I updated this one quickly since the Halloween deadline is coming up. Please R&R and enjoy the last chapter!
Barry woke up to a pounding headache. Like a major headache. An even worse headache than the time he blacked out after nearly having all his oxygen deprived from being choked by Atom-Smasher.
"I guess this is what is like to be hung-over..." Barry thought grimily, "Which makes actually makes me like the fact I can't get drunk if this is result afterwards."
He tried standing up but froze when he felt a heavy weight attached to his back as well as his legs starting to give out. So he decided to stay in a sitting position to avoid toppling over like a drunk. Frowning he tried shifting his arms and found they were bond with duct tape. He tried shifting his head but when a wave of pain flared from the top of his head to the crock of his neck he decided not to move his head. As it was it was too dark to see anything.
He made do with the limited amount of motion he was able use his right elbow to probe whatever as strapped to his back. He recoiled when the object he touched was warm and it moved. Cisco groaned but did not wake up. Instead he leaned back making Barry fall flat on his chest with dead weight on his back. He groaned and tried to roll over but to no avail.
"Mmh umlot...Cis..." Barry mumbled.
He cut himself off realizing he had duct tape slapped against his mouth prohibiting his speech.
"Great..." he thought, "I can't free myself without potentially injuring or worse killing Cisco and who knows what happened to Iris and Catlin. Let's hope Joe decides to come into S.T.A.R Labs to check up on us."
All the same he tried loosening his hands but the pain intensified with each movement he made. Eventually he stopped when he started to gasp for breath through his nose wishing he could remove the damn tape off his mouth so he could breath properly. Stars swarmed in front of his eye and he blinked furiously to clear them. While trying to clear his eyesight he noticed that they were stuck in the janitor closet at S.T.A.R Labs. His eyesight had finally adjusted to the darkness. How he knew they were stuck in a closet? There was a grainy image of broom threatening to topple over on him if he got up suddenly.
That was when he heard the closet door open and light spilled in. He blinked again; this time to adjust his eyes to the sudden light change. Who he saw in the entrance surprised him.
Greta was standing there looking at him with the hood on her sweater up and covering her face. She did not say anything and reached out. Barry couldn't help but flinch as she reached for him. She paused and gave him a look that said 'Really? I'm trying to help you stupid' before grabbing the duct tape before he could try to say anything and wrenching it off his mouth.
It came off quickly along with a couple layer of skin on his lips.
"Ouch!" Barry yelped.
Wincing he ran his tongue against his lips in order to sooth the stinging pain. Glancing up he saw Greta was standing there with her head cocked to the side.
"Never thought I would be happy to see you..." he muttered.
She stepped out of the doorway and vanished.
"Hey...wait!" he called.
Grunting he managed to roll onto his side in order to pull his arms in front of him and vibrate them through the duct tape binding him. Once he was free he started helping Cisco out. His friend came to as soon as the last piece of tape was unwound from his legs.
"Ugh..." Cisco groaned touching his head gingerly, "What the frack happened? I feel like I had a car sitting on me."
"You were actually the one sitting on me..." Barry said patiently while wadding the duct tape up in a wad.
He tossed it to the side and rubbed his forehead. The pain had faded letting him know his super-healing had already kicked in.
"Are we...in the janitor's closet?" Cisco peered as if nearsighted around their 'prison'.
"Unfortunately...whoever it was broke in to the lab knocked us out and I think took Catlin and Iris," Barry sighed heavily while helping his friend to his feet, "Five bucks says its the guy we are after."
He had a really bad feeling it was the man. Call it a gut instinct if you want.
"DO NOT BET!," Cisco muttered rubbing his nose which had dried blood caked on it, "It was the guy..."
"H-h-h-h-how can you be certain?" Barry stammered.
"Duh...I saw him..." his friend rolled his eyes, "After he smacked you in the head with a PVC pipe he came after me. I managed to punch him in the eye before he knocked me out. So we will be able to tell who he is with a big ol' black eye on his face."
Barry smirked. Apparently the murderer did not unscathed after all. But a black eye would be nothing compared to what might happen to him if he harmed Iris or Catlin when Barry got to him.
"So um...who freed us?" Cisco asked, "Because I have a feeling you didn't at first due to the fact we were tied together..."
