Hey! Although I am currently working on another story, I couldn't let this one go. Not many things from season 2 will be canon in this fic, but perhaps from time to time I will add something.
I do not own the Flash, only the twins and the storyline.
Barry clumsily dashed into Jitters, spilling his armful of papers onto a table and hurrying to the counter. The waitress behind the cash register smiled, recognizing him as a regular. "Late?" she guessed, turning to the coffee maker to start on his usual order.
"A little," Barry blushed, fingers tapping on his thigh, too fast for the naked eye.
The waitress, who's name tag read 'Melanie' laughed, placing a lid on the steamy fresh coffee. "I've never known anyone to be late so often," she commented, handing him his regular, and adding a bagful of fresh baked goods. "Here's 'The Flash' and a couple assorted muffins, as per requested every morning."
"Yeah, well, even when I'm fast I'm late," Barry said, patting his coat down in search for his wallet. "Thanks."
"If you were the Flash I'm sure you wouldn't have that problem," the waitress sighed dreamily, obviously having a bit of a celebrity crush on the masked hero.
"I'm sure," the forensic specialist murmured awkwardly, finally finding his wallet in his right pocket and handing the woman the expense of his drink and food, plus a tip. It got hard to hide his secret, with the Flash so popular these days. Barry couldn't go a day without someone mentioning him.
"Well, have a nice day," Melanie chirped, a little extra perky at the sight of her tip. "Hurry up tomorrow morning, okay?" She waved at him as Barry gathered up his messy papers and took off with a tray for his coffee and a bag of muffins in tow. Shaking her head, Melanie greeted another customer with the same amount of pep, her service with a smile act having to go on until 5 pm that afternoon.
Barry took two swift glances behind each shoulder, before holding tight to his things and dashing off towards the police station at his medium speed. If he went max, he'd lose his grip on his coffee and papers, and end up soaked and in deep trouble with the chief. Captain Singh was already tightly wound without a screw up on his part.
The rush of air blowing in his face, and the building adrenaline was a main reason Barry loved doing what he did. Being a hero seemed easy to withstand when he was allowed to run like this for his off-job.
He ducked into the alleyway beside the station, and quickly dusted himself off before turning the corner and entering the building bustling with policeman. The last thing he needed was a cop to spot him suddenly flashing into the CCPD, out of no where.
"Morning," Barry tried to greet the captain.
"Allen," Singh replied with barely a nod in his direction. "Do you have those papers I filed into your work load?"
"Yes, sir," Barry said, heading up to his lab when Detective Joe West stopped him.
"Bare," his adoptive father called, cutting him off halfway up. "S.T.A.R Labs called, apparently Caitlin couldn'd reach you."
Frowning, Barry reached into his cluttered pockets for his phone. It took him a moment, but he eventually pulled it out to discover that it had been turned off. "Oh, yeah. I switched it off last night so I wouldn't be disturbed during the tests I was running."
"How long did you stay here after hours?" Joe questioned, arching an eyebrow.
Barry shrugged, pursing his lips guiltily. "I don't know, a few." Joe gave him a scorning look, hands lifting the flaps of his jacket as he placed them on his hips, revealing his gun belt.
"Well, you better get down to S.T.A.R Labs, I'll cover for you here." Story of Joe's life. Barry flashed him an appreciative look, stuffing his father's hands with the papers he was still carrying, before heading back out the front doors with his coffee and muffins.
"Oh," the 26 year old stopped, turning to Joe with the bag from Jitters raised. "Do you want a muffin?" Joe slouched his shoulders, looking at Barry like he had grown two heads.
"No, now go."
Barry rushed to S.T.A.R Labs, attempting to take a sip of his coffee mid-run. The hot liquid warmed him from the inside out, but as soon as he got caught off guard dodging a car, it scorched his chest mercilessly. "Ah!" He ran into the lab, fanning the collar of his shirt and jaw gaped in pain. "Ah, ah, ah!"
"Trying the drinking thing while flashing?" Cisco asked, looking rather amused. Barry exchanged his wet shirt for a S.T.A.R Labs' hoody, noticing the slight red splotch where the coffee had burned his skin.
"I shouldn't multi-task," Barry groaned, falling into a desk chair by the computer system. "So, what's up?"
