Yeah so I changed a lot of things...but I really don't own any one except Greta's 'friend'. Please enjoy :)
And head's up...Madison will not be playing a big role in the story unless you want her to. Please tell if you think she should.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters.
"So what does this recent murder have to do with me?" Madison asked suspiciously as she pulled up a chair in front of Barry, "Because I'm pretty sure I have a rock solid alibi. I was in my attic cleaning out the damn thing when the most recent murder happened."
It had taken the woman a lot of convincing to sit down to have this discussion. Only after Rachel (a waitress who knew Barry) stepped did she begrudgingly agree to answer his questions. By her given attitude at the current time he began to think he made a mistake.
He hated to compare her to being 'cold and off-putting' but she defiantly was; just like Oliver.
Barry sighed, "Look...I am not saying you are a suspect or anything...it's just..."
He cut himself off wondering if what he was going to dig a bigger hole the more he kept talking.
"It's just what?" Madison asked arching an eyebrow.
"It's nothing...I'm sorry I wasted your time..." Barry got up partly but Madison grabbed his arm.
Glancing down at her he could see she had a hopeful glimpse in her eyes.
"Is it about that girl that construction worker supposedly said led him to the scene of the murder?" Madison asked.
"H-H-H-How did you know?" Barry asked stuttering.
He sat down and was satisfied that the woman was to finally talk after about ten minutes of hostility.
"Um...I'm friends with him..." Madison said releasing him, "He used to go my grade school so we keep in touch since I babysit his young daughter on weekends."
"Oh..." Barry said before shaking his head, "Anyways...I met your old tutor Maria. And she mentioned you had a friend that...um...disappeared about twelve years back."
"And what does my missing friend have to do with this?" Madison asked dryly.
"We might have found some leads on where she is with some evidence from these two cases..." Barry lied.
Madison sat back and looked at her hands in her lap. She was very quiet.
"Smooth move Allen," he thought, "You just lied. Well come to think of it you have been lying for over a year to your boss but this is different. Maybe the girl I'm seeing isn't her friend. Maybe its some random kid that just so happens to be a Meta-human that loves the word 'Secret' and disappearing. Oh and not to mention she is far too young."
He sat in the chair uncomfortably and watched as Madison didn't move. Even though he tried to keep his mind on the current situation it was quite boring to sit there. Eventually he settled on reciting all the times tables in his head. Since his mind moved faster than any normal person he got to the thousandths times table before Madison finally decided to start talking.
"I hope you found a lead...I've been waiting for this day for years..." the woman said looking up at him and frowning, "Um...why are you grimacing?"
Barry shook off the daze he had fallen into silently cursing that he had lost track of time. It had been fifteen minutes but it seemed to have passed quicker than that.
"Sorry...just err...zooned out there. So...um...what happened exactly?" Barry asked.
Madison eyed him cautiously before asking, "What do you mean by 'What happened?'"
Her voice had its sharp and suspicious tone return.
"I mean...how did your friend..." Barry paused trying to think of a sentence that would not put more suspicion into the woman's mind, "disappear?"
Madison sighed before answering, "I don't know. I just know that one day...she did not come to school. I called her later on that day because in all the years before I never remembered seeing her not come to school. She was a straight A student and never liked missing school. And she always called me when she was going to be late or something."
"And did she pick up?" Barry asked patiently even though he already knew the answer.
The woman frowned, "She...she...she didn't. No one did. After three days passed without her showing up at school even my mother grew worried. She...ah...called the police and filed a missing person report. They didn't find anything and decided she had run away."
"From what I heard you don't believe that," Barr responded in a low tone.
Madison nodded before her face twisted into a sneer, "I have a feeling her ass of a..."
She cut herself off before finishing. Her eyes took on a look of fear.
"Who are you talking about?"
But no matter how many times Barry asked her Madison did not respond. It was if her face had been carved from stone. Her silence would have even impressed Oliver.
Giving up Barry decided to ask, "What is your friend's name?"
"Greta...Greta Haynes," Madison responded.
She glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed.
"I'm sorry I have to cut this discussion off but I really need to get back to work before my boss kills me," she got to her as she spoke, "Nice chatting with you."
Then she left. Barry bowed his head down and inspected the ground glumly. He knew less than when he had started out for the café. But at least he had one new piece of information. A name.
"So your name is Greta..." he muttered so quietly so only he heard it, "Ok then...lets see what you know about these murders...that is if I can find you."
