WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Flash Season 7, Episode 12, "Good-Bye Vibrations," which aired Tuesday on The CW.
With Team Flash experiencing the loss of its original tech expert Cisco Ramon, the Central City ensemble finds that recent associate Chester P. Runk is more than up to the task of filling the. And as Cisco provides Chester with a parting gift, including his own workshop to develop his own devices and other gadgets to help the Scarlet Speedster defend Central City from super-powered threats, he also reveals a secret armory that may make S.T.A.R. Labs just a liability to the wellbeing of the Arrowverse.
As Cisco entrusts Chester with his passcodes, he also grants him access to the S.T.A.R. Labs' arsenal, filled with not only every gadget and weapon Team Flash developed to combat various enemies their first seven years together, but also the devices and weaponry that they confiscated from defeated supervillains. And given that many of the devices within S.T.A.R. Labs' armory appear to be functional, this could be exceedingly problematic for the rest of the Arrowverse, especially given how much of an open door S.T.A.R. Labs appears to maintain.
Among the gear seen in the S.T.A.R. Labs armory is Heat Wave's gun and the Cosmic Treadmill, as well as shelves full of various weaponry and gadgets that Cisco and his friends have either designed or obtained over the years. Something like the Cosmic Treadmill alone could shape the course of history or spread to other universes should a less noble speedster gain access to it. And with more than one aspiring criminal seeking to become the next supervillain-themed antagonist in Central City, one raid could spawn the next generation of Arrowverse supervillains.
Of course, this also means that other prospective, more noble recruits to Team Flash now have a complete arsenal at their disposal to put towards defending the innocent in the never-ending fight for justice. Just as Legends of Tomorrow saw Captain Cold and Heat Wave take on heroic roles, The Flash Season 7 saw a Rainbow Raider fighting for the side of good. The stored gadgets could lead to Team Flash creating new heroes by reclaiming villainous mantles. And as for the hardware itself, Chester has already proven himself capable of repurposing old tech with new functionality, including reconfiguring the tachyon emitter to collect the raw energy emitting from the Forces.
However, even though Chester P. Runk will work tirelessly to keep the arsenal safe, it does present an enormous security risk. The last time S.T.A.R. Labs played things so dangerously was when they kept all of their defeated supervillains imprisoned inside the facility, and that ended with them all breaking out at once. With its fully loaded storeroom, Team Flash has traded one liability for another and is potentially sitting on a ticking time bomb as Cisco leaves his friends with enough weaponry to blow Central City sky high.
The Flash stars Grant Gustin, Candice Patton, Jesse L. Martin, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes and Tom Cavanagh. New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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