Chapitre Huit

Coupure Électrique

White or blue? Marie had two leotards in front of her: the simple white and the blue laced one. Which should she wear today?

Marie promised her students she would teach them a variation, and that's what she intended to do on today's class. Learning a variation was something special, and it deserved a special outfit.

"White, definitely," Marie said to herself. "It looks better with the skirt."

Before she could start having second thoughts, Marie grabbed her stuff and left for the studio.

"So, princess Florine's variation is all about delicacy," she was telling her students an hour later, dressed in the white leotard and a flowing blue mullet skirt. "Some consider it to be an easy choreography, so after we learn the steps we'll be working on perfecting it. Does anyone knows princess Florine's story?"

Morgan, her most dedicated student, raised her hand. "It's the story of a princess who's locked in a tower by her stepmother. Then she meets a prince and they fall in love."

"Yes, Morgan," Marie smiled at her. "The prince is cursed to become a bluebird and visits Florine every day on her tower. He tries to teach her how to fly so she can escape her imprisonment. That's what's the variation is about: Florine trying to fly."

Marie moved to start the music when she heard the whispers of Daphne, a girl that acted like she was above everyone else. "She definitely has experience with flying," she giggled.

Without turning around, Marie answered to her. "I do, Daphne, though I would recommend flying like I did," the other girls laughed at the teacher's remark while Daphne's cheeks were tinged with red. "Let's get started, shall we?"

It had been a while since Marie felt that good. She was... liberated. Like all of her problems disappeared.

But of course, feelings like this don't last.

After the end of her variation class, Marie decided to stop by cake shop and buy herself a treat. She left the studio in a such a hurry that she didn't even bother changing her ballet attire, Marie just slipped her boots and go. The weather was getting colder and colder everyday, but Marie didn't care. She wondered if this was a side-effect of being a meta-human, but she wasn't sure if she was a meta-human to begin with, so she just brushed it off.

And when you're out there, without care, yeah I was out of touch. But it wasn't because I didn't know enough... I just knew too much.

Marie's earphones were blasting music and she was more than happy to sing along. She was ready to start the chorus when the music suddenly stopped. What now?, she thought. Then the Black Swan entrance started playing and Marie realized someone was calling her. She answered through the earphones, without looking at screen to know who was.

"Hello there!" Marie said with a bright voice. The sooner she ended the call, the sooner she could go back to her music.

"Marie? It's Barry," she stopped her tracks instantly. I have a bad feeling about this. "We met at the hospital? Do you remember?"

"Hi Barry! How are you?" she laughed nervously, looking around to see if she was being followed or something.

"Well, I might need your help."

Marie narrowed her eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to talk about this on the phone. Can we meet?"

"You're not trying to lure me to your super-prison, right? Because I always carry a taser with me and I'm not afraid to use it."

This time it was Barry who laughed nervously. "No, I promise."

Marie sighed. "Where?"

"Do you know the way to Star Labs?" he asked.

"I'll find my way," she assured him, opening Google Maps on her phone.

"Thanks, Marie."

"You're welcome. I'll see you soon, okay?" Marie told Barry with a steady voice. There was something really bad going on, she knew it.

"Call when you arrive, I'll come to find you."

"Sure. Bye," she hung up, uncertain about what was going on. Of course, it could be a trap, but Marie decided to take the risk.

If there's one thing you should know about Marie Sheperd is that she likes to play safe. Going to Star Labs was anything but safe, and yet she wanted to go.

Walking as fast as she could, Marie passed as a blur the street of the cake shop. So much for a nice piece of cheesecake.

"What's going on? Is everything alright?" Marie was frantic when Barry found her outside Star Labs. She had never been here before, and truthfully, she never expected one day she would come here. But extreme times require extreme measures, or so it seemed.

"Thank you for coming," Barry said. His eyes looked so tired. "There's a new meta-human in town."

"I'll take for your expression that it's a bad guy... or girl."

He nodded. "He feeds on electricity," Barry looked down, as if looking for the right words. "He... he stole my powers. I'm not fast anymore."

Suddenly everything made sense. Marie felt a huge wave of compassion for Barry. After all, she had been on this exact same spot months ago: losing what completes you. For her, it was dancing; for him, it was running.

