Chapter Two
A/N: Thank you guys for all of the reviews! I'm amazed!
Also, thanks to Kimando714 for pointing out that I misspelled Caitlin's name. It should be fixed now. I apologize for that.
Kiacico: I titled the story "Aubergine" because I described the mad scientist having an eggplant-like gun. I had written that part of the story and then later that day, my sister was trying to find a purple cover for her laptop. We had difficulty finding the color purple because instead of being called "purple" it was called "aubergine." We looked up what the meaning for aubergine was and discovered it meant eggplant. I thought it was hilarious that I had referred to an eggplant in my story and then I encountered that word again later that day. Sorry, that was a long explanation and extremely random.
Snart rushed into S.T.A.R. Labs and almost missed the doorway leading into the central room. He still didn't control his speed as well as the Flash.
Cisco jumped from his spot behind the computers, "Barry?"
"What's going on?! Where's Barry?!" Snart demanded.
Cisco blinked, "Uh, Barry, are you okay?"
"He hasn't come yet, has he?"
"Who? Barry, you're not making any sense."
Caitlin walked into the room staring at a clipboard, "Hey, Cisco, I need you to run an analysis on – " she nearly dropped her clipboard when she saw Snart. "Barry? What are you doing here? You need to be at work! Today's the big day!"
"The big day?"
"Uh, yeah," Cisco said. "The committee is coming in to evaluate the status of the police department. You better hurry if you're gonna make it on time."
"What if I miss it?"
Caitlin and Cisco stared at each other in disbelief.
"Barry," Caitlin said. "You've been preparing for this day for over a month! There's no way you can miss it."
Snart hesitated and looked between Cisco and Caitlin thoughtfully. He knew he could completely destroy Barry's life if he wanted to. He could also steal so much with Barry's incredible speed…
"Well, go!" Cisco said urgently.
"Uh, yeah. See you later," he said and raced out of S.T.A.R. Labs.
"That was…odd," Caitlin noted.
"Very," Cisco agreed.
O
Snart sighed as he stared at the Central City Police Station. He didn't know why he was here. He could be stealing so much stuff. He began to really rethink his choice of coming here when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted.
"Barry!" someone called.
Snart turned to see Joe West's daughter quickly walking towards him.
"You're almost late! Where did you go?" she asked with concern straining her voice.
"I guess I'm just nervous."
She sighed, "I get that. Your collar is messed up," she reached to fix it, but Snart pulled away and fixed it himself. Iris looked at Snart with pain in her eyes, "Well, you better get going. You might be late."
Snart ignored the sharpness to her voice and nodded. He quickly walked into the police station.
"Barry!" another person called.
Did the suffering have no end? How many people did Barry know?
Detective West walked up to Snart, "You need to get up there! The committee is almost finished talking to the chief! What have you been doing?!"
Snart gazed into the chief's office to see the committee shaking his hand. He looked back at Detective West unsure of where to go.
The detective flicked his eyes to the stairs, "Hurry!"
Snart immediately rushed up the stairs into Barry's forensic office.
O
"Guys!" Barry breathlessly called as he rushed into the central room of S.T.A.R. Labs.
Caitlin squeaked in surprise and Cisco spun around and stood up in a defensive position, "Whoa there, Captain Cold!"
"I'm not Captain Cold!"
"Okay, then, Leonard Snart," Cisco said bitterly.
"I'm not Leonard Snart!" Barry said exasperatedly.
"Uh, what?" Cisco asked, clearly puzzled.
"Guys," Barry said looking back and forth between Caitlin and Cisco. "It's me, Barry."
Cisco looked at Barry apprehensively, "Barry Allan?"
"Yes!"
Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a skeptical look.
"I can prove it!" Barry said desperately.
"I'm listening," Caitlin said impatiently.
"You guys remember when I was fighting that crazy scientist last night?"
"You mean when Barry was fighting the crazy scientist last night," Cisco corrected.
"Cisco," Caitlin said. "That's not helping."
"Well," Barry continued. "Snart was there when I was fighting the mad scientist. I think he was trying to steal the stolen Mercury Lab blueprints or something. I think both Snart and I were affected by the consciousness ray-gun. I think we switched bodies."
"So, you're saying that the Flash and Captain Cold have switched bodies?" Cisco asked. "And you're the Flash?"
"Exactly!"