"What's up?" Caitlin stormed in, tablet pressed against her chest as she strut over to the speedster. "Meta action is what's up!" She glared at Barry for a second, before flipping the device in her hand over to catch him up. "Given the fact that many of the prior meta-humans' abilities were hard to detect as such, we're getting the CCPD and their meta-opp to instantly download to us any information on the unsolved and undefineable cases, through Joe of course." Barry grabbed the tablet from the scientist's hand with interest. "We then use this small USB to simply scan for any meta-human detection."
"Okay ... so you found one?" Barry prompted her. Cait had a tendency to over-explain, but not get right to the point she was trying to make.
"Two, actually," Cait's eyes sparkled in her excitement. She slid a finger across the tablet, switching to another screen to reveal side-by-side mugshots. Barry stiffled a laugh.
"Those are teenagers." Indeed they were. Some teens made it easy for someone to believe they were convicts, but these two hardly looked the part. The girl, with wild red hair, had pained eyes and a desperate expression. The boy had a soulful appearance, probably quiet in nature. If anything, they found themselves on the wrong side of the law by accident.
"Very dangerous teenagers, dude," Cisco murmured, sticking a lollipop in his mouth. "Show him the footage, Cait." Barry's eyebrows creased together as Dr. Snow went to her computer and started typing something in.
"This was their recent heist, but not the first time either of them got on the police's radar," Caitlin explained, a video feed popping up. "They've been commiting petty crimes for years to get by on the streets. The two have been arrested five times and sent to juvenile detention twice." She tilted the screen down, and aimed it so Barry could see better. "But the thing is, they dropped off the grid about a year and a half ago, being released from juvie randomly, and haven't been seen since ... until yesterday."
The two teens walked into view of the first camera angle at the shopping centre. "Why, were they transferred, or did someone post bail?" Barry asked, focusing on the recording.
"No, they were instituted," Cait's voice went low.
Barry glanced up at her in confusion. "Like at a mental ward?" Caitlin nodded, and Cisco went quiet.
"A few months after the particle accelorator exploded, the boy claimed he was hearing voices during his prison medical check-up and the girl just sort of snapped for no known reason." Turning back to the computer screen, Barry watched in horror as the two teens linked arms and rushed past the security guard that was in front of them, who didn't seem to register their presence at all. Once they were passed him, the girl looked back and glared, grasping her brother's hand tighter in focus. The guard in turn pointed at nothing, pressed his hands to his temples, and dropped to his knees in a shivering panic. "The footage goes on to show every person in that mall face a similar fate as the guard, and the two walking out with new clothes on their backs and a bag of cash from a couple of the stores' registers," Caitlin sounded dumbfounded and a little edgy.
"It seems like an intricate plan for just a few hundred or thousand, and some clothes," Barry ran his fingers through his hair, cringing at the sight of a mother and daughter shaking as they held each other tight, heads flinging in every direction as if they were surrounded. When the footage ended, the whole mall seemed to have gone insane. "How are the victims?"
Cait gave Cisco a look, before biting her lip and replying, "Unresponsive. Most are at the hospital, acting like mental patients instead of the sane, healthy citizens they were before the attack."
"Is there hope for recovery?" Barry prodded, worried.
"Maybe," Caitlin sounded unsure, which was something everyone knew she hated.
Picking up the tablet, Barry stared at the photos of the boy and girl in disbelief. "Elijah and Sabena Reynolds. Are they siblings?"
"Twins," Cisco replied, chewing on the stem of his lollipop. "Apparently they had a hard go at life. Their file from the CCPD dates back before they even stole their first candy."
"How far?"
"From when they were eight and their mother was arrested for murder and attempted murder," Caitlin answered. "Their mother suffered from mental health issues and took a turn for the worse several years back. She refused to go on pills according to her medical records, and was about to be taken to an institution when she stabbed and killed her husband and left her children in critical condition. She's in solitary confinement at the ward so she won't hurt anybody else, while getting the help she needs." Dr. Snow's eyes were saddened, as she pressed her lips together.
"Well, that explains their break down," Barry mumbled. A depressing back story always brought out the compassion in him. His life would be very different without Joe, maybe these twins just needed a bit of guidance. "Do you know where they are now?"
