Chapter 24: In Plain Sight
The bones in Averey's spine popped as they maneuvered out of her position slumped over her computer. Her breath caught in her throat as the lingering soreness in her muscles, her ribs, made itself known. Upon settling herself into bed last night, her mattress forming a nice shape around her, she had fallen into a deep, unmoving, sleep. It was trying to pull herself out of bed in the morning that was the hardest part of all it, even with her quick healing. It just wasn't quick enough to heal absolutely everything.
Averey took a quick glance around the seating area of the plaza as she adjusted the sunglasses on her face. It wasn't too bright that she had to worry about her eyesight going wonky, but she did feel the familiar prickle indicating the start of the pain that would manifest itself at the tops of her eyeballs. Still, she hunched back down behind her computer screen, using it to shield her face from the sun. And as a means to stop being distracted by everything that moved in her peripherals to get back to editing her pictures.
She didn't even look up when she heard a voice say from across the table, "I've been in need of exercise."
"I love a walk through the woods." The words came out of Averey's mouth before she could step them. Once they did, she pressed her lips together in frustration. She had always wondered just how deeply ingrained it had all been. The training. The code words. The rules. Every little nuanced thing that made the Royal Flush Gang a successful operative.
She could still remember the chaos and confusion stepping into her shared apartment the night Barry had caused the arrest of the old King, Queen, and Jack. She didn't know the identities of the men and woman in the original positions. And she didn't think she would ever know. It wasn't her job to know. If she hadn't lived with Brent, Casey, and Gavin – if they hadn't been scrambling to suddenly fill the vacant positions as seamlessly as possible, like they had been taught to – she probably would never have known that they were part of the Royal Flush Gang, either.
She remembered the sense of dread she felt the second she had stepped over the threshold. Heard the rapid footsteps, the crashing from the kitchen, and the shuffling from the living room. All in a house that usually sat quietly. It was jarring. Averey remembered the sinking feeling that suddenly pooled in her stomach, pulling her down. She had wanted to sit. She also wanted to investigate. She remembered the way her shoulders suddenly felt tingly, anxiety housed in her tight muscled that she tried to loosen with a roll. All before she was knocked unconscious with whatever they had injected her with.
It should have been more obvious, Averey had thought, just how much her ties to the Royal Flush Gang had changed her. Or, even for someone who had as great eyesight as she did, she didn't want to see it reflected in her. It wasn't too long ago that she was telling Cisco that her closet was comfortable to sit in, implying that it was due to being roughly the same size of a jail cell. That, and while her parents weren't one to really pry into her life – because she was pretty open with her parents – it decreased any chances of them finding out about her meta-secret before she had the opportunity to tell them. The news of being arrested and put in jail for three months was one thing, to be arrested a second time just added to that. Even though they were incredibly supportive, she couldn't foresee how they'd ultimately react to finding out she had abilities would be. Especially if those abilities had a hand in why she was arrested in the first place.
Adding on top of that, the stipulations given to her by her probation officer, it'd be in her best interest to get Melanie away from her as fast as possible.
"Thought this might be of some interest to you." Melanie tossed the newspaper she had clutched in her hand onto the table. Averey looked over at the newspaper whose headline read MERCURY LABS SIGHT OF BREAK-IN: IMPORTANT EQUIPMENT STOLEN, then peeked at Melanie over the top of her computer. Letting out a sigh through her nose, she reached for the lid of her computer and lowered it, pushing her computer away from her.
"Electronic locks, card readers, and security cameras were faulty at the time of the break in," Averey recited, folding her hands on the table. "Sounds like your signature work, eh, mate?" Melanie allowed a hint of a smile to her face. Averey remembered that she had always been proud of her work. Until she started telling people that she was out of the game. Since then, it had always been about how she was making a better life for herself.
Security systems had always been Melanie's specialty in the Royal Flush Gang. So much so, that it was a skillset that was taught to other members with her nuances in mind. Growing up with her parents as the head of a Royal Flush Gang faction, she was bound to be a natural at it. From Averey could understand, everyone had their own unique skillset. If anyone asked her, she'd say her skill set was observation. Noticing patterns in people's routines. Recognizing the smallest detail that others would probably overlook. Averey definitely picked up something from her time if her initial success in breaking into S.T.A.R. Labs was any indication.
"What do you want?" Averey asked, flatly.
"Have you thought any more of what I've asked of you?"
"Gosh," Averey mimed surprise by clapping a hand to her cheek, "would you believe between everything I have going on right now it's just slipped my mind?"
Melanie's eyes squinted slightly, her gazing landing for a brief moment on Averey's wrist monitor. She shook her head from side to side before using her hands to tuck her blonde hair back from her face. "You really think there isn't some sort of connection that Mayor Bellows announces an Institute for Metahuman Research project, and that there's suddenly a meta-wing that was speed built into Iron Heights? And that the CCPD is really pushing forward this Anti-Meta Human Task Force?"
Averey didn't answer. This wasn't a new theory to her. Gavin had basically asked her the same thing. It was why she had wanted as much information on General Eiling as possible. If metahumans were part of something, with his past hand in Belle Reve, General Eiling would want to be a part of it. It was unsettling how he just seemed to disappear. Maybe he wasn't the face of this new research project, but Averey had a hard time believing he would just let anything with metahumans pass him by without having a chance to understand how and why this all happened. After all, he used to work directly with S.T.A.R. Labs. Why not jump ship to the next best thing?
