Barbara spent the rest of the day trying to track down more info. She ended up with the most recent link in the chain she’d been following. A renegade chemist who made every kind of illegal stimulant including the one that let people feel like a metahuman, briefly, and at the cost of great stress on their system that eventually killed them. It didn’t give any powers but it did make them stronger and faster for awhile. More violent too but the gangers and thugs didn’t care about that and most weren’t planning on growing old anyway. She’d tracked it to a guy going by the name of Professor Zoom. She’d smashed his lab once and destroyed all his supplies but less than three days later he was back in business. So she went and paid him another visit. He was a tall, rather thin and weedy looking guy and soon she was lifting him off the floor by his labcoat and shaking him, “Come on “Professor Zoom”, I have you dead to rights making illegal stimulants! If you tell me what I need to know and this time I’ll only destroy your lab … again.” She pressed him against the wall of the dingy underground lab, “Do you want to find out what I’ll do if you hold out on me?”

“Please!” he said. “I’ve told you the truth. I don’t who is at the top or what the Trickster’s real name is! You’ve got to believe me!”

“Then tell me who does know!” She shouted and shook him a little more. “Somebody keeps rebuilding your little chemistry set for you and somebody gives you your ingredients. I know all the dealers who buy from you but you can tell who supplies you.”

“You can’t go there! They’ll catch you! Even you can’t outrun that many bullets. It’s guarded 24/7 and they have submachine guns. They’ll catch you and trail you to me. Go ahead and beat me up again, destroy my lab again, it’s better than what they’ll do,” Zoom replied.

“They’ll never see me coming,” she told him. She frowned, it was time for lies and intimidation, “You know what it feels like to gets ‘clotheslined’ at Mach 1? Do you want to?”

His eyes widened and he shook his head, “No, but you are a hero yes? You would not do this thing.”

“Somebody has put a hit out on me! All bets are officially off and unless you tell me what I need to know all hell will be out for noon!” She shook him for emphasis, “Do you read me?”

“Yah, I read you loud and clear. I will give you the location,” he gave her a latitude and longitude and told her it was underground. “The tunnel to get there starts in an abandoned warehouse on S street.” She nodded and carried him to the door of his lair, “Run. I’ll keep my promise and won’t chase you tonight but this whole underground lab is going to go boom. You won’t want to be anywhere near.”

He nodded once and started walking unsteadily away.

She bundled all the notes and important looking papers together and placed them by the door then used her chemistry knowledge to create a large amount of an unstable compound that would detonate under any sharp shock. She then walked carefully to the front of the lair and threw the sealed container towards the back wall as hard she could.

Right after that she grabbed the bundle and took off at superspeed. She could hear when the explosion went off and smiled, that was one lab that nobody would be rebuilding. From the sound of it she’d collapsed the whole cavern. Good thing nothing was above it but desert. Once back on the surface she raced back into the city and dropped the bundle off in front of the duty sergeant of the nearest police station before heading for home.

The next morning Iris called the station to tell them Barry was pretty ill and would likely be out for a few days. She said she was the one who called because she was making him get more rest. Actually the Allens were planning on a week of Babs being the Flash 24/7. Iris had agreed, though not without a fight, to leave the city for that week. She’d be staying with her mother in Baja, California until she got the all clear. Babs herself would be staying away from the house and using a hotel room for the few hours she actually slept. Since her change she’d never needed more than 2 hours to feel refreshed the next morning. The rest of the time she was planning on being the Flash.

The tunnel led to the underground maze. Checking it all would require many men or one superfast woman. She brought a big piece of chalk with her and left notes for the police as she zoomed about, it would have to wait until she was sure Iris was safe but she was planning to give them the location later and let them do the clean up. Unfortunately she also found a veritable fortress with only one entrance she could see. It was at the end of a long narrow tunnel and guarded by what looked like a military issue machine gun on a tripod.

She backed away after seeing that, and fast. ‘Where the hell did they get that?’ she muttered to herself. Once back above ground she decided she needed help after all. She called Agent Smith from her hotel room, “Agent Smith? I must apologize for my outburst last time we spoke.”

“I’m willing to forgive and forget Dr. Allen. How may I help you?” Smith replied.

“I’ve found where the ringleaders are but I’m afraid I will need help getting to them,” she explained what she had found and asked if he knew anyone that could and would assist her.

“I believe I know just the person, “ Smith said. “I will call and see if she is available, where can we meet?”

Barbara replied, “Anywhere is fine by me. I’ll be at this number waiting to hear back from you. Bye Smith.”

“Talk to you later doctor,” Smith replied and hung up.