Then he smiled slightly, "Or if the Flash can."
"Can't believe you finally decided to work with us again..." Cisco said dryly as he sipped from a giant cup full of soda, "Oh and not to mention you decided to finally bring me as backup."
He and Barry were walking down the streets of Central City not particularly going anywhere. It was the day after his (really not helpful) discussion with 'Greta's friend'. Along the way Barry had explained everything to him but got nothing but teasing remarks. It was really getting out of hand.
"Shut up..." Barry muttered.
He crammed his hands deep into his pockets and walked briskly ahead of his friend. Catlin was else where so the only one willing to accompany him was Cisco. Joe was giving him a wide berth and his boss...well the less said about him the better.
"So let me get this straight...you are trying to find this random girl who may or may not be a Metahuman," Cisco said with a teasing smirk, "Because she might give some insight to these mysterious murders?"
Barry turned his head and scowled at him, "Did you seriously not listen to the phone message I left you?"
"I'm pretty sure a message with a whole lot of insults attached to it counts as a message worth listening to..." Cisco scowled back while taking a long sip from his cup.
He pulled phone and played it. Most of it was in a different language. He gave a smirk as he put the phone away.
"What? I didn't leave that message," Barry said confused, "I can't speak Spanish. You should know that! I never took a language class in college. I was more interested in the Chemistry, Physics and Forensics.
Now Cisco's face changed to confusion, "You didn't?"
He pulled his phone out again and inspected it. After a few minutes he put it away and grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry Barry...it was my jerk of a brother. He seemed pretty mad about something I'm pretty sure I was not responsible for causing."
"What did he blame you for this time?" Barry asked, "From what I heard about him I'm sure I would have to restrain myself from calling Oliver to shoot an arrow at him."
"That would make my day if you would do that..." Cisco chuckled, "Anyways he managed to blow up my parents' entire kitchen by accidently igniting my old chemistry set."
"How could he possibly make that blow up if it was in your old room?" Barry asked.
"Apparently my mom decided to place onto of a shelf above the stove..." Cisco said sourly, "Then Dante decided to cook chili that turned into a ball of fire which in turn ignited the chemistry set creating a miniature explosion that blew out all the windows and cracked a giant hole in the ceiling."
Barry couldn't help but laugh. He got the perfect image in his head of what happened.
"And before you ask no one got hurt..." Cisco said seriously before his face cracked into a smirk, "At least my brother got in trouble for something...for once."
Barry chuckled before he glanced up and noticed they had arrived at their destination. He had looked up Greta on Felicity's facial recognition software but only found her home address available. There were no photos of the girl; which was very odd. It was as if it had been erased from cyber space.
"We are here..." he said calmly.
He and Cisco glanced up at the old dilapidated house that sat on the corner of the street. A bleached FOR SALE sign was stuck out front. All the windows were boarded up and the roof was missing several shingles. The wooden door was a little more than splinters and Barry was pretty sure he saw a bat fly out of the chimney.
"Well this looks cheerful..." Cisco said jokingly, "Who would want to live here?"
In response one of the shutters fell off. Both men cautiously approached the house. Barry hesitantly placed his foot on the front porch and winced when it emitted a screeching noise. It sounded way worse than nails on chalkboard.
"Try the door..." Cisco whispered glancing back at the street.
Barry rolled his eyes and tried the splintered door. It would not budge. With a sigh of annoyance he vibrated his hand enough to vibrate the door handle off. The battered handle fell with a clatter to the ground steaming slightly from the chilly air.
"Should we knock?" he asked.
Cisco smirked in response and pushed the door open. It opened with a low creak. Barry stepped into the house and saw that the floor was covered in dust. A cloud of it had billowed up when he had disturbed it and it went up their noses. Cisco emitted a deafening sneeze so powerful it knocked him right into the wall behind him. Barry on the other hand started coughing violently.
"I...-cough- don't know...-cough- who got...-cough- the -cough-...better end -cough, cough- of the deal..." he wheezed as tears ran down his face, "You -cough- or I -cough-."
Even super speed could not stop the dust particles from tickling his throat. It felt like he had swallowed sandpaper.
"I think...-ah choo- you did..." Cisco sniffed getting to his feet while rubbing his head, "To add to the...-ah...ah...ah...choo- damn sneezing I also have a headache! I can't believe I let you talk...ah...ah...ah choo! -sniff- into this even though- ah choo- breaking into a spooky house three days before...ah choo! Halloween is also something I wanted to-to-to -ah choo- do...-sniff-."
