Cisco Ramon, listening to Jack's technical problem, subconsciously started to offer a solution. "You could try a ceramic-composite…" He cut himself off, stepping back in sudden realization. "Why am I helping you? You stole that from Mercury Labs!"
Jack Kadere smiled and looked at Cisco, shaking his head. A voice that only Cisco could hear echoed in his mind. "Cisco, Cisco. You know you're going to help me."
"If you help me solve this, I'll consider us even for that little trap you set for me last time."
"You… you…" Cisco stammered, stumbling back another step.
"Cisco, what's wrong?" Barry Allen asked, seeing his friend's panicked look. Caitlin Snow watched with equal confusion.
"Didn't you hear what he just said?" Cisco turned to them, his voice frantic.
Said what? He didn't say anything.
Barry and Caitlin's bewildered expressions said it all.
"Just as I thought," Cisco murmured in dawning horror. "You… you were speaking in my head."
Jack's smile widened, his lips still not moving. "Correct. Not only can I speak in your mind, I can control your thoughts and actions, much like Grodd. But I am far stronger. His control is crude, leaving his puppets dazed and unnatural. Mine? A person I control would be utterly indistinguishable from their normal self. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to make you do something you'd regret. Nor would you want to spend every day suspecting that everyone around you might be my puppet."
"Okay! Fine! I'll help you!" Cisco Ramon blurted out in a rush.
Caitlin and Barry could only watch in confusion, having witnessed a one-sided conversation where Jack never made a sound.
"Jack," Barry interjected, stepping forward. "What do you even need the tachyons for?"
"To build a suit of armor," Jack replied casually.
"The one you wore before?" Barry asked, puzzled. "I don't understand. With your power, you don't need something as… flashy but arguably impractical as powered armor, do you?"
Even a tachyon-powered suit seemed like it would offer negligible improvement to someone of Jack's capabilities.
"Is it… for flight?" Caitlin ventured a guess.
"Flight?" Jack shook his head dismissively. "Flight isn't a challenge." If he wanted to fly, he could acquire the ability easily, and the Speed Force itself offered paths to aerial mobility. "The world is full of flashy but impractical things. Even if it's just a toy, it has to be magnificent enough to hold my interest, wouldn't you agree?"
"But this is Mercury Labs' property," Barry insisted. "They've filed a police report. There's a warrant for your arrest. I know you're not afraid of being caught, but it will cause you trouble. How about you return the tachyons, and we'll help you find an alternative energy source?"
"Not interested," Jack refused flatly. "Tachyons may be expensive, but if one set can be made, another can follow. A person's life, however, is singular. Tell Dr. Tina McGee to drop the charges. Otherwise… she will die."
"You… you're not going to kill her, are you?" Caitlin asked, aghast.
"I won't kill her," Jack said with a light chuckle. "But I will prevent you from stopping the person who does want to kill her."
Jack Kadere knew the story well. Brie Larvan, the so-called Bug-Eyed Bandit, had developed a project for remotely controlled robotic bees. Mercury Labs had initially intended her research for agricultural purposes, but when she insisted on weaponizing the technology, its director, Tina McGee, had fired her. The resentful Brie Larvan held a grudge and would soon begin her revenge, using swarms of venomous robotic bees to kill. In the timeline Jack remembered, if not for the intervention of the Flash and others like Atom, Tina McGee would have died. Speaking of Atom, Ray Palmer probably hadn't perfected his nanotech suit yet, which made the prospect of a trip to Earth-2 to find the original Harrison Wells all the more convenient.
*'Anyway, I have to get to Earth-2,'* Jack thought.
"Someone wants to kill her? Who? Why?" Barry Allen asked hastily.
Jack merely chuckled in response. He turned back to the stunned Cisco Ramon. "This is my number. Let me know when you're done."
Cisco numbly took the slip of paper, and Jack turned to leave.
"I…" Caitlin Snow pointed at Jack's retreating back, wanting to speak but hesitating. Finally, she mustered her resolve and chased after him.
She expected him to be long gone, but instead, she found him just outside the lab, slowly running his hands along the corridor wall as if searching for something. The sight was so mundane it left Caitlin, who had rushed out in a panic, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"Something wrong?" Jack asked without turning around.
"Are you… are you still angry with me? Unwilling to forgive me?" Caitlin hesitated. "Is that why you gave your number to Cisco and not me?"
"Does that matter?" Jack asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
Of course it matters! Caitlin thought. Before, she had been his primary point of contact. Giving the number to Cisco felt like a dismissal, a sign that he no longer wanted to deal with her directly. She couldn't bring herself to voice this insecurity aloud. Instead, she watched him continue his methodical search. "What are you looking for?"
"A secret room," Jack replied, his fingers tracing the seams in the wall. "The Reverse-Flash built one here. Inside, he kept a backup suit, surveillance feeds on Barry, and the future A.I., Gideon. While Gideon isn't my ultimate goal, it will serve as a useful tool for now."
"That's impossible. If there was a secret room here, we would have…" Caitlin's words died in her throat as a section of the wall at her side suddenly lit up with a soft glow at the number 630. The next moment, the wall split open with a hiss, revealing a dark, hidden entrance. "There really is a secret room!"
She watched Jack step inside and, after a moment's hesitation, quickly followed him.
It was a sealed space, roughly ten square meters. As they entered, motion-sensitive lights flickered on, illuminating the chamber.
The first thing to catch the eye was a vibrant yellow Reverse-Flash suit, mounted on a display. Beyond it, a wall of monitors showed live surveillance footage from Barry Allen's home, the CCPD, and other locations the speedster frequented.
"Gideon," Jack stated, looking at the central console.
Instantly, a shimmering, humanoid hologram materialized in the center of the room.
"Hello, Mr. Kadere," the A.I. greeted, its voice calm and synthetic.
Jack wasn't surprised that Gideon knew him. This A.I. was from the future; if it didn't know who he was, it would mean his own future was far less significant than he intended.
"Do you mind if I help you relocate to a more comfortable environment?" Jack asked with a light laugh, looking at the hologram.
PS: The Bug-Eyed Bandit appears in The Flash Season 1. In a related storyline in Arrow, Felicity Smoak was temporarily paralyzed and later used a derivative of the bee technology in her recovery. It's a good time to transition into the Earth-2 storyline, and perhaps even pay a visit to Supergirl's world for a change of scenery