"…you're not serious."
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"Right, sorry – it's just sounds like the punchline of a bad joke or something. Jesus, what's with all of this water?"
As Laura sidestepped the puddle of water, a loud burst of noise drew her attention to the entrance of the morgue, and she stopped to watch as Barry pushed his way into the room. Her partner looked a little bit confused, overwhelmed even, his eyes darting wildly around the room and passing over her twice before they found her. Before Laura could say anything, Barry was already halfway across the room, his kit landing with a heavy thud on the floor as he wrapped his arms around her in a fierce hug. She couldn't see Joe with Barry's shoulder in the way, but she was certain that the expression of bewilderment on his face matched her own.
"Barry," Laura eked out when she finally managed to step back a bit, looking her partner up and down as he continued staring at her, "is everything okay?"
"What? Oh, yeah, everything's great. I-I'm just…I'm just really glad to see you."
That much was obvious, but there was something about the earnestness of Barry's response, the faint wetness to his eyes, the wild, wide-eyed look on his face, that made Laura doubt the truth of his words. Yet he didn't offer any further explanation for his outburst, leaving Laura feeling stonewalled.
"Oh, um, okay...well, we should probably get to work. You know, crime scene and all?"
"Right, yeah." With a hard shake of his head, Barry seemed to come back to reality. "The water has ice in it, but it's not Snart – we need to take a look at the torso."
How he could know something like that was beyond Laura – she hadn't even been aware there was ice in the water. Still, she knelt with her partner, barely holding back a grimace at the mess of bruises on the coroner's body when Barry lifted his shirt up. As she looked down at the body, however, Laura was troubled by the fact that before even looking at their crime scene, Barry had known what to look for, who to rule out, and so on. Joe seemed just as dumfounded as she, and when Barry waved him off after he asked about the information, it only heightened her growing sense of suspicion that something was not right.
"Barry-" Laura started, once they had completed their assessment of the body, but she was cut off as Eddie approached them, carrying with him a copy of the morgue's security tapes.
"It's Mardon," Barry blurted out, even before the recording had finished, "he wants revenge. For his brother's murder."
All three of them stared at Barry for a good minute or so after that announcement. With some effort, Joe and Eddie managed to bring themselves back to Earth, and left to go continue with their jobs, Joe shooting a worried glance back at Laura at the last minute. She could only shrug in reply, and turned to her partner as he stared down at the body, wringing his hands and looking more distressed than she had ever seen him. She wondered what exactly was going on in that brain of his, and whether he was aware how strange his actions appeared to them. Perhaps not, she thought.
"Barry, is – is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine, Laura. Everything…everything's fine."
Oh, if only she could believe him.
"Clyde Mardon has a brother? How did we not know about this?"
"Well, it's not like we ever got to chat with the guy or anything."
"Fascinating. Both of the Mardon brothers survive the plane crash, and then the dark matter released by the particle accelerator explosion affects them both-"
"-in virtually the same way."
Had his earlier behaviour at the morgue not been so unusual, Laura might have missed the way Barry had suddenly picked up the habit of finishing Dr. Wells' sentences. There was something about the whole situation that made her feel uneasy, the way Dr. Wells peered at Barry curiously, but she simply stayed on the sidelines, taking in as much information from the conversation as she could. Unfortunately, that uneasiness only grew when he switched to doing the same to Cisco and Caitlin, and Laura was about to speak up when, with a hint of steel in his voice-
"Mr. Allen – a word please?"
From her corner, Laura watched them both leave the room, perfectly aware that there was a great deal she did not know about what was going on. Which was extremely frustrating, since, no one had bothered to keep her in the loop, there was hardly anything she could do about it. Cisco and Caitlin only seemed mildly confused by the oddness of the whole situation, which frankly didn't make her feel any better.
"Guys, is it just me or is Barry acting weird?"
"You mean weirder than usual-ow, hey!" Cisco protested as Caitlin elbowed him in the stomach, shooting him a reproachful glare. For a brief second, a wave of pure panic welled up in Laura, causing her to seize up in her chair before it subsided, leaving her feeling somewhat dizzy and strung out.
What the hell?
"Seriously, though," Laura forced herself to continue, blinking hard to combat the urge to fall out of her chair, "he was acting like this when we were at the crime scene earlier. Caitlin, could this have anything to do with his powers? Or another meta?"
"I wouldn't be able to tell unless I ran some tests, but I doubt it's anything serious. Besides, if something was, wrong, Barry would have told us, right?"
Well, that was highly debatable. But as much as she wanted to argue further, Laura could see that Caitlin had a point.
"…I guess you're right."
"Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about." Caitlin flashed a small smile at her, and the concern in Laura's chest as she mulled over her friend's words lessened somewhat. She nodded in agreement, and mustered enough strength to chuckle when she heard Cisco groan as another brain freeze hit him – he really did not know when to stop when it came to his cravings.
"Thanks, you guys. I don't know why I'm so worried."
"Hey, don't worry about it."
"You know," Caitlin piped up with a mischievous smile, "I read somewhere that going to a party helps with stress. If you wanted, you could always come with us to Cisco's brother's birthday." Almost immediately, Cisco started to choke on his slushy, and it took both Laura and Caitlin thumping him on the back a few times each to clear his throat. When it seemed that he could once again breathe normally, Laura was sure that his face was a few shades of red darker than it had been before, and that Caitlin's smile had grown into a knowing grin.
"I am never inviting you to anything again. Ever."
Okay, so maybe Laura should have gone to Cisco's brother's birthday.
On any other day, the chance to get to know Cisco and his family better might have had some appeal for Laura. There was still a lot of uncovered ground when it came to her friends, and vice versa. As it turned out, unfortunately, there was still a lot of work for her to do for the case, so it was with some disappointment that she had to decline the invitation, wishing both of her friends a good time and good luck. However, now that several hours had passed and the sun had set, Laura would have done anything for stress relief, facing off against a thick stack of unfinished lab reports in her corner of the control room. Also, her worry over Barry had somehow managed to peak within the last several hours, for several reasons.
First, there was the fact that Barry had somehow managed to locate Mark Mardon before they had even begun the search for him. That one was obvious, because there was no reasonable explanation, besides his 'hunch,' for how Barry could have known where Mardon was. Unless Barry could see into the future, but that was weird, even for them. Then, there were the private conversations that Dr. Wells kept asking to have with Barry, which only served to make her feel even more out of the loop than before. Laura wondered if there was any chance she could bribe or bully either of them into spilling the beans. It was well within her abilities to do so, but it wasn't exactly smiled upon for one to strongarm teammates into revealing their secrets.
And then there was the fact that Barry kept disappearing on her. That, by far, was the worst.
"Jesus Christ, is that the time?" Laura muttered when she looked up from a report and caught a glance of her watch. It was far later than she normally would have stayed at S.T.A.R., but there was hardly anything normal about today, so she could be forgiven for losing track of the time. Deciding that she had most definitely earned a long and restful sleep, Laura stood up to stretch out her stiff muscles, and began to pack up her bags.
As she went to put on her jacket, however-
"Please."
-a sudden, stabbing pain shot through Laura's chest.
"No – no, not him –"
The force of it sent her crashing to her knees. It felt as if her body were on fire – her chest being ripped apart from the inside –
"No, no, please, not him, not him, please, no –"
It burned and it burned and it burned, and as Laura opened her mouth to scream – it disappeared. Just as quickly as it had come, the pain was gone, leaving Laura to collapse on the floor in a heap. For a while, Laura laid there, her entire body shaking, willing her heart to slow down and her mind to settle. When she could finally move again, her hands weak and trembling, Laura felt for where the pain had first started, unable to do much more. She was certain she had felt something pierce her chest, but there was nothing to speak of – no wound, no blood, nothing. Even now, the sensation of the pain itself was starting to fade.
What the fuck?
By the time Laura felt strong enough to sit up, she was no longer shaking, and her heartbeat had returned to normal. If she'd wanted to, she could have gotten up, but Laura remained sitting, willing a bit of cold to her chest as she waited to see if the pain would return. A good ten minutes passed, and when it started to near on fifteen, Laura resigned herself to climbing to her feet, holding on to the desk for support. Her thoughts were still a mess, but as she stood there alone, Laura knew one thing for sure.
She had to get out of there.
The bus shelter nearest to S.T.A.R. was deserted when Laura finally reached it. She'd nearly sprinted out of the building after collecting her things, and the eeriness of the silent, empty parking lot had only prompted her to keep going until both her legs and lungs burned. A quick glance at her watch told Laura that the bus wouldn't be coming for some time, which was both disappointing and relieving. Deciding that it was foolish to stand around until it did, and in dire need of a distraction, Laura sat down on the bench and dug out her phone. She was surprised to find several texts from Caitlin waiting for her, most of them about how the team's plans for the rest of the week.
Oddly enough, only a few of the texts mentioned the party that Cisco had moaned and groaned about the entire day. Laura could only guess what had happened to make the event such an irrelevant topic, and she had the feeling that it hadn't been pleasant. However, as she sat there, the light of her phone giving her a bit of a headache, Laura wondered if she should call her friend. Laura didn't know much about Cisco's family, but she knew there were some issues they'd never worked out. If the night had gone badly, Cisco might need someone to talk to. But there was always the chance that it hadn't…
Laura spent several more minutes debating the matter before she gave in and dialed Cisco's number. It rang for a good minute or so before going to voicemail, which was odd, because Laura couldn't think of a moment when Cisco had ever turned off his phone. She tried again, to no avail, and sent him a quick text, wondering if he might have just put it on silent. Again, there was no reply – and Cisco was usually pretty good about replying as quickly as possible.