Barry eventually had to create a vacuum to spare them from anymore sneezing and coughing. Now that the place had been aired out and tears had stopped running down his face he managed to get a decent look to at the room. There were a few chairs that were covered in white plastic and antique Grandfather clock that sat on the side. It's hands were frozen on the time 9:52 on the cracked surface.
"Where to now?" Cisco asked rubbing his nose crossly.
Barry rested his eyes on a staircase that was broken in several places led up to the second story. It did not look safe at all to walk on but that was not a problem considering he was pretty quick on his feet.
"Lets try upstairs..." he suggested.
In order to prevent themselves from further destroying the stairs Barry raced up the stair well with Cisco. This caused another disturbance of dust (as a result of the wind he gave off) but having learned their lesson the first time both men held their breaths until the dust settled. There was a long narrow hallway on the top of the stair with two rooms on the ends of it.
"Ok...you check the room down that way..." Barry breathed pointing to a room on the left, "And I'll take the other one."
"Roger that..." Cisco grinned giving a mock salute.
Barry gave him a pained look before walking down the hall. He discovered another room on the side of the wall of the hallway but it was nothing but a bathroom with a rust stained shower. He tried the faucet but nothing came out but a spider.
"No one has lived here for years..." he realized.
Stepping out of the restroom into the hallway he shivered. The temperature had dropped again; by at least thirty degrees.
"Old house...old chills," he thought with a nervous chuckle, "Don't act so paranoid Allen. You've faced scarier things than an old house."
Still he could not help but feel unnerved as he continued his way down to the room at the end. Reaching it he discovered it's door was slightly ajar. He cautiously opened it and found with great surprise a room that was neat and nearly untouched by dust. A small poster bed lay off to the side with a small desk on the left side of it and a closet in front of it. A shaded desk lamp sat on the wooden desk. Glancing back toward the bed he found a small framed photograph lying on the pillow. Taking latex gloves out his jacket pocket Barry carefully picked it up. Unlike the rest of the room the framed photograph had a layer an inch thick of gray dust on it.
He brushed it off trying not to gag at the dust bunnies that floated to the ground. When he had it semi-clean he held it toward a small beam of light that was coming through the boarded window. What he found surprised him.
It was a photo of a young girl and a tall young man. The girl had the taller man's arm wrapped around her lovingly and both gazed into the unknown photographer with big grins on their faces. The girl had long blond hair and twinkling green eyes and the tall man had the same color eyes as her and shaggy brown hair that went down to his shoulders.
Barry was so engrossed in processing the photo that he nearly tossed it into the air when an icy hand was placed on his shoulder. Angry and with his hear pounding her whirled around to confront his friend.
"What the hell Cisco!? You seriously could not resist scaring the crap..." his words died when he found it was someone other than Cisco who had touched him.
It was the young girl that he kept seeing. Even though her head was hidden by a hood from her strange looking sweatshirt Barry still knew it was her.
"Greta...um...Hayes?" he asked nervously.
The girl lifted her head up and pulled her hood off but did not reply. But her light green eyes glimmered with recognition of her name. As his eyes flickered between her and the photograph Barry noticed something really strange. Her hair was paler than it was in the photo and so were her eyes; as if both of them had been bleached. But the strangest thing was how young she still was; within logical reason she should have been the same age as him which was twenty six.
"How are you...um...still fourteen? You should be the same age I am..." Barry said quietly as not to alert Cisco.
He carefully sat the photograph down on the bed.
"Secret..." Greta whispered softly.
Barry threw up his hands in exasperation, "Right...is that your response to everything?"
The girl bit her lip and looked away from him. She shivered slightly for a moment; either from fear or tears or...perhaps something else.
"Sorry...I didn't mean to snap at you..." Barry apologized.
He reached out a hand to console her but she stepped away from him and shook her head. She bowed her head down and cocked her head as if she were listening to something. Barry strained his ears and heard Cisco in the other room cursing about the amount of dust that was covering everything.
"Alright then...apparently you don't like people touching you..." he muttered dropping his hand to his side as he sat down on the end of the bed.
This kid was ridiculous in how quiet she was. Barry decided to change topics.
"So um...is this your room?" he asked looking around.
Greta turned to look at him and did not respond. Even though she did not make any motion that indicated anything, Barry got the feeling the answer was yes.
"What is going on here?" he muttered to himself as he turned away from the girl to face the wall behind the bed.
