08

Ghost In The Shade

"Good morning," Joe greeted as he walked into the kitchen, finding Iris and Wally sitting around the table. Iris beamed up at him when he leaned over to give her a kiss on the side of the head before dishing pancakes onto his plate. "Hey, baby. Hey Wally." He reached out and ruffled Wally's hair before joining them at the head of the table.

"Hey dad," Iris greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"As well as you can when your city is constantly under attack by metahumans and your boss's boss is watching you like a hawk," Joe said, twisting his hands together to finish tying his tie. Once he was finished, he tossed it over his shoulder to keep from getting syrup onto it.

"But it's Halloween, aren't you excited about that?" Wally asked. Joe let out a snorting laugh and Iris shook her head, her smile widening. Wally's eyes shifted back and forth. "What? What'd I miss?"

"Dad hates Halloween," Iris explained. She leaned forward in her seat, whispering conspiratorially to her brother. "It's because he's a cop. All the neighborhood kids know and keep TPing the house or play ding-dong-ditch against him. There was one year that he hid in the bushes with a hose to scare them off."

Wally laughed in surprise then looked to his father for confirmation. "Really, dad? That doesn't sound like you."

"You'll understand once you own your own place," Joe pointed out. He lifted his hand to show the little scars on his fingers. "Picking out pieces of toilet paper from the rose bushes is never fun. And I don't hate Halloween. I just greatly dislike it."

"Please, you'd die if you didn't have your stash of Reese's Peanut Butter cups and you know it," Iris teased. She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at her father, who did the same before starting into his pancakes. "So, what are your plans for Halloween?"

"Um." Wally nervously rubbed his neck. "Before we broke up, Linda and I had planned on going to the CCPN's Halloween party but…I guess that's not going to happen now."

Iris gave a sympathetic smile. "Have you and Linda really talked since…?"

"Not really. We do talk every now and then but it's nothing more than to catch up." He rested his cheek against his upraised fist, poking at his pancakes with his fork. "Things really dropped off since my mom…" he trailed off and cleared his throat. "Anyway, what about you, Iris? What are you doing for Halloween?"

"Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Cadence and I are going to a Halloween party one of my college girlfriends is throwing."

"That sounds fun," Joe agreed. "Is it a costume party?"

"Yep, and I'm going as Catwoman." Iris's eyes lit up and she turned back to Wally, grasping his wrist. "Hey! Why don't you and Jesse come with us? It'll give her some time to get out of STAR Labs and you can don't have to worry about running into Linda."

"I don't know," Wally said slowly.

Iris folded her arms, pressed her lips together into a tight line. She shook her head. "I don't know, dad. Wally doesn't really sound much like a West." She pointed at her brother but looked at Joe. "I've never known a West to turn down a party.

Wally rolled his eyes. Like it was that strange to not be in the mood to go to a party? But, Iris was right. He wouldn't have to worry about running into Linda if he went and hanging out with Jesse was always fun. Watching her run around STAR Labs, doing as many speed tests was cool, too. No matter how much he wished it was him.

"Okay, I'll go," he said.

"Great! So what costume were you thinking of?"

"Maybe a speedster," Wally joked. "It's probably the only time of year you can be dressed as one and not have anyone look at you funny." He then noticed the looks Joe and Iris exchanged. "Guys, I was just kidding."

"We know that, Wally, it's just…" Iris took a deep breath and looked at Joe again. "Wally, we know you're disappointed about everything that's going on with Jesse and her having powers—"

"—I'm not disappointed, I'm just…" Wally let out a short breath then dropped his hands into his lap. "It's just…we got hit by the same wave of dark matter. How is it that she's managed to get powers and I don't? I thought everyone who was affected by the wave of dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion turned into metas."

"If that were the case, Wally, then dad and I would be suiting up to take on Alchemy and Zoom and the Reverse-Flash and all the other metas that have come up," Iris explained, lowering her voice to a soothing level.

"Harry says it takes time for powers to manifest."

"If they even manifest at all. We're not metas and we're not going to be. Just like not everyone who was hit by the particle accelerator explosion are metas, too. Some of them are dead, Wally. Some of them are crippled for the rest of their lives. You're lucky you're still alive."

"Look, I know that. I know I'm lucky nothing worse happened when I was hit. But I can't…get over the feeling that I'm supposed to be helping people."

"Wally," Joe started.

Wally sat up straight, speaking so earnestly his voice cracked. "I've been having these dreams lately. Dreams where I'm a speedster and working alongside Barry and Cadence and other heroes to save Central City. I'm a hero, dad. And I never thought it was something I wanted…until I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it for my mom. I couldn't save her as much as I'd tried. I did illegal street races to get money to pay for the best medication she could get and even that didn't work. Dad, I have to do something to help. It can happen for me somehow."

"You have! You're helping me by staying out of trouble."

"No, something to help the people of this city," Wally said. He lifted his hands, as if grasping something, trying to explain. Then he dropped his hands back to his lap. "I just want to matter."

"You matter to all of us. The last thing we want is for you to get yourself killed because you think you don't. You really helped during the Metapocalypse and no one can take that from you. But we don't want your life taken, either. Okay?" Iris waited for Wally to say something more, but he continued to look away from his father and sister. Iris reached out and grasped Wally's wrist, shaking it. "Okay?" Her voice was more insistent that time.

Wally nodded, giving a smalls mile. "Okay," he finally agreed.

"I know you want this more than anything, but you need to know it might not happen," Joe said.

"So you want me to just give up helping people?" Wally twisted his mouth to the side.