"Come on..." Barry said quietly pushing his friend towards the door.
He really did not want to say that Greta did it on account his friend might a have field day teasing him about it. Walking into the cortex they could see it was trashed. Papers were everywhere and tables and chairs were overturned. There were two spots of blood on the tile floor in two different places.
"That's where he bashed you and that's were he bashed me..." Cisco said pointing to the individual areas, "Your head wound already healed..."
"I don't care about that..." Barry said impatiently, "Do you think you can get them up on the security camera somewhere?"
"Already done..." his friend smirked while typing.
His face suddenly paled and he stood up rigid. His bottom lip started quivering and he started shaking slightly.
"Cisco?" Barry asked worriedly.
His friend wordlessly pointed behind him. Glancing in that direction Barry spotted Greta looking at them curiously.
"Who...what...how?" Cisco stuttered before finally spitting out," WHO THE HECK IS THAT GIRL BECAUSE I AM NINETY THREE PERCENT SURE SHE WAS NOT THERE A SECOND AGO AND SHE IS REALLY IS SCARING ME TO THE CORE..."
Greta stared at him quietly. She did not move, she did not blink; only the slight rise and fall of her chest let them know that she wasn't made of wax. Again it was eerie about how she could stay so still for so long.
"That's the girl I was telling you about. The one who lead us to that first murder as well as other the other ones," Barry said slightly relieved that his friend finally believed him and could actually see Greta as well, "The one I supposedly I could only see..."
"Seems like I owe you an apology..." Cisco muttered.
Then he grinned at the girl, "Say kid...what's your name?"
"Secret..." Greta answered quietly.
"Wait...is that your real name or do you not want to tell us your real..." Cisco started.
"Her real name is Greta...she um...doesn't say much..." Barry interrupted.
He shivered when the girl walked up closer to them. She seemed to give off a cool temperature around her as she moved.
"I think she's a Metahuman..." Cisco said thoughtfully seeing Barry shiver, "She can lower the temperature around her and according to you can teleport."
Greta did not say anything but fixed her glittering pale green eyes on Barry's. It seemed that she wanted to tell him something
He looked right back at her and managed to asked without fear, "What is it? Do you want to tell me something?"
She nodded slightly before saying, "Secret..."
Then she traced a lightning bolt symbol in the air before pointing to Barry and saying again, "Secret."
He couldn't help it. Barry stumbled back from her as if she had suddenly produced a cold-gun and pointed it at him. Cisco put his rapid thoughts into words for him.
"How does she know you are the Flash?" he choked.
"I don't know..." Barry glanced back at his friend before turning back to Greta who was watching him, "Who are...what are you exactly?"
"Secret..." was all the girl said.
"Alright...can I just ask you one thing?' Barry asked, "This man...is he planning to murder Iris and Catlin at midnight?"
Greta nodded slowly making his heart clench.
"And...can you tell us where he is right now?" Barry pleaded.
She just slowly shook her head sadly. Then she stepped out of the cortex and vanished. Cisco and Barry did not even bother to follow her. It was no use to have her talk because she wouldn't.
"Some party..." Cisco grinned.
He held up a small glass that was halfway full of a bright pink punch. Barry rolled his eyes and checked his watch. It read 11:25 pm. The fundraiser party was in full swing. Lights danced along the ceiling and streamers covered the ground. Almost all the police were dressed up. He saw a couple of them dressed with Flash merchandize from the Flash Day (which he really hated on account he did not disserve it) and one was dressed up as a Martian. Patty was wearing a dress and was busy trying to eat a sandwich without dripping mayo and mustard on it. Barry on the other hand was just wearing everyday clothing and was holding his backpack which contained his suit.
"That's because you drank all the punch..." Captain Singh grumbled, "And what the heck are you suppose to be?"
Cisco was wearing a T-shirt that had two orcas with light sabers (blue and red) on the ends of their snouts dueling each other. A really weird way to depict Star Wars in Barry's opinion.
"A engineer who has a part time job working for the Metahuman taskforce and part time works at S.T.A.R Labs helping the Flash take down criminals..." Cisco smirked.
Captain Singh rolled his eyes and disappeared into the crowd.