"Is it possible to reverse it?" Marie asked with wide eyes.

"We don't know yet. My friends are trying to find a way," he blushed before moving on. "Look, I... when I called you it was because I thought you could help us defeat him, but I realized you can't control your powers yet. I think it's better for you to go home."

That angered her more than she expected. I can't believe I've given up my cheesecake for him to just send me home!

"I'm not going home," Marie replied stubbornly. "I'll stay and help with... whenever I can."

"It could be dangerous." Barry said after a moment.

"Dangerous? I laugh in the face of danger!" she quoted, and her weak attempt of humor somehow made him smile.

"Let's come in," Barry hushed her through the Star Labs hallways, before stopping by a room. Marie felt like she was in a sci-fi movie, but contained her awe; her mother always told her to never let it show astonishment for something or someone until the right moment.

"Uhn, guys?" Barry said once they entered the room, attracting the attention of the other two people. "There's someone I want you to meet."

The pretty brown-haired woman - or was she a strawberry blonde - spotted Marie first, before sharing a worried look with the man beside her.

"That's Marie. She helped to save Joe, I think she is a meta-human," Barry told them while Marie waved lightly, feeling completely out of place.

"Hi, I'm Cisco Ramon, that's Caitlin Snow - Doctor Snow, I mean," the black-haired young man approached her with a smile. "So, what can you do?" he looked like an excited little puppy, what Marie thought was awfully cute.

Marie looked nervously at Barry, wondering how she could explain. "I-I can feel the air?" she tried.

"Cool, a wind summoner!" Cisco covered his mouth as if he had a great idea. "Wind Summoner, that could be your name!"

Dr. Snow eyed Barry cautiously. "Barry, can I talk to you in private for a moment?"

He sent Marie a look that said "I'll be right back" before following the Doctor to the other side of the room, where they started to talk in hushed tones.

"She's just being overprotective, don't you worry," Cisco said, noticing what Marie was staring.

"It's understandable. I mean, I could be a crazy psychopath for all you know," Marie said. "Which I'm not, I promise!" She quickly added.

Cisco laughed and opened his mouth to say something when Doctor Snow returned, Barry right behind her.

"I think we should do some exams, just to be sure," she told Marie.

"Of course," she nodded in response, though she didn't believe they would found anything anormal in her. Marie had done countless exams after the accident and none appointed any unusualness. However, they did say that her recover was faster than normal - though not fast enough for her to return to the company, apparently.

Marie sat on a chair while Doctor Snow prepared a large needle. She cringed at the thought of that entering her skin.

"So, how did you get your powers?" Cisco asked in an attempt to distract her.

Marie frowned. "I was affected by the explosion?"

"No, no, what were you doing when it happened?"

Barry stepped in. "What Cisco's trying to say is that we think your powers are connected to what you were doing at the time of the explosion, or maybe some trait of your personality. Do you remember the Mist?" Marie nodded. "He was receiving the death penalty when it happened, that's were his powers come from."

Marie shifted uncomfortably on the chair. Talking about the accident was always intense, and she didn't wanted to start crying.

"I was dancing," she said vaguely. Barry and Cisco just waited her to go on. "I'm a ballet teacher now, obviously," she motioned at her clothes, the same outfit take took so much for her to choose. "But I used to be a professional dancer for Central City Ballet. Last year I was casted as the main character of La Sylphide. That's what I was doing when it happened," Marie stopped to take a deep breath before going on. "It was the entrance of the second act. I had to come in tied on strings so it looked like I was flying, but something went wrong. The lights went out halfway through my descent, and then I heard something snap and... I fell. I woke up in the hospital. It was... bad. I ruptured my Achilles Tendon, my knee dislocated... the doctors told me I would never be able to dance professionally again. One moment I was on top of the world, and suddenly I was on the deep bottom."

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that," Cisco said.

"Thank you," Marie swallowed the lump on her throat. "But it makes sense. Sylphs are air spirits, so aerokinesis sounds appropriate," she sighed.