"Barry was helping people as a CSI before he had his powers. But he owned his brilliant mind. And you have the same brain. A lot of people dream of the word being a better place and with that engineering mind of yours, you literally could build a better world."

"So, I've got to stay in school?"

"Just a couple more years, Wal', it's not going to kill you."

"It might." Wally couldn't help the smile that came to his face at his own joke. Not that he didn't enjoy school, engineering was one of his favorite things in the world, something he soon found to love from his own research into the topic. "School can be so boring sometimes."

"Amen!" Iris agreed. She then noticed the stare Joe gave her and shrank in her seat, blinking innocently.

Joe chuckled to himself before tossing his napkin down to his plate. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I hope this is the most excitement I have today," Joe said. He stood up and dropped his tie back down to his front. Wally stared in surprise, seeing that Joe had already finished his breakfast while he and Iris hadn't even started theirs yet. "Could someone please take the hose out and leave it where I can find it later."

"You do know one of these days you're going to have the neighbors complain about you, right?" Iris asked. She hooked her arm around the back of her chair and leaned back to look at her father with a skeptical eyebrow. "And Wally and I will have to pretend we don't know you."

"What are they going to do?" Joe snorted. "Call the police?" He gave Iris another kiss and Wally another wave. "Bye baby, bye Wally. Have a fun time tonight if I don't see you later."

"Bye, dad," Iris and Wally chorused as he left the house. Iris then turned back to Wally and said. "If I know you as well as I think you do, then dad's words aren't going to talk you out of what you've heard today."

Wally shook his head. "I can't help the dreams I've been having, Iris. They feel so real."

"Then I guess we have not choice but to have Harry or Harrison speak to you about this. They know much more about metas and dark matter than we do. If there's going to be anyone who can help you out, it's going to be them."

"Okay," Wally said reluctantly. "But if we're going to do that, can it be Harrison? Harry's just a little scary."

Iris laughed. "I don't think it's the first time he would've heard that. But sure. Let's go." Iris grabbed her phone from the table and looked at the screen before sliding it into her pocket. "There's something I'm waiting for but it's not anything I can't rush back if I'm needed."

"A break in a case?"

"Just some information I've been waiting on."

Iris changed the subject to the Halloween party and the two spoke about what costume Wally could get on short notice the entire way to STAR Labs. Once they arrived, they found Harry, Jesse, Caitlin, Cadence and Cisco in the Speed Lab, all turning their heads back and forth as they watched the streaks Jesse left behind.

Wally stood next to Cisco and folded his arms, turning his head this way and that as Jesse continued to streak by. Finally, she came to a stop, pulling down the bottom of her t-shirt as she did so. Then, as casual as possible, she shifted her hair behind her shoulders and lifted her hand in a wave. "Hey Wally, when'd you get here?"

"Just now," Wally said. He nodded over to Iris. "Iris and I stopped by to talk to Harry."

Jesse's eyebrows rose in surprise, a smile twitching at her lips. "You want to talk to my dad?"

"Or to Harrison," Wally quickly said. "Whoever is more available."

"Well, as you can see, Harry's a little busy continuing to run tests on Jesse," Cisco called over. "Tests that are completely unnecessary by the way," he raised his voice to carry to the computers on the other side of the room, where Harry and Caitlin stood, looking at the results. Instead of replying, Harry lifted his hand and gave Cisco the finger. Jesse laughed. "Is that any way to treat your friends?"

"What friends?" Harry shot back.

"Rude." Cisco shook his head.

"Does this mean I can take a break?" Jesse asked after a minute. "We've been working all morning."

Harry looked at Caitlin with a stern raise his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes, throwing her hands into the air. "Fine, let's take a break," she said. She motioned towards Wally. "It looks like Wally wants to speak to your dad, anyway."

"A short break," Harry called to Jesse, who grabbed a nearby towel to wipe sweat from her forehead. "Then we need to get back to work." Jesse nodded and opened her and closed her hand repeatedly, only so that Wally could see, mimicking her father's speaking. Wally smiled and laughed quietly to himself. "I saw that."

Jesse laughed along with Wally before walking over to a nearby bench to sit down and stretch her legs. Caitlin, Cadence, and Iris walked over to her as well. Wally took in a deep breath and went over to Harry, who folded his arms, the sleeves of his black sweater pushed up to his elbows, glasses perched perfectly on his nose.

"What do you want?" Harry asked, unable to keep the strain of impatience from his voice. "What's going on?"

"I, uh, I wanted to talk to you or…or Harrison, more about the dark matter wave that hit me," Wally said. He swallowed hard as a light appeared in Harry's blue eyes, making his blue eyes shine brighter. "See if, maybe, you could help me out or explain some things a bit better or something."

Harry nodded. "I'm listening."

Across the floor of the speed lab, Caitlin chewed her lip as she approached Jesse. "You've been doing a great job, Jesse."

"Thanks," Jesse said with a full mouth. She blushed, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth when she accidentally sprayed a few crumbs of a power bar from her lips. "Oops. Sorry." She brushed at the front of her t-shirt. "I didn't think you guys were serious when you said speedsters got hungry all the time."

"Are you kidding?" Iris snorted. She couldn't help the slightly exasperated tone that came her voice. "Barry ate a lot before he was a speedster. It's better that he can get whatever he wants now instead of dad having to pay for it."

"Speak for yourself," Cadence agreed, making Iris laugh. "And it's not just Barry. Since his growth spurt, Brady's been eating me out of house and home as well." Then, as hard as she tried to hide it, a sadness came over her face.