His mind scrambled to make sense of all of this. Was this girl similar to *Mari MaCabe? Did her necklace make her retain youthfulness but she somehow managed to disappear and reappear quickly as a result as the particle accelerator explosion? So many questions and no answers.
"Secret..." Greta said from behind him as if she knew what he was thinking.
Barry sighed wearily and turned around to face her. She gazed at him without emotion. But he could tell she was curious about what he seemed so frazzled. Barry frowned and nervously rubbed the back of neck.
"Please...at least tell me what is going on if you don't want to talk about why you are so young. Why do you keep following me and why do you keep leading people to murder scenes?" he asked.
She did not respond. Instead she glance over at the doorway again when Barry heard rapidly approaching footsteps. Cisco appeared panting and his hair was plastered to his face with sweat even though the air in the bedroom was chilly.
"We should get out of here..." he said trying to catch his breath.
He gave no indication he noticed Greta who was literally standing right in front of him. She glanced back at Barry with a confused expression on her face. Her face silently asked him to speak for her.
"Why?" Barry asked getting to his feet.
"There is some tall and creepy man coming up the stairs...and I'm pretty sure he has a gun or something..." Cisco whispered.
Barry watched as Greta's face (which he noticed really did not show any emotion) turn to worry. She did not exactly frown but her cheekbones tightened.
"How do you know?" he said patiently while keeping an eye on the girl.
She did not move but stayed rooted to the spot as if she were a statue. Her body slightly trembled as if she was remembering something that scared her.
"I-I-I-I'm not sure exactly..." his friend said nervously, "I just got this chill down my back like someone had touched it with an icy hand and I turned around and saw him moving around on the first floor."
Barry wondered if Greta had warned Cisco in her own silent way. But that did not make sense since she had been in the room with him the whole time without moving. So how could she have warned him if she did warn him?
"Then maybe we should get out of here..." Barry said.
He really did not want to confront this man whoever he was in his current clothing. It would be giving his secret identity away.
"Don't you get it? He was almost to the top of the stair when I came in here..." Cisco wailed silently before looking around, "Cool room by the way."
"It's hers..." Barry pointed at Greta who smiled slightly but it was sad in meaning.
He was anxious to have her presence be known that way his friends stop thinking he was losing it. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened after he said it.
"What kid?" Cisco said confused glancing in the direction he was pointing.
Barry bit back a growl of frustration and held his tongue.
"Nothing...let's see if we can make it out the..." he cut himself off when Greta walked over to the closet.
She tentatively reached out a hand and opened the door as if were a hot poker. In the back of it was a small trap door that swung open to expose an opening in the wall. Greta glanced back at him and motioned him and Cisco to go into it.
"Maybe we should take that way..." Barry said pointing.
"Was that there before?" Cisco asked confused.
But all the same he crawled through the narrow opening with Barry. It had a small stone staircase leading down to another room. Barry turned around hoping to help Greta into the passageway but the wooden door slammed shut on him. Cisco jumped from fright and nearly tumbled down the stairs.
"Great...," Barry cursed.
Outside the door he heard someone enter the room they had been in several seconds before. The door handle started jiggling letting them know that whoever was outside was trying to enter.
"I'm guessing the only way out is down..." Cisco muttered looking down the staircase which smelled of mildew, "This is so like a horror movie."
Feeling a prickle on the back of his neck Barry glanced down the staircase and saw Greta at the bottom of it gesturing at them to come quickly. She had pulled her hood on again so it made it hard to make her face out.
"Secret..." she whispered.
"How the hell did she get there so quick? I did not even see her pass by us..." Barry thought now being a little of afraid of the taciturn girl.
All the same he and Cisco hurried down the stairwell which had moss growing all over the steps. Halfway down he realized that it should have been pitch black in the passage; there were no lights on. But somehow there was 'light' that allowed them to see enough to get down safely. Even though it went against every single possible law of logic he defiantly was not complaining.
Cisco let out a startled yelp when a huge rat ran across his foot prompting Barry to clamped his hand on his friend's mouth. A couple feet away from him he saw Greta smile slightly and cover her hand with her mouth. She laughed silently for a few seconds before her face turned serious again. The girl gestured at them to continue to follow her.
"Yeah, yeah we're coming..." Barry muttered crossly uncovering Cisco's mouth.
His friend eyed him worriedly but did not say anything. He trailed behind Barry who in turn was following Greta. She led them into a small basement that was full of clutter; not to mention spider webs.