"I don't think any of that is any reason to justify trying to get your brother out of prison," Averey replied. She moved to go back to her computer and Melanie slapped her hand down onto the top of the computer, forcing it shut.
"Think about it, Ave," she said. Twisting her mouth to the side, Averey glanced down at Melanie's hand that was still pressing her laptop closed, and then up into her face. "At Iron Heights, you'd have metas to run tests on at your fingertips, but you also need guinea pigs. A focus group. Who else would you use to do that then people you can't let out of their cages? That you can monitor every second of every day?" She shrugged her shoulders. "They may even have done something to your dad."
"I'm bloody warning you, Mel," Averey said, adopting a hard tone, "you leave my dad out of this." She wasn't going to have Henry hurt because of her. Not for a second time. Not when he was finally out and transitioning back into real life. She started getting uncomfortably hot under the collar just at the thought of it. Melanie's eyebrows twitched, and Averey knew that she had slipped up. She gave away something that was important to her. Leverage if used the correct way.
"I'm not putting him in the middle of it," Melanie replied. She became interested in her phone when a couple of women power-walked past their table, talking quickly about bus routes. "Everything else is putting him in the middle." She looked around the area before leaning forward, lowering her voice. She set her phone down. "He would just be collateral damage, just like every over inmate in there. Whether they deserve it or not. And you already know that they treat inmates like crap. Just because they can."
Averey made a humming sound, moving to rest her chin in her palm, pressing her elbow into the table. (Her upper lip curled slightly when the box to her wrist monitor dug into the back of her hand.) She angled her head slightly to the side, choosing to ignore her unsaid jab. After all, Melanie was one of the people present for her first arrest. It was a wonder to Averey how someone like Melanie Walker could be so deep into the gang life, having been essentially born into it, and not once had she been arrested. She wasn't even sure if she had ever visited her parents in prison. Of course, she would point out Averey's experience with what it was like behind bars.
She tried not to dwell on it, focusing her mind on the hypothetical stretched out in front of her. Eiling wasn't against chasing Bette Sans Souci around Central City, she thought, eyebrows furrowing in thought. And he and Dr. Wells had a fall out over how he treated Grodd. And he still tried to capture Grodd after he found how successful their experiment was, further spurned by the fact that the dark matter wave made had done it.
A thought suddenly struck Averey. Dr. Wells had warned them that Mercury Labs was trying to create their own particle accelerator. Everyone had wanted to try and understand what had occurred the night of the accident. She had even read the lengthy report by the Norris Commission about the explosion before her first trip to S.T.A.R. Labs, but despite being able to recall what it said word for word, she didn't entirely understand what it was saying. Or what it could mean. If Mercury Labs could re-create the explosion, and harness that dark matter all on their own, they'd really jump to the forefront as a science hub to watch.
Dr. McGee would do whatever they can to stay ahead of S.T.A.R. Labs. Especially after everything that happened last year, with Dr. Wells out of the way, it should be easier. Averey reached for the newspaper and read the headline again. "What would someone need to steal, though?" she asked aloud, more to herself than to Melanie. General Eiling was a shady person but didn't give off the vibe of breaking and entering. He was more of the type to throw his weight around whenever it appeased him.
"Whatever it was, it was enough to make Dr. McGee worry." Melanie pushed the newspaper down onto the table, tapping the image of Dr. McGee on the front with the pad of her index finger. Pictured on the front, side-by-side with an image of the damage to a glass door, was Dr. McGee in front of the Mercury Labs building, arms crossed over her chest, a hint of a smirk on her face. "And she's been pretty unflappable. Even after everything going on under her nose last year. It was a lot of bad press."
"So, what better way than to get the city on their side than to tackle the biggest problem Central City has: metahumans?" Averey asked. Melanie nodded. "Mayor Bellows, of course, is a part of this, too." Letting out a long sigh, Averey removed her sunglasses and buried her face in her hands.
Melanie was, as much as Averey hated to admit it, playing right into her hand: piquing her natural curiosity. School was never hard for Averey. She enjoyed learning. Learning about people. About the chain of events that lead to the biggest moments in history. It was why she enjoyed the subject of history more than anything else. Researching was fun to her. She liked to understand people and their actions. The idea of this, as much as it made her stomach clench with dread, had certainly caught her interest. In all the ways she didn't want it to.
In short, this wasn't good. There were too many unknowns to this scenario. Too many questions. Not enough answers. Averey looked into Melanie's blue eyes. As usual, it was hard to read her, even for someone who could pick up on most micro-expressions. Melanie had definitely learned a lot in her life. It was why it was so hard for Averey to just believe that she was trying to so hard to turn her life around. Then again, the fact was that she could easily say that she didn't know who the true Melanie was. Maybe she was actually this girl who cared about her brother's well-being and wanted nothing but to live a life she could be proud of.
Like you. Her fingers brushed the monitor on her wrist when she lowered her arms down onto the table. Focus. Back on track. Two of the biggest people in the city all working together, trying to appease the city with the creation of an institute to research metahumans, and whatever this classification system thing is at their disposal. And they weren't being so forth coming with their plans for said projects? It was a surefire way to make sure no one could touch them. Melanie was right, they had the metahumans at Iron Heights at their disposal. And with all that power, they could make one thing look like another. It didn't take long for General Eiling to put out a statement on bomb testing in the river after their run-in with Bette Sans Souci.