"I don't think our boss likes us much..." Cisco said mournfully looking down at his punch before drinking the rest of it.
"Maybe its because you drank all his punch he made..." Barry teased.
His phone rang and he answered it. It was Joe.
"Its time...I hope you can bring her home..." was all he said.
"Joe you know I will..." Barry promised, "Just concentrate on finding the man responsible and I will concentrate on finding them..."
His adoptive father sighed heavily before hanging up. Barry placed the phone in his pocket and looked up at Cisco.
"Let's go man..."
"When did you build this thing and what is it?" was all Barry could say when he met Cisco at the rendezvous point.
He had changed into his Flash suit and prepared to walk with his friends through the street until they found Catlin and Iris. At least it was Halloween so people wouldn't be too surprised to see him.
"I modified this puppy to pick up abnormal energy waves..." his friend grinned avoiding the first question entirely, "And so far it has been pretty effective."
"You do realized Greta will probably show and just lead us..." Barry grumbled.
"Doubt it..." Cisco chuckled, "She is not even-"
He then shrieked as if he sat on a pin cushion and leaped away from his position nearly dropping his gun in the process. Barry prepared to rush forward but relaxed when he saw it was their little silent friend; but only slightly as she was wearing the hood up on her sweater obscuring her face.
"YOUCH! What the hell kid? You like putting icy cold fingers on people's backs?!" Cisco cursed rubbing his back furiously, "It felt like the time I fell into a kiddie pool full of drinks and ice at a party!"
Barry smiled slightly and lowered his head to hide his smile. Greta on the other hand frowned at Cisco and did not respond. She just impatiently used her arm to have them follow her. Cisco followed first holding the 'energy gun' at his side grumbling silently and then Barry followed. He wished desperately he could just rush ahead but knew that Greta was probably the only who knew the way there if Cisco's 'energy detecting' gun failed.
They walked silently for a time.
"Hey! Give that back you moron!"
Barry turned his head and caught sight of a little girl trying to tug her candy bag away from an older teen with a nose stud. His buddy stood next to him snickering. Behind the little stood a boy about sixteen. He looked worried and uncertain about what to do.
"What cha going to sweetie?" the teen who was trying to grab the candy bag sneered, "Punch me?"
"No!" the little girl scowled, "I'll have my older brother Max beat you up."
"Allie...maybe we should just let them have the candy bag...I'll make sure that we visit the houses again..." the boy named Max said nervously.
He took a step back when the nose studded teen and his friend stepped up to him.
"I'm guessing you're Max..." the nose studded teen snickered.
"Leave us alone Fred..." Max sighed, "Bully me at school...fine. But keep your hands off my sister."
"You're a chicken..." Fred's friend chimed in.
Both of the older teens then jumped the younger boy and started beating him up. The little girl Allie screamed and used her newly freed candy bag to whack the two boys on their head. They remained unfazed...even by her insults.
"Drop dead you eggheads! No one is allowed to beat my brother up but me!" she shrieked as she punched and kicked.
"Barry..." Cisco said warningly but by this point Barry had had enough.
He rushed up to the two teens and yanked them off the younger boy, "That is enough you two."
Both of the boys shrugged him off and turned to him with sneers.
"What are you going to do buddy?" Fred asked, "Nice costume by the way..."
His friend snickered nastily. Barry frowned at them and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was easily several feet taller than the two but that still didn't stop them from not backing down.
"Oh I don't know...maybe rush you down the police station for beating this boy up?" Barry said with deadly calmness pointing to Max.
The boy glanced up at him holding his bleeding nose between his two fingers. Allie looked at him wide eyed and mouth agape.
"Ha! Hate to break it to you buddy but almost all of Central is dressed up as the Flash tonight..." Fred chortled flickering out a switchblade, "So what are ya going to do tough guy? Call 911? By then we'll be long gone by then."
"Yeah..." his friend chimed in.
At this point Barry was annoyed and barely managed to keep his anger in check, "If I were you...I'd leave. Now."
Fred scowled at him, "Make me want-to-be...you are unarmed but I am not."
Before the teen could even blink Barry had taken the knife away from him and was holding it in his hands inspecting the blade.