"Things aren't going so well with him still, huh?" Caitlin asked softly.

"Not really, but I was mad at my parents for almost ten years. I think I can handle this."

"You want mad, try having your father bust in on your first date ever because he thinks he needs to chaperone you," Jesse said with a roll of her eyes. "It wasn't bad enough it was my first date, but it was a study date at my house. And my dad corrected my date every time he said something wrong."

"Which, I'm assuming, was a lot," Iris teased. She grimaced when Jesse nodded. "I thought I was kidding."

"Joke all you want, but it's totally my dad. You know how he's got that hard exterior where he must be right about everything. It's not just about science. It's about everything and he's always so protective." Jesse turned the power bar back and forth in her hand. "I'm sure he'd even tell me that this bar Cisco made isn't good for me either, but I don't care. I'm starving."

"About your dad," Caitlin broke in. "About your speed and everything, I just wanted to be sure that you were ready for it."

"What?" Jesse sounded confused, her smile immediately falling from her face. Her eyes narrowed and she scratched at her eyebrow with her thumb. "Are my test results that bad?"

"No, actually, your test results have come back nearly perfect."

"And that's why you keep having me do them?" Jesse sounded skeptical. "Because they're all perfect?"

"No, it's because they're science nerds and can't seem to find any excitement in anything other than running tests," Cadence said sarcastically before smiling sweetly when Caitlin glared at her. "These are the people who keep poking and prodding me to test my healing powers."

Through gritted teeth, and keeping her gaze on Cadence, Caitlin said, "We just want to make sure everything is up to speed before you decided to start running off to take down as many metas as you can get your hands on. It all looks fun, but it's really dangerous out there."

"Oh." Jesse nodded. She pursed her lips, keeping her gaze solidly on Caitlin. "I get it. This is because I'm a girl, right?"

All three women standing around her held varying degrees of offense on their faces. Caitlin's was a mixture of pure surprise with the accusation that had been flung her way. "What? No! Not at all. Why?"

"Well, I mean, Barry didn't have to take things slow. He was stopping criminals the moment he got his powers." Jesse shrugged and her eyes shifted over the faces of the three women in front of her. "Why can't I do the same thing?"

"If Barry hadn't used his powers to stop crime as soon as he got them, I probably wouldn't be here," Iris said to Jesse. "Mark and Clyde Mardon were driving a getaway car after robbing a bank and crashed. That car would've killed me had Barry not been there to stop them and save me." She paused. "Not that I knew it at the time."

"And if this were because you were a girl, do you think I'd be here right now?" Cadence added. She nodded towards her friends. "These guys never had me hold back with using my powers unless it was something they thought was necessary. Before I was able to break out of my plateau, they had me working slowly or else I would've blacked out or suffered brain damage."

"Also, because you were, literally, a ticking time bomb," Caitlin added.

Cadence ignored her comment and continued speaking, "If the tests need to be done then…"

"I'm sure you think it's a great thing to have powers, but sometimes it's not so great. Trust me," Caitlin said. She ran her fingers over each other, almost as if waiting for them to turn into solid blocks of ice. "I'm just saying that I have powers and I'm taking them slow."

"My dad put you up to this didn't he? Of course, he did! this is exactly like my dad." Jesse brushed by Caitlin and rose her voice so that Harry could hear her. "You just want me to be safe, right? I've heard that my entire life. And all of this, all these tests aren't just because of wanting to keep me safe, it's because I'm not Barry. And you don't want me to be Barry." She stepped closer to Harry, jabbing a finger into her chest. "Because you don't have faith in me at all." She turned on her heel and stormed from the Speed Lab.

She could've ran and gotten further away, but knew it wouldn't be easy. She'd gotten so many practice runs in that her legs were starting to feel like jelly. That she'd collapse any minute. That power bar wasn't helping her as quickly as she thought it would. Instead, she opted to walk away as fast as possible, propelling herself forward despite the ache that started to seize her muscles. It didn't take long before she heard footsteps following her, moving rapidly to catch up to her.

"Leave me alone!" Jesse spat.

"It's just me," Wally said, coming up beside her.

Jesse smiled, her frustration quickly and easily moving away. Her hands were still shaking, but no longer from anger. "Hey," she said. "Sorry. I just…ugh, I'm so mad at my dad. He's trying to get everyone to talk me out of using my powers. And, I wouldn't be surprised if you want me to, too."

"No, not at all," Wally denied.

Jesse blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"When this first started happening, you were the first person I wanted to talk to about it. And…I was hoping maybe it was happening to you, too. It was crazy. One day I was leaving a friend's house, and a car was speeding towards, running a red light. And suddenly, everything was slowing down around me. Frozen. But I felt like there was electricity around me. And then I kept running and running and I never wanted it to stop."

"So you jumpstarted your powers?" Wally asked.

"Maybe? I don't even know how to explain it. It's just…this feeling I got." Jesse thought for a moment. "It was like I was faster than time itself. That there was this energy that was moving through me that kept me going."

"Must be the Speed Force," Wally agreed. He quickly explained it to Jesse, the best way he knew how. "Barry says it's this…space that lets a speedster gave their powers. It helps funnel them and with out it, they can't use their powers anymore."

"Just like when Barry went into the Speed Force to get it back," Jesse agreed.