"How'd you find me?" Averey asked, instead choosing to switch topics.
"It's never hard," Melanie replied with a shrug, pulling her lips downwards in the corners. "Especially not when you've got the city watching your every move."
"Better than my P.O., I reckon," Averey said with a sigh. "How's Terry?" Averey smiled to herself at the twitch of Melanie's lips. She wasn't the only one who could pull reactions out of people with a sudden switch in topics.
"Complicated."
Averey chuckled. "As usual, yeah?"
"A life like mine?" Melanie asked. Despite her aloof posture, she relaxed into a hint of a smile. "It's bound to be. Why do you ask?"
"Jitters is hosting speed dating, and we need to fill seats. Ten bucks a body." Melanie snorted, her smile widening slightly. "Figured it'd be up your alley." She then gave a sweet smile, blinking, "And that way you'd know where I'm bound to be instead of bloody stalking me everywhere."
Sliding her hands into her jeans' pockets, Melanie got to her feet, chuckling. "It was a pleasure talking to you again, Eight," she said, retrieving her phone from the table. "Thanks for at least listening. I'll go before your P.O. decides to make a surprise visit." She said it nicely, all signs of sincerity on her face, but still Averey couldn't stop the twist of her stomach at the words. Averey quickly scanned the area once more as Melanie headed off, sliding in to join the morning crowd.
"Friend of yours?" Iris asked, moving to occupy the space that Melanie just left.
Averey hesitated for a moment. An emphatic "no" sat on the tip of her tongue. But she also could say "yes" once upon a time. What friends didn't have a gap of time before they saw each other again? "Don't really know anymore," she said, quietly. She reached for the newspaper again, lifting it to look over the Mercury Labs article once more. "What's up?"
"We're running a piece on Erik Larkin's death," Iris said with a sigh, "I just couldn't be at work today." She pushed her hair back from her face. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. "When Dr. Light came, he immediately directed us into the archives. He said he had to make sure everyone else was safe before he joined us."
"I'm sorry, Iris," Averey said. "Are you ok? Is Linda ok?"
"I'm ok. Linda's pretty freaked out," Iris said, "I mean, someone out there that looks exactly like her, tried to kill her. There was another woman there with us, she said her name was CiCi. We were talking about how she could get the newspaper delivered to her, because she's new in town, and then it all sort of blew up." She let out a weird laugh. "Honestly, I'm always surprised when I hear that more people are moving here."
"More opportunities here than Keystone, I reckon," Averey said with a shrug.
"And there would be more places for people to live once that development downtown gets rebuilt and no one tries to kick people out." Iris massaged her temples with her fingers. "I suspect I'll be called in as a witness at their hearing at any point, too. So, I need to prepare for all of that and – this was just at a bad time."
"Yeah, no kidding."
"So, what are you doing today? Do you want to, I don't know, hang or something?"
Averey stared at Iris over the newspaper she held in her hands. With a crinkle, she allowed the newspaper to sag away from her, and she peered at Iris over the frames of her sunglasses. Careful to not expose herself to too much direct sunlight. None of that stopped her from immediately committing Iris's words to memory just with one blink of her eyes. Still, if she didn't know for 100% fact that Iris had just suggested the two of them "hang" together, she would have burst out laughing.
"Iris, we don't hang," she said. There was a pause before she added, "Ever."
"What better time to start than today?" Iris asked with a bright smile, hands clasped together in her lap.
"Is there something you want?" Averey asked with a blink.
"I have to want something just to hang out with you?"
"Prior experiences," Averey said shortly. "And again, because we don't hang out." Ever since she had come to Central City, the two of them had barely ever spent time together. Except for maybe when they briefly worked together before Iris left Jitters to work at the newspaper. Since then, she had spent way more time around Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco at S.T.A.R. Labs than anything else. Without Barry, they didn't have much reason to be around each other. Averey folded the newspaper into a square. Setting it on the empty space on the table, she said, "What's up?"
If there was one word to describe Iris, Averey would have chosen "classy." Beautiful, tall, slender black woman with hair always styled neatly. Clothes always precise and professional, whether she was at work or not. Warm, inviting smile on her face that could quickly shift to reveal the confident, and self-assured person she was. Someone who wasn't afraid to ask the questions that needed to be asked but doing so with charm to get others to open up. And she was just as quick with a pen. Compared to Averey's distressed dark wash denim, high tops that had seen better days with fraying laces, and a band t-shirt. 5"2. So laid back, she could have been lying flat, soaking up rays.
"If you don't have to work today, I thought we could hang out," Iris said. "Caitlin and Cisco more than likely have a lot to do at S.T.A.R. Labs, and Barry will be at work with dad. I went for a walk to get some fresh air, and I saw you sitting out here, and thought we could hang out. So, let's do something."
"Well, I told my P.O. I'm going to the gym," she said. "First time in a bit I can get a kickboxing workout in."
"Do you need a sparring partner?" Iris asked.
Averey looked Iris up and down. She wasn't dumb. A detective's daughter would definitely know how to take care of herself. But Averey was a meta. She protected the city as Visionary. She could handle, and had handled, everything that threatened Central City by The Flash's side. Still, sing a punching bag wasn't as fun.