"Ugh...this is disgusting..." Cisco grimaced as streams of the sticky thread caught on his clothing, "How could Indian Jones stand it?"
Barry did not respond (even though he to was grossed out by the thick gossamer threads) but shouldered his way past a pile of rusted car parts until he found a small clearing by a tiny boarded up window. Greta stood in front of it and silently pointed at it. Barry managed to pry it open and shove Cisco through the opening. Turning around to see if Greta needed help he discovered she had disappeared again.
"First she helps us escape who knows who and then she disappears...what is with this kid?" he thought before wiggling through the tiny window.
As soon as he was through he quickly blocked the opening before whoever was following them. Then both he and Cisco tried to walk down the street as nonchalantly as possible; despite having spider webs trailing behind them like a cape. People kept turning to stare at them to the point Barry thought his face had turned redder than his suit. He mumbled something about preparing for a costume party and tried to get off the main street as quick as possible (without giving his secret away).
"I'm guessing it is safe to think...say whatever...that things can't possibly get worse..." Cisco grinned.
Perhaps it would have been better he did not say that.
"I'm sorry Bear..." Joe said sadly.
"It's ok..." Barry muttered burying his head in his hands.
There had been another report of a murder. Same conditions to the female victim who was similar in age to the first victim. Barry had just finished analyzing the samples and had no DNA at all left. Whoever was doing this was being extra cautious not to get caught.
"If I get my hands on whoever is doing this it will be to soon..." he growled slamming his hand down on the desk.
A police officer walked in just then. His eyes flickered from Barry to Joe and then back to Barry again. Wondering what the man was looking at Barry glanced down and discovered his hand was halfway through the desk without damaging it. He had accidently started fazing through when he slammed his hand down on it.
"Y-Y-Y-You're j-j-just s-s-s-seeing t-t-t-things..." he stuttered, "B-B-Because my hand is most defiantly not halfway through the desk."
He yanked his hand out and hid it.
"Righttttttttttt..." the officer said rolling his eyes, "Trying to fool me about an impressive illusion trick. Good luck Allen."
Barry had to bend his head to hide his smile. Thank God the man was clearly the type of man who really did not notice anything.
"What do you want Matt?" Joe asked.
"Oh nothing much...just two things I have to tell you." the man said in a board tone before he cracked a grin, "The first thing I came here to tell you was that I think someone must have hit our boss on the head or something."
"What do you mean?" Barry asked looking up.
Matt let out a bark of laughter, "Get this...someone suggested a Halloween party in order to raise money for St. Andrews Hospital. And Singh said yes."
"So?" Joe asked.
"Apparently all the cops have to come dressed as something or someone and people have to guess who they are..." Matt smirked, "And there will food, drinks, and a raffle. All proceeds go to the hospital."
"Sounds like fun..." Barry muttered twirling a pen between his fingers.
But in reality he really did not think it sound like fun. What the hell would he wear? He could not exactly show up in his Flash suit.
Joe glanced at him and then glanced back at Matt, "Um...and the second thing you wanted to tell us?"
"Yeah this one is less fun...Singh needs you for a couple of moments..." Matt sighed, "He told me to come get you. He really can't leave his chair on account of that huge cast he's wearing."
"What did he do?" Barry asked.
"Twisted his ankle going down into the basement..." Matt smirked, "Don't tell him I said that."
Both men left leaving Barry alone in his lab. After a few moments he got up out of his chair with a heavy sigh and started pacing around the room.
"There is defiantly something connected between these murders and Greta as well as those strange messages...," he thought rubbing the back of his head, "But what?"
Hearing a noise he glanced up in time just see someone leave the room. He could not get a good look at whoever it was. There was something left on the floor where (at least he assumed) the person was standing. Barry walked over and picked up three photographs. All of them were of the strange messages left at the crime scenes. He looked at the most recent one.
Three more days to Hallow's Eve
Just four more souls to take
And at Midnight his prison shall break
When that happens all mortals shall fear Harm
It did not take a rocket scientist (or in this case a CSI assistant) to figure out why the word harm had its first letter capitalized.
"Ok then...so guy is using a name now..." Barry thought, "And it is Harm. Not much to go by...but I think I can manage."
But the heavy feeling in gut made him feel unsure about what might happen if he did not catch whoever this man was.
* Watch the show Vixen to find out what I'm talking about. :) It's on the CW Seed.