It might have been nothing. It might have been something. It could have been anything, anything at all. But Laura didn't have the chance to ponder on it any further, as the lights of the bus approaching in the distance lit up the night.
"Laura? Laura, are you listening to me?"
Laura had, in fact, not been listening. A sleepless night combined with waking up far too early had left her practically dead on her feet, and prone to staring into space. Which Caitlin seemed to have picked up, having arrived at S.T.A.R. just a half-hour after Laura. Laura felt guilty for not paying attention when her friend had been speaking, but she felt somewhat relieved to see the concerned look on Caitlin's face.
"Sorry, Cait – didn't mean to space out on you."
"Are you okay? You're getting enough sleep, aren't you?"
"I just had a rough night, don't worry about it. What were you talking about, again?"
"Have you talked to Cisco?"
"…no. Why?"
"Dante's party didn't go so well yesterday," Caitlin admitted with a frown, "and I haven't been able to reach him at all."
"When was the last time you heard from him?"
"Right after we left, actually."
Well, wasn't that a bit odd. When Laura had woken up that morning, she had been a bit disappointed to see that Cisco had not responded to any of her calls or messages, but to hear that he was doing the same to Caitlin? That was not at all like him, but just as Laura was about to say so, Dr. Wells entered the room. He looked more exhausted than usual, so she decided to put the conversation on hold for the time being. The three of them worked in silence for a while before Barry finally arrived – without even a hint of his speed, and, for once, looking just as well-rested as Laura felt.
Her partner's lips were sealed, however, and they quickly moved on to the mystery of Cisco apparently going off the grid. Barry didn't sound too worried for some reason, but before they could question him further, they were interrupted when Barry's phone began to vibrate.
"Hey, Joe, what's up – wait, Cold's back?" Laura snapped to attention at the mere mention of Leonard Snart, her entire body stiffening in response. She didn't bother waiting to hear the rest of the conversation, so by the time Barry hung up on Joe, she was already geared up. A few seconds later, Barry was also ready, and they wasted no time exchanging words before she grabbed onto him and they took off towards their destination.
The Santini family casino was in chaos when Flash and Frostbite arrived. Wave after wave of panicked customers shoved to make it to the exits first, barely even sparing a glance for the two persons standing in their midst. As the crowd started to thin, however, the sound of rapid gunfire from the main room sent them scattering and Laura and Barry running. They arrived just in time for Barry to push an armed guard out of the way of a blast from Snart's weapon, but as Laura turned to gauge the situation, she was shocked to see what looked like a golden statue standing in the middle of the casino floor.
"How many times do we have to go through, this, Snart?" Barry shouted, forcing Laura's attention to the table Snart and his partner were using as cover.
"Until the best man wins!" The sound of Snart's gun firing up spurred Laura into action – she struck him in the shoulder with a blast of cold that sent him falling backwards. He recovered quickly, but Barry was a few steps ahead of him, surging forward to pull Snart's new partner out of hiding – a woman, this time, and most certainly not Rory. Standing behind Barry, all Laura could see was the back of a black leather jacket, and long, flowing brown hair.
"Drop it!"
"Take it easy there, Scarlet." Snart said mildly, raising his hands in the air with his weapon still in his grasp. "We both know you're not going to do anything to her."
However, as Snart sauntered out into the open at a leisurely pace, there was a strange, almost forced, lightness to his words. For a man in his position, with absolutely no leverage against them, Snart seemed far too confident, and Laura's fists frosted over as Snart continued to step towards them. As he approached, however, the woman's head tilted ever so slightly to the side, exposing her face.
No. No, it couldn't be.
Laura's stomach dropped to her feet as the woman looked back at her – her brown eyes sharp like the diamonds she used to dream of wearing, but devoid of recognition nonetheless – and she took a step back to steady herself.
She'd hoped-wished-prayed - why did it have to be both?
"Oh, by the way-"
A wink, and a mocking kiss to the air, before turning away.
"-meet my baby sister."
"Lisa?"
Hey everybody!
Sorry this chapter is so late - you know how finals are - but I hope that the next few chapters make up for it. There are going to be at least three chapters for this episode, Rogue Time, because there is some juicy stuff coming up that you don't want to miss. Also, please forgive me for what I put these characters through - I love them, I really do.
As always, reviews, comments, or criticisms are always welcome, and I hope you guys enjoy what comes next!