"Sweet as," Averey decided with a nod. "If you want to get your bum kicked around the ring, who am I to stop you?"
"Who said I'd be the one getting my butt kicked?" Iris asked, dark eyes glowing in challenge. "My dad taught Barry and I some boxing growing up. I picked it up pretty quickly. I could even beat Barry now if I wanted to."
"That's not saying much," Averey said, with a teasing smile. Iris's jaw dropped, but she still laughed. "Ok, screw it. Reckon we should make this interesting, hey. Loser has to hand wash Flash and Visionary suits. Figured Cisco needs a break every once in a while." She held her hand out towards Iris. "Put up or shut up."
Iris smiled a confident smile and shook Averey's hand. "You're on." Before either of them could take a step, both of their cell phones chimed. They both reacted. Averey reached for her bag that sat on her feet, quickly checked between her work phone and personal phone which one had rang and found a text message from Barry. She glanced up at Iris. "You get a ring from Bare?"
"Get to S.T.A.R. Labs right now," she said, reading the text aloud. She reached for her purse. "You need a ride over?"
"Yeah, cheers, it's faster than the bus." Averey gathered her bags, pulling the straps over her shoulders. Pressing her lips together, she groaned at the weight suddenly added to her body. Grabbing the newspaper, she fell into step beside Iris who started making her way in the direction of Central City Picture News. "Check this out, there was a break in at Mercury Labs."
"What was taken?" Iris asked, eyebrows coming towards each other as she looked over the front page.
"It just refers to expensive equipment," Averey said. She adjusted her bags on her shoulder and lowered her voice to say, "I have a hunch, though." It had to be the gun that Harrison Wells had used the night before. It wasn't anything she had ever seen before let alone anything Cisco could make.
"What do you think it is?"
Averey peered up at Iris, scrutinizing her.
Harrison Wells had disappeared as quickly as he appeared. So much so, she had briefly wondered if she had actually made up a vision of him. Or if he was another shadowy vision that Shadow Thief had conjured up. It was Barry who had suggested that they not say a word about it to anyone else. Not until they could confirm he was the real deal, at least.
Harrison Wells was the main catalyst to everything: the reason why metas was created, why Barry's mother was killed, why Ronnie had sacrificed himself, why they were all in Central City at this one time. There was no telling how anyone would react to seeing him. Even Barry seemed to reflect the overall look of stunned awe, and disbelief she knew she felt when she made her way back to her home last night.
It was a quick explanation of the metas disappearing in the blue flames that they both had decided to go with. Still, that didn't mean that Barry didn't tell her and Joe the truth the first second he could.
Averey decided on giving a half-truthful, "something powerful."
"What else is new?"
Barry wished he was working by himself again. He could do everything he wanted to do to the man that single handedly changed the course of his life, and no one in Central City would know. They had already believed an imposter Dr. Wells for so long, surely, they wouldn't miss another one. Or even need to know that there was another one. It was taking everything in him not to release the energy building up in his tight muscles in one single blast. To ignore the burn of anger and hatred that had settled in the center of his chest, slowly spreading outwards to engulf every fiber of his being with each rapid pump of his heart.
But Cisco was in the room. It was this fact that had him quickly pacing back and forth across the Cortex, a crack of lightning sounding every time he pivoted on his foot. And the fact that he had saved him and Averey the night before…
A sigh of disgust tumbled out of Barry's mouth as, upon his pivot, he gazed upon this new Harrison Wells once again. The man didn't react, though Cisco did with a curious glance in Barry's direction, he continued to keep a tight hold on the bag hanging off his shoulder as he looked around the Cortex. His face didn't give anything away.
Sliding his hands up to claps them behind his head, Barry stopped walking at watched the man. He had hoped it was only a bad dream. He had barely slept the night before; his mind was constantly racing with moments and memories of every interaction he had with Dr. Wells. A fast-paced highlight reel all ending with the punctuating blast of the sound of Eddie shooting himself.
If he's here, Barry thought, feeling himself apply pressure to his already clenched teeth, then Eddie did all that for nothing. And as frustrating as it was, a part of him had anticipated this very moment happening. After all, he had witnessed Eddie's actions first-hand, and now he was back in their lives. Waiting. So much unlike the Reverse-Flash.
"Yeah, dude," Cisco said, tilting his head to the side. "There's no way to explain this one."
"Occam's razor."
Both Barry and Cisco blinked repeatedly, exchanging confused glances before turning back towards Harrison Wells. "What?" they asked in unison.
"Occam's razor." Harrison Wells let out a long sigh of frustration, maybe annoyance, as he turned around to face the two of them. He looked back and forth between the two of them. "The simplest answer is the right one. You want a way to explain this? Simple: I'm not from here."
"Meaning?" Cisco asked, holding out the word.
"Meaning," Harrison repeated, prompting Cisco to roll his eyes, "I came in through your breach downstairs. It connects to one that opened suddenly in my own office in S.T.A.R. Labs."
"Wait, there's a S.T.A.R. Labs on your Earth?" Barry asked.
"No," Harrison replied shortly. He looked around the room in disdain. "The S.T.A.R. Labs is on my Earth. Fully functional. Much more advanced than this one." He lowered his shoulder and allowed his bag to drop down his arm. He unzipped the bag and retrieved a large book with his face emblazoned on the cover. "Found this one of your storage rooms. Figured I'd get an idea of how the S.T.A.R. Labs here came to be. Looks like you've ran into some trouble since then."
