Disclaimer: I own nothing Flash related except for this story and my OC(s) :)

Ch. 6

"I mean, what is the big deal with Star Wars?" Punch.

"Star Trek is a much more intelligent series filled with adventure and actual science." Another punch.

"Why would I wanna watch some guys play with some glow sticks when I could deduce logic with Spock?" I huffed as I blocked another mechanical dummy from striking me. I heard Cisco gasp as I saw Barry zoom next to the engineer in his training clothes, the pair staring at me incredulously.

"Oh no, you did not just diss Star Wars!" Cisco yelled into the microphone, pointing at me as if I had just crushed his dreams with my bare hands. "You dare insult only the greatest sci-fi franchise in history?"

I paused in my movements, my body slick with sweat, exposed torso and shoulders shiny. My sports bra and workout capris were practically soaked. My baby red hairs clung to my forehead and my ponytail was practically dripping. I placed my hands on my waist and cocked my hip out, smirking. "What are you talking about Cisco? I didn't insult Star Trek one bit."

I could sense another robot sneaking my way from behind, and my body sprung into action. I thrust my elbow backwards, hitting the electronic dummy in it's side. Turning swiftly, I made a high fan kick and brought my foot down on it's head, pushing the dummy forcefully to the ground. There was a moment of silence.

Looking back up at the window to the main room, I saw sixteen eyes staring at me. Some were in awe, but one of the four pair was in… understanding? Wisdom? I couldn't tell exactly what it was that the good doctor saw in me in that moment. If only I knew what was going to become of him.

All of the robots lifted off of the ground and made a single line, rolling into a hidden room with no door. As the part of the wall sealed itself, I walked over and grabbed myself a water bottle. I drank greedily as I exited my training room.

Cisco was still going on his rampage, "As badass as that last takedown was, Star Wars is a cultural icon! It's been around for practically forever and changed so many lives! You can't just diss Yoda or the light side like that. The movies were amazing and you can't forget the cartoons!"

"Ah ah, Star Trek has been around longer. And there's an actual science to it, so there may be a Starfleet someday. You can't really say the same thing about Star Wars, now can you?" I continued to tease Cisco, smile plastered on my face at our friendly banter.

"Regardless of which franchise is better, I am proud to say that you are improving very much Miss Steele. Same goes for you Mr. Allen. You've both managed to impress me more and more every week." Dr. Wells rolled over to Cisco and I, Barry trailing behind the man. My best friend and I locked eyes and beamed at each other at the praise.

Barry took a glimpse at the watch on his wrist, eyes widening as he started to rush around. "Hey, aren't we supposed to meet Iris at 7?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked, head tilted in slight confusion. My best friend paused in his zooming around the room to look at me and gesture to my body.

"It's 6:45. We gotta go, like now." I rolled my eyes at Barry's frantic tone.

"Relax, Barry. Super speed, remember? I'll go shower and get dressed, you wait here since you're already ready, okay?" I smiled calmly at the speedster before walking towards the showers.

"Regular movie scale, that was an 8. Zombie movie scale, it was like a 4. Tops." Barry spoke to Iris and I pointedly as we were leaving the theater. We strolled along the sidewalk casually.

I scoffed, "No way, it was at least a 6 on the zombie movie scale." My hands rested in the pocket of my jacket as my boots stepped silently along the path.

Iris raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, "There's a zombie movie scale?"

"Oh yeah. Movies like Zombieland and Dawn of the Dead rank up at the top, while monstrosities like World War Z are at the bottom. Factors like gore level, empathy for the main characters, weapons versatility, and zombie kill count are a big factor in determining where a movie goes on the scale." Barry and Iris gaped at me as I smiled sweetly, eyes crinkling, and walked forward. "It's practically a science."

"Uh… speaking of science, did you know that there are zombies that exist in nature?" Barry started excitedly as we all started walking at the same pace again. "There's this species of fungi that infects ants, causing the ants to attack plants that can release spores, which in turn effect new hosts— I'm going full nerd again, aren't I?"

Iris and I locked eyes briefly, before turning back to Barry and replying in unison. "Yep."

"But don't worry, it's adorable." I cooed fondly, crinkling my nose as Barry rolled his eyes playfully at me.

"Anyways, I am more amazed in the interesting as of late…" I sighed silently as Iris changed the topic to her newest obsession, the Streak.

"Because of the Streak thing?" Barry questioned, though he already knew the answer.

"He's out there. People are talking about him." Iris said firmly, popping a few more popcorn kernels into her mouth and chewing.

"How do you know he's a he? Maybe it's a she?" The brunette looked to me for help, but when all I gave was an unbelieving glance, she huffed and continued to make her case.

"It's a man, okay? You know I'm really kind of intuitive about this stuff. Plus, people are even saying that the Streak has a masked partner with powers too. Someone even posted a picture after being pulled from a car accident. It's a red and blue blur leaving the scene." Iris pulled out her phone, moving the screen in our direction "Here, what do you see?"

Eddie's face popped up, and Barry unhappily relayed the information to her. While Iris went to answer the call, I turned to Barry. "You know, you could make it a little less obvious that you don't want Iris and Eddie to be together." Barry of course gaped and tried to deny it, but I wasn't having it. "Look, I know that you love her, and I know that seeing her with him is hard for you. Just know that she would be crushed if she knew that you didn't fully support her relationship with Eddie."

Barry looked up from his tennis shoes and smiled sadly, green eyes locking onto mine, "I promise you, I'm working on it." I took my hands out of my pockets and rested my hands gently on his upper arms.

"Just remember, I'm here for you, okay? Always." I gave a small, shy smile as Barry gave me a timid nod. Our private little moment was shattered by the shrill sound of Barry's phone ringing. He quickly jumped to answer it, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" A beat of silence, then "Public indecency?"