Wally nodded. "But we both got hit by that dark matter wave…and these dreams I keep having…" Jesse looked at him closely, nodding eagerly for him to continue. "In my dreams, I feel the same way. That there's some sort of an electrical charge that's moving through my body as I run around. I'm a speedster and I have my own suit and…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Harry just told me more about the consequences of dark matter but…even he doesn't think things are going to work with them. And Joe and…"

"You just really want to help people," Jesse broke in. "I get it, Wally. It's what I want, too. It's why we came back here. To get a hold on everything." She laughed sarcastically. "It was a good idea in theory, but having him come here…I can tell it's freaking him out. I guess that's what parents are for, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Wally agreed.

The two smiled at each other.

"So, listen," Jesse said, taking a step towards Wally. "I'm constantly being stuck here and there's not much to do. I was…wondering, if you wanted to hang out with some sometime? Maybe get an idea of what Earth-1 is all about."

"Actually, Iris invited me to a Halloween party," Wally said, unable to keep an ever widening grin from his face. "And she said we could go if you were interested. I mean, it may not be as good as seeing everything that Earth-1 has for you, but it could be just as fun."

"It could," Jesse agreed. "Just…there's one problem."

"What's that?"

"What's Halloween?"

Barry climbed through the window of Cadence's bedroom and raced to the kitchen, skidding to a stop. He reached out a hand and grabbed the stack of napkins that started to fly away, replacing it on the counter. "Hey," he greeted Cadence, who stood flipping through some bills.

"Hey," Cadence replied with a bright smile, lifting her gaze from the envelopes resting in her palms. "How was your day?"

"Slow," Barry said. He leaned against the counter next to her, folding his arms. "I never knew how bad things could be until I had to actually sit there and wait for my shift to end. All with Julian watching me to make sure I actually did leave when I was supposed to." He ran a hand through his hair. "Did you know it seems like a lifetime can go by in a second?"

"I'm sure we've all had that happen before," Cadence reassured him. "Even before you had your powers there had to be days where you were waiting for something and things went by agonizingly slow." She flashed a teasing smile his way. "Though considering your relationship with time, I wouldn't want to be you."

"Ha ha." Barry leaned forward to give her a peck on the lips then stopped. He studied her face, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "Uh, did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah. Why?" Cadence tossed a bill aside and picked up another one, eyebrows rising when she saw the numbers on it. "Remind me to never let you use my Netflix account again."

Barry smiled. "I just…well, it looks like you haven't slept much. Did you have another dream about the Assassination Bureau or…?"

"Huh?" Cadence reached up and pressed a fingertip underneath her eye. Then her eyes widened, and she chuckled. "No, that's part of my Halloween costume. I haven't finished the makeup for it yet. By the way, before we go to meet up with Caitlin, Iris, and Cisco, I need to drop Brady off at Chief Paulson's house."

"Chief Paulson?" Barry's nose wrinkled. "Really?"

"Alicia's having a Halloween party and he was invited," Cadence explained. "Otherwise, I don't think even he'd want to set foot there. You know, the whole having metahumans register themselves thing aside." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, and Wally and Jesse are coming with us, too."

"Harry's actually going to let Jesse leave STAR Labs?"

"That's exactly what the rest of us were thinking. Anyway, you need to get dressed so we can get going. I know you had a long day at work, especially with dealing with Julian, so if anyone deserves to have a night of dancing and gorging themselves on candy, it's you."

Barry smiled. That did sound like something he could really use. Mostly because Halloween was his favorite holiday and candy was certainly the treat he would prefer to gorge on when he got the chance. Having the metabolism to support it was something he certainly didn't take for granted. "Well, it's not going to take more than five seconds for me to get dressed so I have no problem handing out candy to anyone who may come by before we drop Brady off."

Cadence finally turned her full attention to him and smirked when she noticed his eyes darting around. "It's a good thing you don't have x-ray vision or else you'd find here I hid it."

"Again, it'd only take like five seconds to do."

"You know, you may have the nickname 'fastest man alive' but there are some things that you don't' want to brag about being fast at." Cadence lifted a finger. "And that's one of them." She smiled and turned her head to the side when Barry leaned in to give her a peck, his lips landing on her cheek.

Confused, Barry leaned back and watched her. "What are you doing?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Cadence replied, dropping the rest of the bills.

"Cay."

"Nothing!"

Barry winced, expecting for the wallpaper in the kitchen to suddenly burst into flames. Or else the sprinklers to go off and start flooding the entire apartment. Not for his eardrums to throb at the sudden high-pitch Cadence's voice took on when she continued to deny anything was wrong. "You know when your voice gets shrill like that, I know you're lying."

"My voice doesn't get shrill," Cadence defended herself, being careful to lower her voice. Despite the worry that niggled through Barry's stomach, he couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"So, what?" He asked, finally calming down. "You don't want to kiss me?"

"Oh, I want to kiss you."

That was enough to make his ego stay intact. But if that's not it, then what is it? Barry asked himself. It didn't take him too long to figure it out. He'd already had the conversation a couple of times before and his presence around the apartment certainly didn't seem to be making a difference in anything. "Just not in front of Brady?" Cadence nodded, folding her arms. "Since when has that been a problem?" Cadence lifted an eyebrow. "Oh, since your fight." Barry chewed his lip, wondering how to tell her what he knew. "That's…never really been a problem before."

"Yeah, well…" Cadence reached up and ran a hand through her hair, letting out a sigh that blew her fringe off her forehead. "It's a problem now. Not with me," she added hastily. "But with Brady. He's putting on the rest of his costume, by the way."

