Right before the particle accelerator explosion, Joey Monteleone was thrown into a tar pit and left for dead. Sealed away, he is freed two years later with the ability to turn his body into tar. He sets out to get revenge on those who attempted to kill him. Meanwhile, Dr. Wells creates a device to syphon Barry's speed energy and attaches it to his suit. He and Barry also successfully find a way to close the breaches of Earth-2. When Barry goes after Joey, the device works, and permanently steals a portion of Barry's speed, slowing him down. Wells gives the energy to Zoom, who demands the rest. While going after Joey a second time, Iris is injured when Barry is too slow to save her. Watching Barry wrestle with the guilt of Iris' injury, Wells confesses. Wells pleads his case, asking to be returned to Earth-2 and have Barry seal the breaches so Zoom cannot re-enter. After stopping Joey with an invention of Wells', Barry realizes that Wells was only trying to save his daughter, which the rest of them would have done. The team informs Wells that he will return to Earth-2, but that Barry and Cisco will be going with him to save his daughter.