Caitlin shook her head, disappointed. "They're laying low."
"We'll find them," Cisco chimed in. "We'll bring these .. these mental twins in." His eyes lit up. "Oh, that's their name, enough said."
"Do they get seperate identities or ..." Barry almost laughed. Though this one was a bit of a heart-wrencher, Cisco managed to lighten the mood.
"Twins, man," his friend said. "Meta-human twins. They are their conjorned identity." Barry rolled his eyes, while Cait merely smiled.
"Bean, they're going to find us," Eli was saying, as he was packing their newest stolen money into the duffle bag with the rest of the cash they were storing before they were arrested and instituted. The boy was sweating, wide eyes darting around the boarded up house. This place had been their sanctuary for years, long before the bad guys locked them up, and his sister wanted it to be their home now. He didn't agree, being more paranoid than he had ever been.
Slurred thoughts echoed in the back of his mind, definitely not his own, forcing their way into the forefront. They were talking, laughing voices; drunk thoughts. "Agh, more voices!" He hit his head angrily several times, eyes squeezing shut in frustration. Elijah's sister, Sabena, sat on the dirty red armchair next to the window, lifting the end of the ripped curtain to take a peek outside. She instantly straightened.
"Yeah, well, I think I just found the owners of them," she whispered, ordering him to get down. "Our party is about to be crashed by some intoxicated idiots!"
Elijah obeyed his sister, creeping up beside her to take a look for himself. Mind reading sounded like such a cool ability to five year old him, dreaming about superheroes. What they don't tell you in the comic books is how much of a nusance it can be when you're unable to filter. He knew every thought going through anybody's head at every given moment, and when they were close enough he read them without meaning to. Sabena couldn't relate, she could drive people to insanity, instead of being insane herself.
"Shut up so I can tamper with their minds," Sabena hissed, crouching down and closing her eyes. Eli frowned. He hadn't even said anything and he was in trouble with his sister. Typical.
"What are they going to see?" Elijah whispered in his sister's ear, suddenly nervous when the footsteps stomped up the creaky steps, and the door knob twisted open.
"Sh!"
An invisible wave radiated from Sabena, spreading around the room, which appeared unchanged to Eli – but his twin wasn't mindwarping him.
It was just in time. Three wavering drunks stumbled into the abandoned house, one having a bottle of brownish tinged liqour in his hand. Two males, and one female.
"Woah," the one with the alcohol slurred, looking around. "This place is totally creepy, dude." Elijah rolled his eyes. It was pathetic, really, to witness the effects of overdrinking.
"What was that!?" the girl screeched, her shaky arm jetting out and pointing around the room with unfocused precision. Sabena tightened her face, clearly working on a scene for these poor fools to see. It wasn't like it was necessary, though, hallucinations were bound to start during this period of drunkenness anyway.
The three gathered together, eyes peeled for the figures of the noises they were obviously hearing. Eli snickered, deciding to join in.
"Get out!" he transmitted to them in an evil, ghostly tone, a mere voice in their heads. "Get oooouuut!"
"Th-this plasse is haunttted," the third drunk managed to stutter with fear and an alcohol-induced system.
Sabena smiled, knowing the work of her brother when she heard it. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as she aimed for the big finish she couldn't help but add: The object these three feared the most – which meant there'd most likely be three different stories told by them tomorrow about what resides in the building. Sabena gripped Elijah's hand, figuring out exactly what the fears were for these particular few, and smiled when she got her answer.
The one with the liqour screamed, clutching his friends, climbing over them in an attempt to get away, pointing at something that wasn't there. The bottle was flung at a wall, the remaining contents spraying out along with the scattering of broken glass.
The girl was backing away, eyes buldged, before she collapsed to the floor in a pitiful heap, convulsing.
The third was frozen in his fear, mouth gaped, and eyes watering.
Taking this as an opportunity, Elijah quickly snatched their getaway bag with all the cash and clothes they'd collected, and scurried out the back door, his twin sister following suit. He high fived her in praise, before checking behind him and starting to dash to a more secure, second location. Sabena was two steps behind him, ready if she had to mindwarp anyone on their way.