Barry pressed his lips together. His need to want to fix things was slowly starting to come up but…this wasn't something he really had a handle on. Or knew how to handle. He wasn't Brady's father yet, just his friend, but he was Cadence's girlfriend so that meant he had a right to explain why he was so angry, right? Or did that mean he'd be breaking Brady's confidence and trust in him for speaking about a conversation he was asked to keep quiet?

Guilt wasn't something Barry dealt with very well. Instead, he changed the subject, hoping maybe he could work things out from a different angle. "You know we're adults, right?" He asked.

"I'm very aware of that, as a matter of fact, it was a point I've brought up to him before. But you're allowed to feel the way you feel so…" She turned away, shifting her jaw to the side. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's get dressed so we can go, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Barry agreed.

True to his word, he finished getting dressed in his costume, a vampire, in record time. (The only thing taking some time was how to get his hair to lie flat on his head. He'd used enough gel to shellac it in a hard shell it'd at least let him be more aerodynamic if there was any crime he needed to stop that night.

And knowing their luck…, well, Barry certainly wasn't going to say it out loud to jinx it.

But he was at least ready for it.

A man walked through the glass enclosed walkway of the Central City marina, pushing his way through the throngs of costumed people who surged along the streets towards their parties. He held a phone to his ear, a briefcase in his free hand, and shouldered his way through the crowd, barking a response to the bad news he retrieved as he kept going. The heels of his loafers stomping along the sidewalk as he went.

He listened to what was being said then responded once more. After a moment, he stopped. Something shadowy moving by his eye. He looked over and found nothing. Must've been his imagination. Things tended to run away from him when he wasn't paying attention. With the long hours he put into work, there were many days he thought he saw something that wasn't there. Heard sounds that hadn't happened. Felt a sort of heavy presence surging around him.

Still, the man continued to look around him, eyes sliding over the crowd that surged around him. Had to have been one of them. Costumed teens and young adults running around, ready to celebrate the night. What a shame. Didn't they know that Halloween wasn't a day to be celebrated and just made to push the manufacturing and resell of candy? There were much more important things in the world.

The man focused his eyes forward once more and kept walking. He zeroed in on the voice that was speaking to him, anger rising as he heard something unpleasant, deeply unsettling. He opened his mouth to shout out a retort, but cut himself off. A cold wave of dread washed over him, drenching him from head to toe like a torrential downpour. A sinister presence. The boogeyman you could never pinpoint but knew was waiting in the shadows to attack you when the time as right. Fear.

Pure, unbridled fear. Slowly, slowly, he turned around and looked up…and up…and up…at the shadowy figure that loomed above him. The towering figure that was all shadows and swirls of black and gray, in the shape of a man but having no distinguishing features in its face. The man slowly dropped the phone from his ear, it crashed to the ground, the screen immediately splintering in a million cracks as the screen shattered. His mouth trembled, lips trying to form a sound that would warn those around him. His scream bubbled up, but before it was ripped from his throat, his body was ripped form the ground with a large hand grasping his neck.

Legs flailing, the man struggled to break free, air sucking from his lungs with the force of the scream but unable to be brought back in. Increase of pressure, pressure, pressure. And then the pressure was gone, darkness immediately filling his eyes.

With a sound similar to that of a crushed watermelon, the shadowy figure broke the man's neck—the sickening crack filling the air. His deed done, the man was flung aside and fell to the ground in a heap, the shadowy figure slipping away from where he came.

The boogeyman had gotten away again.

Once the clearing emptied, a lone figure stepped out from beneath a nearby street awning, completely hidden from view of everyone that walked by. His walked over to the man that lay prone on the ground, blue eyes moving over his body. He reached out with his toe and nudged the man's back, the body flopped open but didn't move any more.

A smile came to the man's lips before it faded once more. He placed his hand to his hip, as if making sure the blade strapped there was still as present as the one to his back. He tapped his fingers against it then abruptly turned on his heel and walked away.

Barry folded his arms, unsure of where to look, unsure of how to feel. He knew there was a chance there were going to be people dressed up as The Flash that night for Halloween. Even Cisco had suggested that he and Cadence go ahead and wear their suits that night.

"There's going to be so many people dressed up that they won't question you having a costume," he pointed out. "So if anything comes up, then you can just get going instead of having to go somewhere and get changed."

"He's got a point," Caitlin agreed. "It'd also significantly cut down on people worrying about finding out your real identity." She paused, bobbing her head back and forth. "Which, of course, would mean it may be harder to find the real you if we ever need help."

"You think costumes of us are that popular?" Cadence had asked, obviously trying to hide her glee of actually having a Flare costume being sold in stores. "I thought Batman and Superman were still the top ones."

"Please." Cisco held up a hand. "Like anyone's suit is going to even compare to what I've come up with. Costume or not."

He expected there to be many Flash suits at the party or any other party they may go to. Hell, he'd even seen some of them on the metro they all took to the neighborhood in Keystone the party was being held, turning down Barry's and Jesse's offers to run them there. He and his friends (Iris dressed as a flapper, Wally as Gomez Addams, Cisco as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, Cadence as a genie, Caitlin as Minnie Mouse, and Jesse as Madeline after having Halloween explained to her) all stared with wide eyes when they saw the many men and women who had been dressed up in Flash costumes before talking excitedly about it.

Barry's excitement faded when he got to the party and saw how many of the costumes were explained as 'sexy flash' costumes when Jesse eagerly asked, causing his friends all to burst out into incredible bouts of laughter. Jesse shrieked with laughter the hardest, hard enough that tears spilled down her cheeks, clearly delighting in Barry's discomfort.