The tension dispersed when Cisco left the room to do... something. Marie hadn't asked, but probably it had something to do with the evil meta-human that stole Barry's powers. Doctor Snow, or Caitlin, as she asked to be called, took samples of her blood. She wanted to run more tests, but their time was short and finding a way to recover Barry's speed was clearly the focus.

Thought Marie wanted to help, she had no idea what she could do. Her power seemed uncontrollable, and she haven't sensed the air since the day on the hospital. So she stood cautiously to the side, feeling just like the outcast she was used to be.

"You think I'll ever wear it again?" Marie heard Barry ask Caitlin, looking at his Flash suit.

"I hope so," the Doctor answered gently.

Marie started fiddling with the shoelaces of her sneakers, pretending she wasn't paying attention to their conversation. She didn't wanted to look intrusive.

"I didn't have my speed for very long, but now that it's gone, it feels like part of me is gone too."

"With or without your speed, you're still you, Barry," Caitlin said.

"But I'm not. I'm not the best version of me. I love being The Flash. I love everything about it: The feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people. I'm not sure I can live without it, Caitlin."

Marie knew exactly like he felt. After the accident, being told that her body would never heal enough for her to be even with the other dancers, she was broken. Years of training destroyed in less than a minute. For Barry, it was worse, she realized. His speed had been handed to him and he accepted the responsibility his powers brought. And then it was gone. Her career was gone, Barry's powers were gone. It was in that moment Marie promised herself she would do anything she could to help him get his speed back.

"Farooq Gibran," Cisco announced.

"Who?" Barry asked.

"The powers vampire who jacked your speed. I hacked into the surveillance footage from the Petersburg substation," he turned his tablet so that Caitlin and Barry could see his face. Curious, Marie approached the group, standing a few steps away from them. "Once I got his face, it was easy to find a match."

"He climbed an electrical tower the night of the accelerator explosion."

"No surprise where his powers came from," Caitlin agreed.

Suddenly an alarm started ringing, and Marie's senses sprung to action. The air around her was crackling on a very unsettling tone. While she shook her head nervously, trying to get rid of the unsettling sound, the other three ran to the desk, looking at the computer screen with worry.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Barry sighed.

"This is not happening," Caitlin said.

This seemed to awake Marie from her dazzled state, and she joined them at the desk. The screen showed a man with a murderous look on his face, screaming at the surveillance camera.

"Dr. Harrison Wells, I need to see you! Come on, I know you're inside," he was shouting. "Open the door. I just want to talk, Dr. Wells. Wells! Let me in!"

"Is that him?" Marie asked to Barry. The grave look he send her was the only answer she needed.

They watched silently as the man used his powers to break into a electricity generator and proceed to "feed" with the energy. The lights went off and Marie started panicking. She became afraid of the dark since the accident.

"A blackout?" she whispered. "I have a terrible feeling about this."

Farooq shot his lightenings at the door, and that's when everything went down.

"He's inside," Barry said, his shock matching her own.

"What do we do?" Marie asked.

"We need help. I'll call Joe," Barry grabbed his phone and went to the other side of the room, while Cisco and Caitlin seemed to be putting the whole facility under lockdown. Then the famous Doctor Harrison Wells arrived on his wheelchair - and Marie couldn't stop thinking about her mom and how she nicknamed him: Hot Doc.

"He's here," he said. It sounded more like a statement than a question. Then he noticed Marie was standing there. "Who are you?"

She felt uncomfortable under his gaze, like she was being X-rayded. "I'm Marie Sheperd, sir... I mean, Doctor," she shook his hand quickly. "Mr. Allen brought me here. I'm a meta-human."

He eyed her curiously. "Mr. Allen has a terrible timing sometimes."

"I can't help but agree," she laughed dryly. Don't panic, Marie, she repeated to herself like a motto. She tried to concentrate on other things like how she had just met one of her mother's crushes or the locks of curly hair coming out of her low bun, but it didn't seem to help.

"Joe and Iris are in trouble. I need my powers back now," Barry said with a grievous expression. Marie didn't even had time to ask who was Iris or what was going on.

"I have a theory. It's untested," Doctor Wells stated.

"I'm willing to roll the dice," Barry nodded eagerly.