"You know," Caitlin said thoughtfully. "That might just be possible."
"Prove it," Cisco demanded. "Prove you're Barry Allen," he said to Barry.
"Well, uh, what do you want to know?"
"What flavor slurpy was I drinking yesterday for lunch?"
"Oh! I remember this! You had grape and Caitlin cherry. You guys were arguing over if cherry and grape would be a good slurpy flavor combination. Caitlin said they wouldn't because they'd make a gross color, but you said they would because it's about the flavor and not about the color."
"It is you, Barry," Cisco finally admitted.
"And we just sent Snart off to talk the committee," Caitlin said horrified.
"You did what?!"
"Well," Caitlin explained. "We thought he was you and so…"
"We have to stop him!" Cisco exclaimed.
O
"That was an impressive presentation, Mr. Allan," the head of the committee said to Snart. The only reason Snart even knew what most of the equipment was because he had studied how the police department worked, so he could avoid getting caught. He never thought it would come in handy for any other reason.
"We just have one final question," another member said.
"What drives you to serve this city?" another finished.
"Well, honestly, it's just my need for justice," Snart said, attempting an optimistic smile. "I just love serving other people and seeing the right thing done. Those criminals need to be locked up," he said with fake cheer. He looked at the committee.
They looked unamused.
He continued, "I like to look out for people and even put my life in danger sometimes, it makes no sense. I don't why someone would do that, but I do it anyway!"
An awkward silence filled the room.
"Hmmm," the head of the committee finally said. "That was…interesting." He wrote something down on the clipboard he was holding, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Allan."
"It was my pleasure!" he said enthusiastically shaking their hands. A few of the members exchanged a glance. Maybe he had taken Barry's positivity a little too far.
O
Cisco speedily pulled up to the Central City Police Station and hastily parked the S.T.A.R. Labs van. Barry began to get out of the car.
"Barry, wait!" he said.
Barry looked at Cisco puzzled.
"You probably shouldn't go in there," Cisco said.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"It's okay, Barry," Caitlin reassured. She and Cisco quickly got out of the car.
"Do you think you can reverse what happened to them?" Cisco asked her as they quickly walked towards the police station.
"Honestly, I'm not sure."
Cisco gave her an understanding look and opened the door and raced towards Joe, "Detective West!"
"Cisco? Caitlin?" Joe asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I don't have time to explain," Cisco said. "Where's Barry?"
"He's talking with the committee."
Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a horrified look.
"Is something wrong?" the detective asked.
"Something's very wrong," Cisco confirmed.
Joe, Caitlin, and Cisco ran towards the stairs, but they saw the committee coming down and stopped.
"We were too late," Cisco muttered hopelessly.
"Detective West," the head of the committee addressed Joe upon reaching the trio.
"Yes, sir?"
"I heard you practically raised Barry Allan. Is that correct?"
Caitlin and Cisco exchanged another terrified expression.
"Yes, it is, sir," the detective answered.
"You did a fine job," the man said and patted Joe on the back.
"Uh, what?" Cisco said in pure shock.
The head of the committee turned to Cisco, "Barry Allan knows what he's talking about. His presentation was excellent. The ending was a bit strange, but otherwise he did very well."
"Uh, thank you, sir," the detective said.
The man just nodded, and he and the rest of the committee walked towards another wing of the police station.
"Alright," Joe said turning to Cisco and Caitlin. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"
"Uh, well, sir," Cisco began.
"Barry and Leonard Snart switched bodies," Caitlin said frankly.
"What?!"
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out," Snart said, coolly walking down the stairs.
Snart walked past the group and towards the doors but paused when he noticed the others weren't following him.
"What's the hold up?" he said impatiently turning around.
"You gave a good presentation…" Cisco said, not really understanding what he was saying himself.
Snart shrugged, "I know my stuff. Helps me not to get caught. Now, can we go?"
"Uh, yes," Cisco looked at Joe in surprise.
Joe's face mirrored his, but he nodded to Cisco.
"I mean, yeah," Cisco said with more purpose.
"Then let's go," Snart said.
Cisco led Snart and Caitlin out of the police station and back to the S.T.A.R. Labs van he had messily parked outside. Cisco got into the driver's seat and Caitlin got into the passenger's. Snart opened the van and sat down next to Barry.
"Hello, Barry," he said.
"Snart," Barry nodded in return.