The costumes weren't bad by any stretch of the means. Some of the men's costumes were just maroon colored shorts with yellow lightning running up and down the sides, similar to Barry's hood. What any of them would wear while out running. The woman's costumes had the same treatment as those of any other procession—turned into a dress that was very low-cut in the front or a bra top that bra top with a lightning bolt in the middle and yellow short shorts and matching maroon boots, and…long t-shirts.

"It's not that funny," Barry said, trying to keep his eyes anywhere that wasn't inappropriate.

"The costumes aren't, your reaction is," Caitlin said, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, Barry, these costumes are just for fun."

"I know…"

"Just enjoy it while you can," Cisco said, turning this way and that as many of the girls walked past him. He turned back to the disapproving looks Caitlin, Cadence, and Iris were glaring his way and held up his hands, taking a step back. "In a completely respectful way, I mean."

"You should totally see it as a flattering thing," Cadence added. "Think of it this way,"—she motioned towards the male-Flare costumes that were in the crowd. "None of them had to stuff their shirts for your costume."

"I'm not mad that there are costumes of…me out there like that," Barry protested. "Just that—"

"—You know we're never going to let you live this down?" Iris jumped in, making the others laugh again. That was exactly, it, really. He knew this was something he was going to be teased with as long as he would remember. "Relax, Bare. And have some fun."

And they did have fun. For most of the night they gorged themselves on candy and other themed foods that had been left out by the host, drank beer, and danced to popular and Halloween themed music that pumped out of the speakers. Their fun was only cut short when they heard the sound of multiple phones going off at once. Barry immediately felt his heart race, knowing it had something to do with a meta or some sort of other criminal activity going on.

He was right when, seconds later, his phone went off with a text from Joe alerting him to get to a crime scene. He lifted his chin and exchanged a momentary glance with Cadence before they raced to STAR Labs to get into their suits—all the while Cisco shouted 'I told you so' after them—before going to the crime scene.

Barry skidded to a stop with Cadence teleporting behind him. The two nodded at Joe as they walked closer to the scene, Julian already looking over the body that lay prone on the ground, snapping off his gloves. Seeing them come closer, Julian lifted his chin and gave the two a dismissive glance as he reported, "Petechia around the eye, a crushed larynx…the poor chap has fingerprints around his neck." He snapped the locks on his case shut and stood up, looking Barry, Cadence, and Joe all in the eye. "He's been strangled."

"Witnesses have said that he was attacked by a giant shadow," Joe added. His face was a mask of disbelief, flashing red and blue from the cop cars parked nearby, other cops holding back the crowd that had gathered.

"A giant shadow?" Cadence repeated in disbelief.

"So a meta from neverland made the trip to central city," Julian commented under his breath.

Barry ignored him and knelt down by the man's side. He carefully grasped his hand and lifted it to examine his palm. Then he lowered his fingers to examine the man's fingernails. "No laceration marks, no fingernail marks."

"So he didn't try to fight back?" Cadence asked.

"Or else was taken by so much surprise that he hadn't had the chance," Julian said. He clasped his briefcase in front of him. "In which case I'd have to say that it sounds very much the way all metahumans interact." He nodded to the two then to Joe. "Detective." And walked away.

Once again, Barry had nothing but the thought of I hate that guy before took the information they retrieved from the scene and hurried back to STAR Labs, filling in the others as soon as they arrived. He pulled off his hood while Cadence explained the man's name to Caitlin so she could pull up his image on their wall-mounted monitor.

"Killed by a shadow?" Caitlin asked, using a large gloved hand to brush aside her hair. "That's a new one."

"Maybe he was killed by the same thing as Clariss," Cisco suggested.

"Clariss was a meta, this guy clearly is not," Cadence said. She noticed the curious expression turning her way and she pointed with her chin at the screen. "Every meta we've come across so far has been a criminal. Looking into this guy, he doesn't' have any priors and no motivation to have suddenly wanted to start committing any crimes. Look at the way he's dressed; that's one of the most expensive suits I've seen in a long time. He probably has people he could buy to commit crimes for him. Not to mention he had no wounds on his hands. No mistakes made in a hasty exit, nothing that would show he was working to train to harm someone else."

"So that brings us back to this Alchemy person," Iris pointed out. "Is this guy a regular shadow meta from the particle accelerator explosion or is this a meta created by Dr. Alchemy like the Rival was."

"Was definitely being the key word there," Jesse murmured.

"We don't know yet," Barry admitted, running a hand through his hair—or trying to considering how easily his fingers became stuck. "There's no evidence to process. But we can check out the footage from the security cameras." He nodded over to Cisco. "The crime scene was in Chubbuck, Palmer and Mericine. About an hour ago."

Cisco nodded and punched in the correct codes to bring up the video file. The group watched as the man was lifted off the ground and flung around for a second before his neck was broke and dropped back to the ground. All done by the monstrous sized shadow standing before him.

"Wow, that's going to give me nightmares," Brady's voice made everyone jump and he looked at his friends with a confused expression, standing nearby. "Sorry," he quickly apologized.

"What are you doing here?" Cadence asked, taking her phone from her pocket to look at the time. "I wasn't supposed to pick you up for another two hours."

Brady shrugged, pushing the Zorro hat he was wearing off his head while simultaneously dropping his mask to around his neck with deft moves. "I wasn't having a lot of fun," he murmured, looking at Barry meaningfully, who gave a small smile in response. "And I got the alert on this new meat so…who is he?"

"Shade." Jesse explained. "We have him as a meta on our Earth. Dumb, dumb name. But he can do the same thing."