"Okay, you've lost your speed, yes, but nothing has changed inside you on a subatomic level. In other words, your cells are still primed," the Doctor started.

"They just need a jumpstart," Cisco said, an understanding expression on his face.

Marie narrowed her eyes, starting to understand where they were trying to get.

"Okay, how do we do that? How do we jumpstart me?" Barry asked.

Doctor Wells didn't even hesitated. "We need to replicate the initial jolt to your system."

"Like a lightning bolt?" Marie asked, receiving a light nod from Doctor Wells as answer.

"That would mean a peak current of at least 20,000 kilo-amps," Cisco said.

"Are you insane?" Caitlin shot in the discussion. "That's more electricity than they give to people in the electric chair."

"Caitlin, with Farooq in the building, we're all looking at a death sentence here."

Marie eyed the doctor. "But what about the blackout?"

"The spare generator's offline. If we reboot it, we could get a charge that big," Cisco answered for him.

Wells nodded. "We need something that can transmit the load from the generator to Barry's body without shorting out."

"The treadmill. My baby could take the charge," Marie decided it wasn't time to ask questions, even if all this scientific talk was forming a huge knot in her mind.

"What if Barry can't?" Caitlin said, worried.

"Well, that's up to Mr. Allen," Wells answered and all eyes turned to Barry, waiting for a decision on his part. Instead, he turned around and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna talk to him," he said.

"No. No," Doctor Wells shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Marie murmured.

"Okay, you didn't see him at the substation," Barry started. "He needed to feed. I got super speed out of the particle accelerator blast, but his best friends died. He woke up with a disease."

"Earlier today, you worked a crime scene where this meta-human electrocuted an innocent man. He's a murderer!" Wells shouted and Marie bristled after hearing his tone. He could be very scary sometimes. "And you are powerless to defend yourself against him."

"He may just need help like I did. I don't need my powers to offer him that."

He left the room stubbornly, leaving a very surprised Marie behind. She never thought she would meet someone who embodied the phrase "you're either very brave or very stupid", but she was wrong. This person was Barry Allen.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" she asked the other people in the room, wondering if they would leave their friend face his possible death all by himself.

"Yes," Doctor Wells took the lead. "Miss Sheperd, you should be extra cautious," he warned her. "It this meta-human has a preference for feeding from others like him, you'll be his first target."

She nodded almost frenetically, her brown eyes wide with fear.

They all hid behind a door; Caitlin, Cisco and Marie on one side and Doctor Wells on the other. If anything went wrong - which probably would - they just needed to pull Barry in and close the door.

Easier said than done.

Marie could hear the voices of Barry and the other meta-human, but her focus was somewhere else. The air was whistling with electricity, a feeling that Marie found very unsettling. She closed her eyes, trying her best to ignore the sensation when she realized that she could use it for their advantage.

Marie could sense the air shifting as they moved, the breathing of everyone around her. If she payed enough attention, maybe she could try to predict their movements...

But the air was telling otherwise. Just like in the prison, she felt it become thicker, like energy flowing through her. Just give a command, she said to herself, think what you want it to do and the air will obey.

Her eyes shot open in the moment she felt the electricity cutting through the ambient and saw Barry being thrown back in their direction. Before Cisco could lock the door, Marie ran out of her hiding place and knelt on the ground in front of the door. She twisted her fingers and a strong air current flew past her, making her hair even more disheveled. But it worked, because the wind was so strong that the electricity vampire was thrown away. Before he could stand up, Cisco closed the door and Doctor Wells started giving orders.

"Done being noble, Mr. Allen?" he sounded sarcastic. "Caitlin, Miss Sheperd, get him to the treadmill. Cisco, bring the generator online."

Both Caitlin and Marie didn't need more instructions. Though she was still shaken by what she had done, Marie quickly recovered herself and helped Barry get up. She had no idea were the treadmill was, so she just followed Caitlin's lead.

When they arrived in the room where the treadmill was supposed to be, Caitlin immediately started checking Barry's injured arm.

"I'm not healing fast anymore," he acknowledged. She just nodded awkwardly in response. "That's unfortunate."

"Keep an eye on him," she told Marie before moving to connect something in the treadmill. "Don't worry, when Dr. Wells has a theory, he's usually right."

