 

But, Winnie wasn't listening. As soon as the little flame had appeared, Winnie felt her breaths quicken. She could feel the miniscule amounts of heat coming off of it, brushing against the side of her cheek. Screams could be heard, blocking out all other noise in her head as her vision began focusing in and out, her head beginning to bob dangerously close to the small fire.

"You're sick!" Caitlin spat out from where she sat, not too far from the two. She could see Winnie fighting with the demons in her head, starting to take over and render her weak.