"Nice knife kid..." he smirked pressing the blade back into its storage position, "To bad it is the one the police have been searching for as a result of a stabbing about a month ago."
Both of the teens had turned pale and they started backing away slowly.
"You're...you're..." Fred stammered.
He couldn't even finish the sentence let alone the thought.
"Three second head-start," Barry grinned tossing the knife to the ground at his feet, "I'll count."
Both teens started hotfooting it out of there not daring to look back. They hadn't even gone three feet before Barry rushed them and with a swirl of gold and red had them handcuffed to the nearest telephone pole. As they both struggled to free themselves Barry glared down at them.
"Let this be a warning you to...next time I'll make sure I drop you off at the police station with a nice note explaining why I did. The police always go on patrol here in the morning but I'll make sure they come earlier especially for you two."
He then turned and ran back over to Max who was still lying on the floor looking dazed. His little sister Allie was still staring at Barry; mouth agape.
"You're the real..." Max started.
"Yeah kid..." Barry sighed.
He bent down and help the kid to his feet as well as brushing the dirt off him.
"Do me a favor and make sure to drop a note off at the station if those two continue to bother you..." Barry said picking up the little girl's candy bag and handing it to her.
Max only managed to nod slightly as he was still in shock from actually meeting and talking to the Flash.
The little girl grinned at Barry before she turned to her older brother, "Come on Max...I better get you out of here before you ask him to sign your running shoes."
"Allie!" the boy complained.
"Um...Flash?"
Barry turned to see Cisco motioning at him franticly.
"Got to go kids...err...saving the city stuff..." Barry said, "Make sure your careful out there."
He rushed off before the kids could say anything. He made a point of stopping for a split second in front of Cisco and motioning for him to meet in a nearby doorway.
"Kid disappeared..." Cisco complained tottering up to Barry nearly five minutes later.
"She's right behind you..." Barry smirked pointing to Greta.
She bowed her head slightly before glancing up at them.
"Now I can see why you got annoyed with her..." his friend grumbled.
Greta tugged gently at Barry's arm before running down the street. She was actually pretty fast.
"Come on..." Barry grabbed Cisco's arm and started tugging his friend down the street.
They tracked the light-footed girl for about five blocks before she vanished again. And it just so happened to be in front of the house that they had visited days before hand.
"Please don't tell me she did not go into there..." Cisco complained as he stopped to catch his breath.
Even though Barry made sure he went slower than he usually would the running for five blocks straight still made his friend gasp for breath. Several times he asked to take a break which never happened as Greta would glance back at them to make sure they were following her.
"I think she did..." Barry said crouching down by the dilapidated fence that separated the front yard from the backyard.
There was a big gaping hole at the bottom of the fence that was big enough to crawl through; but barely. Barry went first and only managed to tug Cisco through the hole as his friend insisted on bringing the energy gun.
"Whoa...dude..." Cisco breathed pointing to his invention.
It was making a humming noise and a meter on the top of it was in the red zone. Barry frowned and looked around the small backyard. There wasn't much except for a stunted apple tree. Its branches were twisted and bare. It looked like a clawed hand reaching for the stars.
"Where did you go kid?" Barry asked quietly mostly to himself.
"Mmm!"
He jerked his head into the direction of the noise and saw Iris and Catlin in the corner of the yard bonded together. Both at them were looking at them with relief and happiness.
"Iris? Catlin?" he asked not believing it.
Greta had lead them to them after all.
"I got them..." Cisco yelped before Barry could move.
He pulled out some car keys and started using the jagged ends of them to start cutting through the thick rope that bonded the two women together. Barry uncomfortably kept watch. Eventually his eyes adjusted to the light and he noticed a small pale form standing a couple feet away from him.
"Greta?" he asked cautiously walking toward it.
Kneeling down he found it was small piece of wood. Inscribed on the pale wood in well worn letters were four words.
Greta Hayes
Beloved Sister
Before Barry could even register what was happening a glowing form appeared coming out of the grave. He yelped and fell flat on his butt. He backed up away as the glowing form solidified into a girl wearing a white hood. She pulled the hood down and looked at him sadly. Barry was only half conscious of his friends coming up behind him and looking shocked at what they had just seen.