"Yeah, we've had a mishap or two around here," Cisco replied. Harrison snorted. "Well, excuse us for having a lot on our plates at the moment."
"Your only priority should be Zoom's arrival," Harrison responded. He spoke so loudly it startled Barry. He took slow, measured steps as he made his way towards Cisco, stopping far enough away, but still close enough to press Dr. Wells's heavy autobiography into Cisco's chest. "Nothing else matters. Not who I am. Just why I'm here. And I'm here to help you defeat him."
"Why should we believe that you know how to do that?" Barry asked. He dropped his arms down to his sides. "After all, it was you, or rather, this Earth's version of you that created the metas in the first place."
"And even then, that wasn't the real you, but the identity of you stolen by a psychopath from the future," Cisco mumbled. Cradling the book in his arm, he massaged his chest with his knuckles.
"Whatever," Harrison replied. "None of that has anything to do with me. Zoom does. Zoom is coming. Zoom wants to, and will kill you, unless you accept my knowledge on the subject, and find a way to defeat him."
"And only you know how to do that?" Barry asked skeptically.
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because he was the one who created all of the metahumans," Jay said, announcing his arrival as he took quick, long steps into the room. "Including Zoom."
Cisco threw his hands into the air before he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, I guess not much is different over on Earth-2," he said. "There go all my fantasies."
Jay didn't respond to Cisco's comment. Eyes alight with anger bored into Harrison's form. "What are you even doing here?"
"As I've already said, I'm here to help The Flash defeat Zoom."
"I'm here to help Barry defeat Zoom." Jay jabbed his thumb into his chest.
"Won't be so easy to do considering you haven't defeated him yourself."
"And whose fault is that? If you hadn't created metas in the first place, none of this would have happened."
"A minor side-effect."
"Barry," Jay said, still looking at Harrison but speaking to Barry. Barry blinked in surprise at the sudden change in who he was talking to. "This man doesn't care about anybody but himself."
"That's not true."
"When I confronted him about Zoom, he was peddling a new invention to detect metahumans."
"As a means to keep everyone safe."
"None of that would tell you the identity of Zoom himself. Meanwhile, Zoom had every opportunity to instill more and more terror into everybody in Central City."
Barry watched as the two men argued back and forth. As each second passed, more and more frustration filled their voices. Their tones grew tight. Each and every syllable was pronounced. They talked louder and louder. Spoke over each other. All the while stepping closer and closer towards each other. Until a loud, shrill whistle reached every corner of the Cortex, catching everyone's attention.
"Never thought I'd need to use that for grown adults, hey," Averey commented, dropping her arm down to her side, as she and Iris stepped into the Cortex. She tossed her side bag and gym bag aside. "Acting like a bunch of ankle biters. Honestly!" As her eyes settled on Harrison Wells, her eyebrows furrowed, mouth twisting to the side. "Huh."
"Bet you never thought you'd see Dr. Wells again, too," Barry commented.
"Got it in one, mate," Averey replied with a nod. Her sunglasses slipped closer towards her forehead, and she readjusted them back up to the crown of her head. "Almost starting to think I made up what we saw last night."
"With your memory?" Cisco asked.
Letting out a short laugh, Averey angled her head to the side. "Figured sooner or later even my memory could play tricks on me," she commented. "So, where'd you disappear to last night, mate? The tunnels?" Harrison snorted. "It's big enough for a gorilla, who's to say people don't live down there, too? The next thing you're going to tell me, mate, is that you don't believe there are nuclear missiles in silos."
Harrison stared at her, silently blinking. Then, he opened his mouth and said, "Contrary to popular belief, people's memories aren't that reliable." He then shifted his gaze back to Jay. "You have your own interpretation of the story, Jay."
Jay let out a bark of laughter, throwing his hands into the air. He paced a small circle, hands on his hips. Wetting his lips with his tongue, he stepped over to Barry. "What's your plan here, Barry?" he asked quietly.
Barry opened and closed his mouth. He didn't really have a plan except for trying to figure out how to introduce this carbon-copy Harrison Wells to Caitlin without anything going wrong. The man did step in at the right time to help them in their fight the other night. But, his prior experience with the other Dr. Wells proved that the man could add himself into any situation if it meant keeping his plan in place.
"Because if your plan means that he's going to help us," Jay didn't even look at Harrison as he pointed at the man standing behind him, "then, I'm sorry, but I can't be a part of it. I won't be a part of it."
"Jay." Barry said his name in protest, but he couldn't think of what else to say.
Jay knew the man better than he did. If he was saying he couldn't work with him, could he be trusted? Glancing over Jay's shoulder, Barry felt himself tense up all over again. His stomach started twisting in knots. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, giving a small kick to try and release the uncomfortable prickling that was building up. Nothing a few laps around the city wouldn't cure in an instant.
Instead, he paced around the Cortex, coming towards the medical bay. He grasped the door frame with his hands, rocking forwards and backwards into the room. His knuckles popped, the tighter he gripped the door handle. He was being pulled in two different directions.
"You don't know this man, Barry," Jay said, pointing a finger in Harrison's direction. "He says he cares about other people, but he won't even take responsibility for his hand in creating this mess to begin with."