"What'd he do, throw some side-eye?" Cisco joked.

"He vibrates at a high frequency to create the illusion he's a shadow."

"That's how I phase," Barry murmured, bringing up a hand to rub his chin.

Brady frowned, tilting his head to the side. "But I phase by moving my particles through the particles of objects around me," Brady said. Then he waved his hand. "Or whatever it was that Cisco said, I stopped listening."

"So Shade can do the same as Barry," Caitlin confirmed.

"Has to be," Cisco murmured.

"Okay, so he must be slowing down his molecules whenever he attacks," Barry realized. He turned around to face his team. "We have to figure out how to keep him slowed down so we can grab him."

"Couldn't you just move fast enough to stop him?" Cadence asked. "Or would that create an adverse effect to the powers he's been exhibiting." She paused, her eyes widening with horror. "Oh my god, I'm turning into you!"

"Right, so we need to most fast," Iris said. "As far as we know, he may be working with Alchemy. And the sooner we find him, the better off we'll be."

"Then I can help you find him." Again, the team all jumped at the sudden voice speaking to them. But this time they all tensed at the realization that their security alarms had not gone off again. A tall man stood behind them, his silvery hair falling into his blue eyes, swords criss-crossed as they were strapped to his back. "This would be something of my area of expertise."

"Who are you?" Barry asked.

"Black Blade," Brady commented, voice low. "He's the one we saw at the science museum."

"It's nice to meet you." The man pressed his hands to his sides and bent at the waist to bow to the team gaping back at him. "But I'd prefer to be called Ryuto if you don't mind." He nodded over to Brady. "And I was speaking the truth before when I said that my only intention is to train him with his abilities. As you could guess, they're as unique at of a speedster's own abilities."

"Are you one of Alchemy's followers?" Wally demanded, clenching his hands into fists. "Did he send you here after us?"

"I don't know of any Alchemy," Black Blade explained, his eyebrows coming together in confusion. He then turned his attention to Barry, who listened quietly to the man. He didn't believe a word this man was saying. The last time he had allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security like that, to be trained by a man who knew of his abilities, he had been betrayed and his world was rocked.

It was what driven him to create Flashpoint. What was going to be made this time? Would it be another betrayal that he wouldn't' see coming? "And all you want is to train Brady?"

"Is there something you know about him that we don't?" Cadence demanded, eyeing him like a hawk. Barry could feel the temperature in the air change around her.

"You can heat up the air, too?" He asked her.

Cadence tilted her head to the side, her hair moving out of her face. "Only when I'm in a bad mood," she admitted after a slight hesitation. "Usually I have such a good handle on it but—"

"But your powers are intensified by your anger," Barry interrupted.

Cadence nodded.

It was the first ability that she'd told him about, back when they first met. It mostly came about when she felt the need to defend her friend and family in some way, but became very dangerous when she focused her powers to take on who they were facing. The entire battle area from where they had come across Zoom had been entirely scorched. As many assets as Harrison and Tess had, Barry didn't think they'd be too keen on having to completely rebuild STAR Labs after the small structural damage from the particle accelerator explosion.

"Just that with the power set he has, he's got great potential to be a nearly invincible meathuman," Black Blade explained. "And that if there's anyone who can take down this meta you call Shade, it would be him and me." He locked his gaze on Barry. "As you've mentioned, his speed is a factor at being able to create a shadow-like creature and I believe your powers and that combined effort from your partner would make things worse."

Barry sucked in a breath.

"Well?" Caitlin asked, breaking the silence. "What do you think?"

Should we trust him or should we be suspicious of him? Barry hadn't expected to be so worried about the outcomes of the tough decision so quickly. The paranoid thought had entered his head as soon as he returned from Flashpoint, unsure of what he would be coming back to. Another Jay? Another Zoom? Another Eobard Thawne? Now there was this meta that he knew nothing about but the others clearly had many run-ins with. Barry looked to Brady, whose face was a mask of an expression he hadn't seen before.

Barry didn't get the chance to respond to the question as the warning alarms went off. "What is it?" Jesse asked.

Caitlin and Cisco immediately got to work, pulling up the geographical map of what was being attacked and by whom. "Shade is attacking the Halloween celebration in the park," Caitlin reported. "There's thousands of people there."

"You've got to go now," Cisco agreed.

Barry nodded back. He looked at Black Blade and made a quick decision to watch him closely. "If what you're saying is true, and you can help take down this meta, I'll trust you. For now." Black Blade nodded. "Let's go."

The group hurried to the park, arriving just to be knocked back by the crowd that frantically ran as far away from the shadow monster that wreaked havoc around them. "You get the crowd out of here, I'll take on this guy until you're back," Cadence called to Barry before racing forward in a blaze of flame.

Barry did as he was told and zipped back and forth through the crowd, moving as many people to safety as possible. In a matter of seconds, the park was empty of any civilians and he went back to the park. He watched as the shadow monster swung a large fist and caught Cadence in the chest, sending her rocketing into the ground so hard a ten-foot crater erupted beneath her.

Barry ran in circles around the shadow monster and threw a bolt of lightning toward him. It arched through the air towards the monster before phasing through him, passing seamlessly. The shadow monster turned and lifted his fist, moving to drive Barry into the ground like a hammer. Barry quickly moved out of the way and Black Blade unsheathed the swords strapped to his back, running forward to attack the monster.