"T-t-t-this i-i-is y-y-your grave?" he managed stammer out.
Greta turned her head away from him and trembled slightly. This explained how she was able to vanish so quickly, why she was so cold, and why she wouldn't let anyone touch her.
"So you were not losing it after all..." Catlin muttered.
"A ghost...a legit...ghost..." Cisco whimpered.
The energy gun rattled as his hands shook.
"H-h-h-h-how did you die?" Barry heard Iris ask softly.
Greta looked up at them her eyes glittering slightly. She held her hands out in front of her and a glowing holograph of a knife appeared floating above her hands.
"That's the knife being used in the murders..." Barry realized.
Before he could make further comment he felt something grab him and wrap itself around him. It yanked him off his feet and left him dangling above the ground several feet in the air. He heard screams and looking in the direction of the noise found that his friend had been grabbed as well. Catlin and Iris where on the ground struggling to free themselves from some tree roots that had pinned them to the ground. As he watched the roots continued to snake their way up their feet.
"Iris!" he called, "Catlin?"
Both were unable to answer as they were too busy trying to free themselves.
"N-n-n-not c-c-c-cool m-man..." Cisco shouted as one of the branches of the apple tree dangled him upside down, "N-n-n-not c-c-cool a-a-at all!"
He had dropped the energy gun which was emitting a shrieking noise as if it was going to explode. Hearing footsteps step on the fragile leaves that littered the ground Barry managed to twist his head to look down to see a man stocking towards them. It was the man in the photograph; the one in Greta's old room. Within reason he should have been thirty; yet he looked eighteen.
"How dare you disturb Harm's sacred place..." the man snarled.
He held a gleaming sword in his hands and he used the point of it to lift Cisco's head up. He whimpered unheroically.
"I would have expected the fastest man alive to have better...friends..." 'Harm' commented mockingly dropping Cisco's head.
Barry said nothing but glared at the man venomously.
"Well?" the man purred turning to him.
Harm had the three blue claw marks the girl had described. His left eye was slightly swollen; a token of the first encounter with Cisco. But the weirdest thing was where his heart was a glowing swirling circle.
"You murdered your sister...' Barry said thickly, "Why?"
He glanced around and found that Greta was no where in sight. She had vanished.
"She was the only thing Harm loved..." the man said swishing the gleaming sword around, "In order to unlock Beowulf's sword one must be pure of heart."
"Or in your case pure evil..." Iris muttered.
She didn't flinch when Harm pointed the sword under her chin to lift her head up.
"My aren't you lovely..." the man smirked, "To bad in order for me to gain immortality I will have to kill you and your friend."
Barry started struggling to free himself. He managed to snap the branches off and started falling to the ground. But he didn't reach it. He found himself floating several feet off it.
"You are lucky I do not have full strength yet Flash..." Harm growled.
He flickered his free hand and an invisible force made Barry go flying back into the wall. His ribs sang with pain when he collided with the wooden fence on the far side of the yard. He groaned and tried to move but the force kept him pinned him to the fence.
"Oh come on...why do the evil Metahumans always get the cool powers," Cisco complained as the tree branches bounced him up and down, "Like telekinesis for example..."
Harm flickered a smirk at him," Oh this isn't a result from the Particle Accelerator explosion...but from magic."
"Called it..." Barry managed to choke out.
He watched helplessly as the man stalked towards Greta's grave and then started pacing back over to Iris. She looked at him definitely. Harm swung the sword back and Catlin screamed. What happened next shocked everyone.
The sword did not impale its intended target; Iris. Instead it was lodged in Greta's form. She had somehow materialized in front of Iris just before the sword had struck her and instead had the weapon hit her instead. Greta frowned at her brother but she did not appear to be hurt in any way.
"No...it can't be...it must be illusion..." Harm stammered.
He stumbled back away from the girl who slowly advanced towards him reaching out with a pale hand.
"G-g-g-get back!" he yelped.
He held the sword towards as if hoping to ward her off.
"Forget it...," Barry wheezed as the pressure on his chest started to weaken, "Your secret is out."
"Harm's not sorry..." Harm started to say as his sister continued to walk towards him, "I'm not!"