"What if something happens to Joe and Iris first?" he sounded worried.

"It won't," Marie tried to reassure him, her voice surprisingly strong. "Have some faith, Barry."

He opened his mouth to say something, but them they heard it: the sound of cracking electricity announcing that Farooq was close. They all shared a panicked look for a second, before Marie pointed to the wall, crawling to hide under the glass. Caitlin and Barry, understanding what she was suggesting, joined her. Caitlin looked at her, curling her fingers as she was asking if Marie could do something. She closed her eyes, extending her senses, trying to command the air to do something - anything, really - but she couldn't feel anything in her terrified state.

Barry nudged her and Marie realized they didn't had time for this. The three of them silently crawled into a small door, the space too small for the them. She felt Caitlin holding her hand and Marie asked herself if that was how she died. She would never do the things on her "do it before you die" list: she wouldn't live to see the Bolshoi performing live, she would never dance in the rain with the love of her life, she wouldn't have the chance to know her father or say goodbye to her mother. Marie was not much of a religious person, but in that moment, she closed her eyes and prayed.

She prayed for the ones who stayed behind: for Damien in prison, for Paige living her - their - dream, for her family and the people of Central City that would lose their newfound hero.

She could hear Farooq's words, but she wasn't listening. In that moment, right before her eminent death, it wasn't fear Marie felt, it was powerlessness. She promised herself that if she survived this, even if by a miracle, she would never feel powerless again.

But death didn't come for her. Instead, they heard Farooq steps retreating. That was enough to send Barry into overdrive.

He ran to the treadmill, Caitlin following behind, a stunned Marie noticing the lights were on coming for last.

"Turn on the treadmill," Barry ordered.

Caitlin hesitated. "You're still hurt."

"We don't have time! Caitlin!"

"I can't," she looked at him with broken eyes.

"We don't have a choice."

"If I turn this on, it could kill you."

"If you don't, we could all die."

"I already lost someone I cared about in this building, I can't do it again," she said strongly, making Marie even more confused about what they were talking about.

Noticing Caitlin's hesitation, Barry turned to Marie. "Marie, you understand, don't you? If you had to run the risk so you could dance again, so you could help people again, wouldn't you?"

Marie wasn't sure if she could do what he was asking her to. Sure, she understand what he was going through, but his life was at stake... but Barry did had a point: they could all die if they didn't try.

I'll never be powerless again.

"If you die I'll have your blood on my hands," she kept her eyes on his. Barry just nodded.

Caitlin watched wide eyed as Marie quickly pushed the lever. Please don't die, both women were thinking.

His body was thrown in the air for the second time today, landing with a loud noise. The two women ran to check if he was still alive.

"My God, are you okay? Did you feel anything?" Caitlin was asking at the same time a frantic Marie kept repeating "I'm sorry" non-stop.

Barry's hand started shaking madly, then stopped. "It didn't work," he said, disappointed.

"We should leave. Now," Marie said, hearing the electricity noise again. "Farooq will kill all of us if we don't."

They didn't disagree. Marie extended her hand to Barry, helping him rise to his feet. He nodded in acknowledgment, taking the lead to guide them to somewhere safe - anywhere else seemed safer to Marie.

But once they turned in the corridor, another man came flying on their direction. Caitlin and Marie stayed back, but Barry approached the lying figure of the man with an air of recognition - and even concern.

"Tony. Hey, Tony, what are you doing?" he asked quietly. "Oh, come on." Barry tried to help him rise.

"You know me, Allen. I never run from a fight," he answered breathlessly.

"Who's this?" Marie whispered to Caitlin.

"Barry's childhood nemesis. He was supposed to be locked up..."

Before she could finish, the man murmured a low "run", and stopped breathing. He was dead.

Shock run through Marie's body, being replaced with horror when she heard the crackling noise that indicated Farooq was near. Caitlin ran to get Barry, pulling him up and forcing him to run away.

They stopped by a door, Barry and Caitlin rushing in first, leaving Marie to lock the door. She laid her back against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

"You're winded. That's not good," Cisco said, looking at Barry.