"If that was the case, I wouldn't be here right now," Harrison said in a harsh whisper. "I want Barry to do what you couldn't. What you'll never do if you continue to be a coward."
"Coward?" Jay repeated. He let out an odd, high-pitched laugh. "Facing Zoom every chance I got is not being a coward."
"No, but running away from him is," Harrison replied. "You haven't seen what our Earth is like now that you've left. You couldn't defeat him and now he's going after someone else. Barry will die because of you."
"If he listens to even one iota of what you have to tell him, he will die because of you," Jay said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I've been doing everything in my power to prepare him. To train him for the day that Zoom decides to make himself known."
Barry stopped his rocking and reached up to brush his hands over the header of the door frame. "Zoom is already here," Barry announced. Everything behind him stopped.
"Barry, are you sure?" Iris asked quietly.
"I'm sure, Iris. He's been around." Barry took a deep breath of air before letting it out. "He's really fast. Moves so fast, these blue flames were everywhere."
"He had a sword, too," Averey said. "Flames were flying off it." She lifted her arms into the air before dropping them down by her side. "He was moving really bloody fast."
"But you were in the archives," Iris said. "So, why didn't anything in there burn?" Barry and Averey exchanged glances, shrugging.
"Maybe he can control fire, too," Cisco said. He snapped is fingers. "Maybe he's called Zoom because he's like a rocket ship." Both Harrison and Jay made noises of disbelief. Cisco made a show of rolling his eyes. "Oh, come on! It's not that far out of the imaginary, people. We've seen weirder things."
"A speedster with blue fire?" Harrison asked, doubt evident in his voice. "Barry, you're a speedster. Jay is a speedster. When have you known any speedster to have anything to do with fire?"
"Well, I set my shoes on fire once, I was moving so fast," Barry said, turning back around to face Harrison. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his weight into the doorjamb. "The flames weren't blue, but…"
"There was also the time he lit Felicity's shirt on fire, too," Cisco said with a grin. It slowly faded when everybody turned to stare at him. "Well, it happened."
"We fought him last night," Barry said. "But I've seen him before. With Sand Demon, and even at the Flash Day rally. He's…he was really tough."
"No, you don't understand," Harrison said, his frustration evident in his voice. "The moment you meet Zoom, you'll never for him. He's not all human. He's an evil monster. He uses lightning, just like you." He shook his head back and forth. "You didn't fight Zoom. You faced off against the Blue Blaze."
"Blue Blaze?" Cisco repeated. "Yeah, I can definitely come up with something better than that."
"That's what he was called on our Earth," Harrison replied. "But he works with Zoom. He's like his guard dog. The one that will carry out whatever Zoom wants until he gets into the fray himself." He wet his lips with his tongue. "He goes out in search of the metas that he'll use to try and defeat you."
"Like Dr. Light," Averey said. "Just like Atom Smasher, she tried to kill Linda to take her place, to disappear."
"Yeah, that's not going to work either," Harrison said with a laugh. "Zoom knows where his metahumans are. Each and every one. And they better hope they carry out whatever assignment he has for them."
A wave of horror suddenly crashed over Barry. His heart started rapidly beating in his chest. His palms grew clammy. "We have Dr. Light here," Barry said slowly.
"Then S.T.A.R. Labs will be Zoom's first stop," Harrison said gravely. "You've delayed the inevitable with your fight against Blue Blaze. He had the upper hand on you all with Dr. Light and that other meta helping him out."
"Shadow Thief," Averey replied.
"If you truly have fought him before, then Zoom knows more about you thank you think, Barry. You're lucky I got there in time to help you. Without the Pulse Gun, you probably wouldn't have lasted."
"So, you were the one who broke into Mercury Labs," Iris said. She reached into her purse to produce the newspaper from that morning. She first showed it to Cisco, and then to Jay. Jay handed it to Barry and he quickly looked over the article.
"You're welcome," Harrison said flatly.
"Ok," Barry said. He put one hand to his head, covering his eyes. The other dropping to his side, the newspaper slapping against his pants-leg. "Ok, ok, ok." His cheeks puffed up when he let out a big breath of air. His mind was a swirl of thoughts. He couldn't land on one long enough to pick what the next course of action was. No matter what, it was all just a lot of bad information he had to download all at once.
"Cisco," Averey said, "could you log me into the system?"
"Of course." Cisco tucked his hair back behind his ears and immediately moved to sit at his computer. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he logged in. "What do you need?"
"Whatever information we have on Zoom and the Blue Blaze, I think it's best if we add it to the database," Averey replied, moving to stand over him. "We don't have a lot of information, but I reckon it's better than nothing, yeah?"
"Good idea." He brought up the software for the database and it appeared on all of the monitors situated around the Cortex. "We can add everything about Dr. Light and Shadow Thief, too."
"While you do that, we can decide what your next steps will be," Harrison said to Barry. "Because we are wasting our time. And, unfortunately, even for a speedster where I'm sure even a moment is an eternity for you, we don't have much of it. Not with both him and the Blue Blaze on this Earth. Because Zoom will not stop until he is the only speedster alive in this universe." He then blinked and shifted his attention back to Averey. "You said Shadow Thief?"
"Yeah, why?"
"If he's the same as the Shadow Thief on our Earth, his name is Carl Sands," Harrison replied. "I'm not surprised he's working with the Blue Blaze, either."
