Chapter 4: Li Shuwen
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When Carter was on his way back to his apartment, The Flash regained consciousness and carried himself back to S.T.A.R Labs, moving as fast as he could without opening up more wounds. When he arrived, everyone took him to the infirmary with worried looks on their faces.

When the doctor came out of the infirmary, Joe asked her “Caitlin, how is he?” Caitlin Snow, S.T.A.R. Labs resident medical expert looked at all of their faces “his right arm is broken, with two broken ribs and severe bruising. But his condition is stable. Given his accelerated healing ability in addition to our state-of-the-art medical technology. He should be out and running around the city in a few days.”

Joe looked at the scientist and his supervisor “Cisco, Wells, what happened back there?” Looking at Joe’s depressed face, Cisco could only say “I don’t know. Assassin, shouldn’t have been able to grab his hand and flip him when he was moving at that speed, no one should’ve been able to keep up with him.” Joe then looked at Cisco’s supervisor Harrison Wells “Wells, what about you, do you have any input?” Wells could only say “I’m just as stumped as you are. I guess we could only wait for him to wake up and tell us himself.”

The next day at the diner, when Joe and Barry sat down at their regular table for Breakfast, Carter came to take their orders, he noticed that Eddie was missing. While Carter was their orders he could not help but be curious, “Hey guys, what are you having today?” Joe just ordered some smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast with some coffee and Barry ordered the same. When he arrived and delivered them their food, he could not help but ask “I couldn’t help but noticed that my favorite regulars, seemed depressed and that the three musketeers of the CCPD are missing one of its musketeers, where’s Eddie?”

Joe and Barry could only look at Carter before saying “Why did you call us the three musketeers?" When Joe asked, Carter pointed at the two of them, "Well, most of the time you're here, I see all three of you together. You know, like the Three Musketeers. It's rare for me to see just the two of you." Barry nodded, "Eddie is recovering from an injury. He got hurt when we raided a warehouse last night. A bunch of thugs was transporting weapons. We were able to stop them but Eddie got hurt during the process.” Carter was shocked at the news he just heard and was now worried “Is Eddie okay? Which hospital and which room? I want to visit him.”

Seeing how Carter immediately got worried for Eddie, Joe could only tell him the information that he is allowed to reveal to the public. “Eddie is fine. His condition is stable and he’s not allowed to have visitors. We’ll know more when he wakes up.” Carter released a sigh of relief and asked Joe seeing as how Eddie is Joe’s partner “When he wakes up, tell Eddie I was worried about him and that I anticipate his return to work and as a regular.” Carter asked this of Joe, while his cheeks turned slightly red.

During lunch hour, just as Joe and Barry were about to sit down for lunch at the diner, they got a call and left. Carter just watched as they left because when they received the call, it was like they were rushing to an emergency. Barry got a call from Caitlin stating that “He” had woken up. Barry told Joe about it and they immediately left the diner to go to S.T.A.R. Labs.

When Barry and Joe Arrived at the S.T.A.R. Labs, they were greeted by Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells. Caitlin had told them that “He” had woken up and wanted to talk to them about what happened. When they reached the infirmary, The Flash’s signature red suit had been removed, and Eddie was lying on the bed. Caitlin told Barry and Joe that even though he regained consciousness, he is still incapable of going into the field. He would be able to move around by tomorrow but would still take a few days to fully recover.

Joe walked up to Eddie, “Hey sleepyhead, how are you?” Eddie could only respond with “aside from a few bruises and broken bones, peachy.” Joe just giggled “Carter was worried about you, and he couldn’t wait for your return. He wanted to come and visit you but we couldn’t just let anyone enter S.T.A.R. Labs now can we?” When Eddie heard that Carter was worried about him and wanted to visit him, he blushed.