Caitlin ignored him. "I need to take your blood and figure out what happened."

"I can't believe he's dead," Barry mumbled.

"Dr. Wells?" Cisco asked, startled.

"No, no. Tony Woodward. He escaped from the pipeline."

"He must have got out when the blackout hit."

"Not possible. The pipeline was designed to withstand a power outage," Cisco said. "Someone had to have let him go."

"I did. I released him," Doctor Wells popped out of nowhere again, startling Marie.

"Why?" Barry inquired.

"To divert our intruder's attention while we worked to restore your speed."

"You used him as a distraction?"

The Doctor seemed unfazed. "An unnecessary one, as it turns out. It seems the plan has failed."

Marie was frozen on her spot. How could someone be that cold? She just couldn't understand. Apparently, Barry couldn't too.

"I... I have his blood on me," he looked down at his blood-stained blue sweater. "How could you do that?"

"You're showing a lot of sentiment for a man who tormented you as a child," the Doctor stated.

"Tony might have been a bully then and now, but he didn't deserve to die?," Marie couldn't disagree with Barry. She thought of her ballet classmates. They never bullied her, they just ignored Marie as if she didn't exist, but she would never sacrifice one of them to save herself. Just the thought sounded inhuman.

"Does Caitlin or Cisco? Or Miss Sheperd or me or you? I had a choice to make, him or us. I chose us without a second thought."

"Well, all your talk about miracle cures and scientific breakthroughs, but you don't care about people at all," Barry shot at him.

"Well, maybe you care too much, Barry. I know being a hero is important to you, and I respect your ideals. I just don't have the luxury of sharing them."

The air was so thick with tension Marie could have cut it with a knife. She just wanted to go home and cry alone on her bed.

But they weren't done yet.

"I forgot. Your game's chess. We're all just pawns to you, right?" Barry looked enraged. "So what's your move, Doctor? Which one of us gets sacrificed next?"

This just seems to get worse, Marie sighed in her head. She knew they were running out of time. Thankfully, the others knew that too.

"We have to get out of the facility."

"We just left him on D level," Caitlin said.

"We'll never make it to the main entrance from here."

"What about the garage, the mobile lab van?"

Doctor Wells agreed. "It's my move, Mr. Allen, and I say we make a run for it."

But before they could leave, Caitlin gasped. "Oh, my God. Barry, look. Your cells, they're rapidly regenerating."

He looked confused. "I still don't have my speed."

"It must be mental, not physical," she told him.

"Oh, you have the yips," Cisco said strangely excited. Marie was familiar with the term: as a ballerina, performing in front of a crowd - or even in a small classroom - can make you rather hesitant. But one thing is being paralyzed because you're afraid to fail a step, other completely different is trust yourself enough to get you super-speed back.

"The whats?" Barry asked.

"You know. When a second baseman all of a sudden can't throw to first or a golfer tries to putt and they get all embarrassed and upset, and then that makes the yips worse, and it's a hot mess, and then they feel like even more of a failure," Cisco tried to explain, but Barry only looked more confused.

"That's not helping."

Marie thought it might be her time to intervene. "You're afraid," she said softly, their heads turning to face her. Marie had been in silence for so long they practically forgot she was there. "You're afraid of failure. I guess it's safe to say we all are," Marie knew it was a terrible encouraging speech, but she hoped it could work. "Stop thinking. Just... forget the logic for a moment and do what it feels like doing. You don't need to be scared of stepping into territory you already know. If you don't believe in yourself, who else will?" that was exactly what her mother told her years ago, when Marie thought of giving up. It was strange to pass that advice ahead, but perhaps it was what Barry needed to hear.

She would have liked to say more, but Doctor Wells was right: they needed to get out right now. Marie gave space for Wells and Barry to lead the way, following their tracks and looking back nervously each five seconds. She knew that if Farooq found them they would hear the usual sound of electricity - that Marie knew she would dread forever - but that didn't mean she shouldn't keep an eye open.

When they arrived in the garage, with Barry rushing to start the van, the lights went down again. Marie's blood runs cold at the realization that they had been caught.

"He's here," Wells said darkly, but Marie barely noticed. She was trying to use her own advice to Barry as a way of accessing her powers. Don't be afraid, trust yourself, breath.