"Why?" Iris asked.
"Because on our world, Shadow Thief was a for-hire meta," Jay replied. "Whatever Zoom wanted, whatever would give him an edge, he could steal for him. He could also make families that didn't cooperate with Zoom, that didn't reveal the metas, disappear if he was commanded to. As if they never existed. He was smart. He could watch you without you knowing it." He planted his hands on his hips, shaking his head back and forth. "I'm telling you; Zoom has complete control over every Earth he comes across. He's incredibly dangerous."
"Well, the only thing Shadow Thief has done here was steal a car, and freak out my new co-worker Kendra," Averey said. She bobbed her head from side to side. "Well, he also stole her purse and kept calling her Chay-Ara or something. A name she didn't recognize."
"Clearly, he knows her somehow," Harrison replied. "She may be his next target if stealing her purse wasn't the only thing he wanted. But you need to be careful, because Shadow Thief can manipulate shadows to do his bidding."
"We know," Barry said with a sigh. "We've seen it first-hand."
"Yeah, he even managed to pull me through my own shadow last night," Averey said with a shudder. "It was really freaky."
"So…you managed to somehow get into this thing that's like a pocket dimension?"
"It's not like a pocket dimension," Harrison corrected, "it is a pocket dimension."
"Here we go again," Jay said with a roll of his eyes. "The man with all the answers."
"Of course, I have all the answers." Harrison turned towards Jay. "I've dealt with stuff like this before. Look, Shadow Thief can appear wherever he wants with the use of that pocket dimension. As long as something creates a shadow, he can use it to move from place to place."
Cisco shuddered. "Sounds worse than the boogeyman," he muttered.
"That explains it," Averey said quietly, "I think I can do that, too. I mean, I think I've done it before. Kind of."
"You have?" Barry asked.
"I think so." Averey slowly nodded. "Last year. When I was trying to catch Gavin. One minutes, I was chasing him through Mercury Labs. We were on the stairs and I fell, but I never hit the stairs, I ended up outside somehow. And then, recently, at my house, I got stuck on the porch stairs. It was like, it was a pool, and I was sinking into it."
"You disappeared when we were going after Dr. Light," Barry said. "One minute you were gone, and then you popped back up. Shadow Thief must've pulled you through the dimension with him." He shook his head, confused. "Who would want him to attack Kendra, though? She's new here."
"And what would make him call her Chay-Ara?" Averey asked. "He was adamant that they were…one and the same…"
Barry looked over at Averey, noticing the way her words had trailed off at the end of her sentence. She was staring at the computer screen, eyes squinted. Then, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Joe slowly walking into the Cortex, gun drawn, finger on the trigger. Iris shouted at him. He fired off five shots in quick succession. Barry and Averey both reacted quickly.
Averey shot an ocular blast at Joe's wrist and ducked her head, charging towards him in a low run. Barry rushed across the room to pluck each of the slow-moving bullets out of the air. Spinning on his knees, he watched as Averey's blast hit Joe's wrist, sending his gun flying through the air at the same time, Averey knocked him off his feet with a slide tackle. Then, as he slowed himself down, everything sped up. The gun clattered to the floor, and Averey and Joe landed a few feet away from it in a heap.
"Whoa," Cisco said from where he slowly lifted himself from his hunched position over the keyboard. He whipped around in his chair when he heard Caitlin's gasp of shock and "What is going on here?" from behind them.
"Dad!" Iris hurried over to Joe and Averey. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, sweetie," Joe replied, lifting himself up onto his elbows. "I'm ok." He then looked over at Averey who sat next to him, inspecting her pants. "What was that?"
"Years of football, mate," she replied, clapping her hands to get the dirt off. "Sorry. I had to stop you."
"You should have let me finish him off," Joe said, jumping to his feet. "How is he standing here? Why is he standing here? And why has no one done anything about it?"
"Well, they just stopped you from killing me for no reason," Harrison said, checking his clothing. "I think that covers the fact that they have, in fact, done something about."
"What is going on here?" Caitlin repeated, her jaw dropped, staring at Harrison. "How is Dr. Wells here?"
"This is Dr. Wells from Earth-2," Barry replied, carefully tucking the bullets into his pocket. "Not the one we know."
"No," Jay said, his arms crossed over his chest. "Far worse in some areas."
"Worse than murdering Barry's mom or being responsible for Ronnie's death?" Caitlin asked, tightly clutching the strap to her purse. "And, Barry, when'd you get your eyesight back?"
"Dark adaptation," Harrison explained before Barry could say anything. He was confused for a moment, anyway, before it hit him what she was asking. The last time he had seen her, his eyesight was terrible. He still couldn't explain it. His healing was quick, but not quick enough to suddenly shift back into focus. "The strength of Dr. Light's attacks caused the rhodopsin in your eyes to quickly decompose. The longer you were in the darkness of the archives, and with your regenerative abilities, they grew back to restore your eyesight." He then turned towards Caitlin looking at her with almost disdain of having to deal with another person. "Look, I'm sorry about your friend Rodney."
"Ronnie."
"But, I'm not the man who did all of that," Harrison said. "I didn't kill Barry's mom. I didn't kill your friend. I didn't do whatever it is that book of his said I did. I've done bigger and better things on my Earth."
"The only thing you've done is set Barry up for slaughter," Jay said.