Brady grasped his slingshot and slapped the 'y' crossing together and pulled at the other end, creating a long, metal bow staff. Twirling it over head, he ran forward and started to attack the shadow monster as well. At first, the shadow monster had the upper hand and knocked them back with ease. The phasing abilities of the shadow monster combined with Brady's phasing abilities made the fighting that much more difficult as their blows were not able to land on each other.

Barry got back to his feet and streaked to a stop in front of Shade. He swept Brady and Black Blade aside and turned to face the Flash. "Flash, just who I acme to see," Shade growled.

"So you like shadows, huh?" Barry taunted. "Do you want to see if you can catch mine?" They were going to need a new strategy if straight on fighting wasn't going to work. He turned on his heel and started to streak across the ground. He zipped back and forth, moving in a zig-zag, but soon found a big issue.

He couldn't see where Shade was. Even as fast as he moved, Barry couldn't detect any movement from the metahuman. He saw Cadence sending out streams of fire in multiple directions, throwing out her arms to catch the meta in pyres of fire before she was knocked aside. He could see Black Blade and Brady both using their weapons to fend off Shade. But he couldn't see Shade himself.

Not until a colossal sized fist came out of nowhere and struck Barry in the face so hard that he felt some of his teeth become knocked loose, a fresh wave of blood striking his tongue. Barry crashed to the ground seconds before he felt another blown rain on his back, pressing his face into the ground.

"Barry, are you oaky?" He could hear Cisco's frantic voice in his ear-piece.

"I just got thrown around like a ragdoll," Barry murmured, bringing his face from the ground, clumps of dirt falling off his face.

"No way, Ragdoll would've come back up seconds later," Cadence said, suddenly appearing by his side, grasping his arm to pull him to his feet. "That little booger would be able to bend his way out of being attacked by shade."

"I can't attack him if I can't see him," Barry said. His eyes moved around the park, still unable to tell where Shade's next attack was going to come from. "Is there any way to light this place up?'

"You got it," Cadence said. She backed away from Barry and lifted her foot. Stomping hard on the ground, a large, glowing circle formed around her. It took a few seconds for the glow to increase in brightness before the ground cracked open and a large wall of flames encircled her, shadows flickering across the area.

Black Blade, who was running forward with his swords out to his sides, came to a screeching halt, throwing his hand up in front shield his face as he screeched in pain. Shade screamed at the same time, throwing up his hands. Seeing this, Brady strung up his slingshot and sent a piece of ammo into the ground, illuminating the area with light so bright the darkness reverted to daytime.

Barry watched as Shade stumbled backwards, holding his hands over his face. Barry took the opportunity to run forward and race around Shade once more, picking up electricity as he went. Cadence stopped the fire pyre around her and infused electricity in the flames to throw towards Barry. With the added electricity, Barry grabbed a jagged lightning bolt in his hand and threw it as hard as he could.

It struck Shade directly in the face, exploding in an even brighter ball of light.

Shade screamed as the light covered him. He struggled in vain to make himself bigger, stronger, to keep his wits about him. But the light was too bright, he didn't have the energy, didn't have the power. He couldn't phase, to get away. Slowly, Shade shrank down in size, growing smaller and smaller until he was a man's size once more, dropping to the ground.

He rolled onto his back, holding his hands above him. "Please," he whimpered. "Please don't hurt me."

Brady paused in his steps as he hurried to help Barry and his mother capture their new Pipeline prisoner. "What?" He murmured, listening to the man's cries. "It's a fake?"

"It wasn't a fake," Black Blade groaned, also on his knees. He struggled back to his feet as the light slowly faded. "It was a real as any of the other metas you've come up against," Black Blade explained. He looked Brady in the eye. "But as I've told you before, you needed some training,"

"You did this?" Brady accused.

Black Blade didn't respond. Instead, he took a step back towards the shadows that stretched behind him and disappeared from sight. As Cadence hoisted Shade to his feet, a tight grip on his shoulder that made him whimper in pain, Barry looked over to where Black Bade had been before and frowned seeing he was no longer there.

When would he finally get the answers to his questions upfront?

Barry's eyes shifted to the side when he saw rapid moving white flashes in the corner of the park. He felt his heart leap into his chest.

It looked exactly like the flashes that had been there when Clariss had been murdered.

"I don't get it," Caitlin murmured, her eyes searching the computer screen. "That was too easy."

"It's Halloween," Cisco reassured her. "Stranger things have happened. Remember the time Ronnie and I were convinced STAR Labs was haunted?"

"Haunted by what?" Iris asked. She whirled around at the sound of footsteps and the group watched as Harrison Wells walked into the cortex, eyes wide with wonder as he looked around all of the machinery.

"Wow," he said. "I just have to say, you've done a great job with this place. It's like a museum, but not, you know? It's got a real quasi-modern thing going on that's just so…oh and these computers are certainly something I haven't seen in a long time." He spun a drumstick around his fingers as he spoke. "Wow, he never said the place would be as great as this." Then he noticed everyone staring at him. "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm being…" he cut himself off to laugh at his faux-pas. "I'm being so rude. Allow me to introduce myself." He took off his hat and bowed. "My name is HR Wells."

A/N: Woohoo, a more lighthearted chapter! It's been a while since I've done one if I'm comparing it to the last story. And it being a chapter about Halloween certainly made it easy to do. Lol. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Especially the Wally/Jesse scene and the idea of the Flash Halloween costumes.

And now this chapter is the last of the little seeds that needs to be planted before things can really get started. I'm soooo excited for everything else to come to fruition and your guys' responses to it.

Please remember to review; any feedback helps me become a better writer and motivates me to write more. I respond to every review, even anonymous ones.

Cheers,

-Riley