Eddie remembered when he first met Carter five years ago. Carter was a victim of abuse and was in a toxic relationship, his fiancé was a gambling addict and an alcoholic. Despite being a regular at the Checker Diner, he was shocked to see how Carter would flinch every time someone tried to touch him. When he looked into the matter during his days off. He found out that Carter was abused by his fiancé on a daily basis. When Carter finally came clean about the abuse, Eddie rushed at the opportunity to put Carter’s fiancé away.

When Carter’s parents found out about the abuse, they immediately asked the CCPD to save their only son from this toxic relationship. After sending his fiancé away, Carter moved out of their shared apartment and into an apartment in his parent's building. Ever since that incident, Carter had gradually recovered from the trauma and powerlessness. Eddie sucked in a cold breath and was happy that Carter was worried about him.

Eddie then revealed to his team what had transpired during his encounter with Assassin. “Honestly, I don’t know what happened. One second, I was rushing towards him, and the next, I was on the flat on my back on the ground. When I ran around him to gauge his ability, his eyes were able to keep up with my speed, and when I tried to hit him, all I could remember was a flurry of attacks and a lot of pain. Yeah, definitely a lot of pain and then losing consciousness for a few minutes. I'm pretty sure you guys know what happened next." Wells nodded and concluded the story, "You ran back here the moment you regained consciousness and when you arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs your body relaxed and you passed out.”

Everyone present could only look at each other and sigh as there is not much information to go on about the identity of Assassin. It was then that Cisco said he found some clues that they could use to identify their new unknown enemy.

“He only revealed himself as Assassin right, from my observation on his appearance using the camera that was installed into your suit and what he said about using his Bajiquan to beat you senseless, in a literal sense. I believe I have found some information on the identity of our mystery Chinese man who called himself Assassin. I looked up all the information I could about his description and his fighting style and this is the result that I got. Our guy has taken the moniker of Li Shuwen, He's a copycat. Who is Li Shuwen you ask? Well, let me enlighten the masses."

Cisco explained, “A legendary martial artist from China who, despite being born in modern times, carved many legends. A Chinese martial artist from Yanshan County, Hebei - Cangzhou (1864~1934). Having been born on the deathbed of the Qing Dynasty, Li Shuwen distinguished himself soon after beginning to take lessons in Bājíquán, ascending to the point of being extolled as the strongest in the history of Chinese martial arts.” Caitlin gave Cisco a look of skepticism before asking “So you’re saying that this is who Assassin really is, you’re kidding right.”

Cisco could only respond to his teammate’s lack of enthusiasm. “I’m not saying that’s who he is since this Li Shuwen person has been dead for almost a hundred years. What I am saying is that we have a copycat. Assassin is someone who is imitating every aspect of this Li Shuwen person during his affirmative years. This master of Bajiquan, and to be honest, I have to admit that this Li Shuwen character impresses me. The original Li Shuwen was like a master martial artist from all the Kung Fu movies.”

Wells then interrupted Cisco’s reverence towards the original Li Shuwen and said “Cisco’s fanaticism of Kung Fu movies aside, what can we do to stop him.” Everyone became depressed with Cisco’s admittance “sadly, there is no actual way to stop him other than using bullets, because that guy is a true blue Kung Fu master. The best solution I can give is a stupid one and that is for Eddie to learn Kung Fu.” Wells could only retort “Okay that is a stupid idea because it would take time, and time is a commodity we don’t have. Who knows what he could do while we sit on our buts waiting for Eddie to master Kung Fu that can best Assassin."

Caitlin then remembered something and reminded everyone, "Assassin said he wanted to talk to Eddie peacefully and amicably, right?" Barry confirmed it, "Yeah but that was before Eddie rushed to attack him, which lead to their present predicament." Caitlin then suggested, “How about the next time he appears, we listen to what he has to say. Because he looked like he was going to tell us something important, and maybe just maybe, instead of being a new enemy, he could be a new ally.” Despite looking depressed, everyone could only agree to Caitlin’s solution as it would be their only way to resolve matters with Assassin peacefully, and with zero civilian casualties and injuries. 

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