"No, I believe under your tutelage, that's what you're doing Garrick," Harrison replied.
Barry watched as Jay squared his shoulders. His lips formed a tight line. His eyes narrowing, glowing in anger. It looked like he would punch Harrison at any moment. Barry tensed his muscles, waiting to step between the two men who glowered at each other. Jay moved first, turning on his heels to make his way out of the Cortex.
"Jay." Caitlin reached for his arm. "Where are you going? You can't just leave."
"Far away from him," Jay replied. His expression softened as he faced her. "I'm sorry, but I can't be a part of this if he's going to take it upon himself to prepare Barry for Zoom." He turned around to face everyone in the Cortex. "This man is only telling you what you want to hear. But he will not help you when the time comes. He will not be there for you just like he wasn't there from the people of our Earth. I'm not going to watch him lead you to your death. I can't. And you shouldn't trust him, either. This man has more secrets than you know."
With that, he turned on his heels and left the Cortex.
"So…" Cisco said, being the first to speak. "What do we do now?"
"First, I'm going to see if this guy's story actually checks out," Caitlin said, staring at Dr. Wells. "I want to run some tests on you if you don't mind. See if your story really adds up."
"You can," Harrison replied, "but it's not going to help anything. I'll be indistinguishable from the Dr. Wells you knew."
"I asked Professor Stein and Jax to drop by to check up on them, to make sure the Firestorm matrix hasn't had any side-effects on Jax," Caitlin said in a tight voice, angling her head slightly to speak to Barry, "this won't take up any more of my time. I'd be running a few of the same tests, anyway."
"Ok, but, Caitlin," Barry said, stepping over to his friend, tossing the newspaper down onto the table holding the computers, "are you sure? I mean, I know this is sudden. And I know I should have warned you about what you would see when you came here, I apologize for that. If you need to talk about it, I'm here."
"I appreciate it, Barry, but I'll be ok," Caitlin replied, her tone of voice unchanging. "I promise."
"Ok, because I have a favor to ask of you," Barry replied. Caitlin blinked, her expression softening. "See if you can find Jay and convince him to come back. We need him here."
"Of course, Barry," Caitlin replied with a nod, "I'll do my best. You can count on me."
"Thank you." Barry let out a sigh, turning back around to address everyone else. "Ok, uh, Dr. Wells – er – Harrison, I guess."
"Or Harry," Cisco spoke up. "I think you looked like a Harry."
"Right," Barry said distractedly, "if you could just go with Caitlin, she'll get you situated. And, um, Cisco, you and Ave you can still work on getting information into this database. Now that we know about Carl Sands, that should give us some more information."
"We can also look more into this Carl Sands in the CCPD databases," Joe offered. "We might find something there to help us out."
"And I'll go talk to some reporters at CCPN and see what they know about this break in at Mercury Labs," Iris said. "Maybe Dr. McGee told them some things off the record I can get my hands on."
"Ok, then, that sounds like a plan then," Barry said, putting his hands to his hips. He felt himself relaxing a little bit. "I should get to work, too. I've got a mountain of stuff I need to take care of. Just, everyone stay in touch, ok?"
"Hold up a second, Barry," Averey said as everyone went to their position. She grabbed his elbow, pulling him off to the side. "Melanie came to talk to me this morning. I was at the plaza and she just came right up and started talking to me."
"Ave, that's very dangerous," Barry said. "What if your probation officer saw you."
"I know, I know," Averey replied, "but she gave me a lot to think about with metas, and Iron Heights, and Mercury Labs, and what all of that could mean. I really think this is a front for Belle Reve. General Eiling has to be a part of this. It all fits."
"It's not like I can get Joe to get a search warrant for Iron Heights to see what's going on there," Barry replied.
"Why would you when you can just talk to someone who was on the inside?" Averey asked. "Besides, do you really think anyone would be that forthcoming with information like that?" Barry opened and closed his mouth before nodding to concede her point. "I think we need to talk to dad about Iron Heights."
"Dad wasn't in the meta wing," Barry replied.
"Yeah, but, mate, he was around when it was being built, and he probably witnessed people assigned there," Averey replied. Barry still looked skeptical. "Right, let me tell you something about being incarcerated, mate. There is nothing to do. You are either in your cell, or out in gen pop for hours at a time. People talk. Someone in there has some information about the meta wing, and dad might know it."
"Ok," Barry said. "I'll set up something. We'll both to talk to him, ok?"
"You got it."
Barry tilted his head up towards the ceiling, letting out a breath of air. Cisco was right. He really could use one day of normalcy.
A/N: I am so excited to be getting to writing around "Enter Zoom." As I've said, it is one of my all-time favorite episodes of The Flash this far. I can't wait for you all to see what I have planned for it. But now Team Flash knows they have not been going up against Zoom. And you actually got to see Averey and Iris bond a bit. It is true, without Barry around, they don't have much of a reason to be around each other. Though, there's a bit of an underlying reason for that for Ave.
And the plot with Belle Reve thickens. We'll be seeing more of that as well.
Enjoyed a specific spot in the chapter? Need further explanation on anything? Leave a comment.
-Rhuben
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Review Replies, Out of Focus:
Ethan Ambrose: If you're excited to see how I write Harry, then you have no idea how excited I am to write him as well. And the more that's revealed with Jesse and Eddie, the more excited I am to get to Earth-2. Thanks for reading.