Greta passed through the blade and it emitted a low humming noise as she continued towards her brother. She reached her hand into his chest and yanked out the glowing ball out of his heart. Harm cried out in pain and fell to his knees shuttering. He looked up helplessly at his sister who had taken a step away from him; the glowing circle swirling above her hand.
"No!" he cried lunging for her.
But it was too late. Greta closed her hand the glowing circle dissipated. Four individual glowing circles shot up into the air and disappeared.
"The four souls..." Barry realized.
Harm struggled to pick the sword up from the ground. It started to glow and yanked itself free from his grasp. It floated several feet above the ground before disappearing with a loud explosion and a bright flash of light. The invisible pressure surrounding Barry disappeared and he tumbled to the ground. The tree branches released Cisco and he belly flopped to the ground with a yelp.
Catlin and Iris managed to yank their feet free from the tree roots.
"You ok?" Barry asked in a low voice to them.
"Fine...now don't you have someone else to take care of?" Iris smirked.
Barry nodded and turned to Harm who was seething. As he watched the man yanked out a small dagger; the one responsible for the murders. He raised it up and slashed at Greta. The blade passed harmless through her throwing off beams of light each time it passed through her. Disgusted Barry rushed at him and punched the man right in the jaw. Harm crumpled to the ground and the dagger spun out of his reach. As they watched he aged into a thirty year old man.
"Can someone explain to me what just happened?" Cisco asked.
No one could. Barry quickly used some of the flexible tree roots to tie the man up; since there was no rope. He stared down at the man who was responsible for all those deaths and sighed. He had caught the murderer but he also had found out ghosts existed. Not really the everyday situation he dealt with...
"Barry?" Catlin asked softly.
Glancing up he noticed Greta was walking back over to her shallow grave. Coming to a stop on top of it she bent her head down and looked right at Barry silently asking him for something. He walked up respectfully to where she was standing and gave her a small smile.
"I'll make sure you get a proper burial..." he promised.
For a moment Greta stared at him. Then a smile covered her face; the first one he had ever seen out of her.
"Secret..." she said.
And then she sunk down into the grave and vanished. The whole backyard was washed with a chill before it faded.
"I don't believe it...who could do that to their own sister?" Catlin asked in shock.
Barry slowly shook his head unable to answer. Police sirens in the distance started to grow louder.
"I don't know about you guys but we better get out of here..." Cisco chuckled nervously as he picked up the energy gun, "I think we kind of scared the crap out of everyone in the neighborhood after that sword exploded."
Barry chuckled and prepared to get his friends out of the creepy backyard. Then he heard Iris.
"Barry...you have got to see this."
He walked over to his friend who was standing at the end of the backyard by the wooden fence. She indicated a small hole in the rotten wood. Peering through it he saw a store across the street; its sign was a green fluorescent color: Antiques and Secrets.
The only word that glowed on the sign was one; Secret.
"Must have been the last thing she saw...before she died..." Iris said hoarsely.
Barry could only nod grimly. How awful. But it also explained why Greta could not say anything else.
He stood there for a couple of minutes before straightening up and saying, "Come on...lets get out of here."
The next day, Barry watched as the police exhumed Greta's body and covered it with a small white sheet. He felt numb inside and it took a couple of minutes to respond when Joe walked up to his side.
"So from I what I am hearing from our friends this girl's ghost told you about her murder?" Joe asked.
Barry nodded, "Yeah...I can't believe that her own brother did this to her."
His adoptive father could not say anything to that. He only patted Barry on the shoulder and walked off to talk to Singh. Patty who was busy scribbling notes down glanced up at him and gave him a small smile before turning back to her boss; their boss.
Barry looked at the ground and scuffled it with his feet. He was saddened by what had happened here twelve years ago. And seeing an actual ghost brought back memories of the night he failed to save his mom a second time. Before he could contemplate it anymore his phone rang. Answering it he found it was Cisco.
"Drug store robbery..." his friend said, "And I'm pretty sure its those two punks you stopped yesterday."
Barry flickered a small smile, "I'll be right there."
After glancing around he took off. As he ran down the street with buildings streaming past him he thought about his mom. And in a way...what he did was in honor of her.
And done...I hope you enjoyed this! Please R&R!