But it wasn't working. It was like the powers had their own will and work when she least expected.

The four of them watched helplessly as Farooq shot a lightning at the van, Barry jumping out of it in the last minute.

Marie released a blood-curdling scream while Caitlin and Cisco ran to their fallen friend's side. She would have followed them, but her feet seemed to be glued to the floor. She was paralyzed.

Marie felt a hand gripping her wrist and for a moment thought it was Farooq, but then realized he was on the other side. It was Doctor Wells.

"Go with Caitlin and Cisco," he ordered simply, and Marie complied with no response. Her legs felt numb, her vision was blurry and her heart seemed to be close to explode, but she did exactly what Wells said.

She didn't even had time to kneel beside her friends - because if they survived through this night, Marie was sure the near death experience would assure they were friends - because Farooq was ready to shoot at then. Standing behind then, Marie tried with all her might to use her powers, invoke a gust of wind, anything that could help, but she felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. We are all going to die and it's my fault.

"Oh my God, no please!" Caitlin pleaded, holding tightly to Barry's right arm.

"Hey!" all heads turned to the direction of the shout. It was Wells. "You're here for me."

They watched in stunned silence as Farooq focused his attention on the doctor.

"He will kill him," Marie whispered breathlessly. "And then he'll finish us."

"Finally you show your face." He growled.

"Well, I wasn't exactly eager to be killed," the doctor shook his head.

"Neither were my friends."

"I know. I hurt a lot of people that night."

Marie's heart shrunk at the reminder of the deaths the explosion caused. She had lost her career, but many had lost their lives. Families that would be forced to go on without a child, a sibling, a parent. There was a lot of weight on Wells' shoulders.

But Farooq was still enraged. "People? You don't even know their names."

"Jake Davenport. Darya Kim," he said lowly, surprising them all. "Ralph Dibny, Al Rothstein, Grant Emerson, Will Everett, Bea Da Costa, Ronnie Raymond," the doctor looked at Caitlin for a moment, and Marie wondered what that was supposed to mean. "I know the names of every person who died that night. I know they all mattered, and the fact that the world is now deprived of their potential is something that I have to live with every day, but these people... these people have done nothing wrong. You want to punish me? Fine, let's do that, but let these people live."

Marie couldn't believe what he was doing. She was sure Farooq couldn't control himself; he would kill them all. Why Wells was sacrificing for them?

She was so shocked she missed Farooq's next words, her focus turning to the desperate people next to her. Barry seemed shocked and Cisco was paralyzed, while Caitlin was the incarnation of heartbreak.

And then everything happened so fast. In a blink, Doctor Wells was on the spot were Barry had been, Farooq looked around, confused, and the Flash popped up, ready to face him. Marie wasn't sure if that meant they were saved or not, but the only thought that crossed her head was that Barry actually had time to suit up to fight Farooq. She didn't know if that was cool or crazy. Probably a bit of both.

Farooq shot his lightnings right into Barry's chest, and for a moment Marie thought they were all through. She realized that the electricity wasn't harming Barry at all, and then Farooq fell on the floor, immobile.

Less than a second later, Barry was gone.

"Is he dead?" Marie asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Wells answered coldly.

The next 20 minutes were a blur for Marie. While the scientists removed Farooq's body from the floor, she tiptoed out of the scene, grabbed her bag from upstairs and left the building without turning back.

Marie walked her way home as fast as she could. Once she arrived, she dunked on the bathroom floor, letting the water wash over her. She wanted to cry or scream or feel something, but she just felt hollow.

What's wrong with me? I witnessed two people dying and I'm not even sad.

She lost notion of time. Numb, Marie turned the shower off, throwing her wet clothes on the floor and crawled into her bed, falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Hello my beautiful readers! It's UPDATE DAY! I was so excited to share this chapter with you all, so if you spot any mistakes it's cause I barely had time to revise it for you. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about it! Also, just a quick question for you all: do you prefer longer or shorter chapters? Because, as a reader, I personally prefers longer chapters, but as an author, my chaps tend to be on the shorter side. So, what do you guys think?

See you next week, Anna!