Another beat. "Dog leash violation?"

Barry looked to Iris, then to me. I nodded, shooing Barry away with my hands. "I'll cover for you if Iris comes back before you do. Go on." I smiled once more at Barry before he raced off in a flash.

I heard distant police sirens as I stood all by my lonesome while Iris was still on the phone. Seconds later, Iris hung up the phone and my heart rate spiked for a second because Barry wasn't back yet. I calmed myself down because I had a backup plan. But suddenly, as soon as she turned around, I felt a gust of wind on my back, my red hair flying everywhere.

"Eddie says hi. What happened to your hair?" Iris questioned.

I huffed, blowing a few wayward strands out of my face, then used my hands to smooth back my curly mane. My eyes narrowed at Barry's look of innocence plastered on his face as I answered, "Sudden gust of wind."

"I didn't feel anything. Huh." Iris shrugged it off nonchalantly.

"I'm feeling kind of hungry, you guys wanna grab a bite?" Barry suggested.

Iris only looked half surprised, "After the Mongolian barbecue we had before the movie, and the extra-large popcorn you had at the movie? How are you not fat?"

"I've been… jogging." I snorted at Barry's play on words, revealing yet hiding his little secret. Both of my best friends looked at me confused, before I realized that they were wondering why I had made that sound.

"Oh! Nothing, I just remembered a funny line from the movie we just watched. Heh, what are we doing just standing here? Let's go get some burgers or something." My face started to turn red as I marched forward, trying to ease my sudden and unexpected awkward state.

The next day at work, I was just on my way back to my office from dropping some photo analyses off a Singh's desk, when I heard Paulson brag to his buddies about a perp that he supposedly caught yesterday.

"We cut him off at 8th. I mean, the perp was in the backseat before he even knew what happened." He held his arms out as if he owned the world, and my blood started to boil at the sight of him taking credit for Barry's hard work.

Joe walked up to the liar and shook his hand, saying "Congrats, Paulson, on that arrest last night. Hell of a job."

"You know, Paulson, I've been told before that my bullshit meter's pretty accurate." I narrowed my eyes at the officer. "I kind of have this running streak going." I continued with a sarcastic smile, but stopped short when Barry put a hand on my arm and shook his head to the smallest degree. I exhaled roughly before glaring again at Paulson.

He averted his eyes from my glare and continued to showboat, "Come by later, Joe. I'll give you a driving lesson, okay?"

I growled in anger as Barry explained to Joe that it was him who stopped the perp, not Paulson. We all started walking up the stairs to our offices.

"I figured. I just didn't realize that you were helping people out for the glory."

"It's not like I want a museum built to my name. Keeping what Kate and I can do from Iris and everyone, it's harder than I thought." Barry's answer had a thick layer of guilt surrounding it.

"Well, we knew this wasn't gonna be easy Barry. That's what we signed up for." I pitched in an answer, hoping to placate my best friend's guilt and worry for the time being.

"Plus, it's safer that way." Joe added in with a nod. We had reached our separation point by then, so I waved goodbye, stepped into my office and threw myself into my work.

After looking through about 200 different photos and organizing them by case, body part, and priority, I was interrupted by a knock on my door.

"Come in." I answered in a neutral tone, still focused on a photo of a ligature mark at the base of a victim's neck.

"Hey, we've got multiple homicides. It's the Darbinyan crime family. We need you on the scene in 20." Eddie's voice and message registered to me, I snapped my head up to look at the man. Nodding, I gathered my usual gear, put on my CSI jacket and followed Eddie out into the hallway. Meeting Barry and Joe at the top of the staircase, the four of us traveled down and out of the station together.

As I took pictures of the victims' bodies, I overheard parts of Joe and Barry's conversation. The words "gas poisoning" and "metahuman" drifted my way, as I crouched down to snap another photo.

Click. Another set of dead eyes were now on my camera's hard drive. I'd been doing this job for a few years now, and I've seen plenty, but I'll never get over looking into the cold, dead eyes of a criminal's latest victim.

When I first got the job, despite gore and horror coming with the job description, I used to have nightmares. Nightmares that included me standing on top of a large pile of corpses, their wide eyes following me everywhere. Piercing me with their stares. I usually wake up when one of them drags me into the middle of the pile, gasping for breath and in a cold sweat, shaking and terrified. But as I usually do, I left my drama at home and put on an indifferent mask at work. The images visit my dreams on occasion now, not a frequently as they used to. I've not told a soul about my night terrors.

Because we've all got jobs to do.

And I couldn't afford to not do this one.

"Kate. Hey, Kate. You there?" I snapped back into reality as I looked over at Joe and Barry. Their faces had buckets of concern splashed all over it, so I tried to appease them by acting as if I hadn't just been thinking about the morbid pictures that haunt my dreams. So I plastered on a smile and carried on.

"Looks like we've got another special friend on our hands, don't we Bear?" I got up from my crouch and walked over to the pair, camera in hand. "So far, these photos don't really show that they put up much of a fight. What do you think?"

"I think we're gonna need some backup on this." Joe pointed his pen between the three of us, and Barry and I nodded in agreement.

"You guys go ahead, I need to drop off these at the station first." I motioned to my camera and lens pack. Both men nodded as I exited the restaurant, going under the police tape and catching a cab back to the CCPD station.

"—is it physiological or psychological?"

"This individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances."

"You mean connect with gases on a molecular level? That is ridiculously cool."

I heard the voices of excitement explain enthusiastically as I walked down a hallway and into the cortex of STAR Labs.

"You got them excited about this new metahuman we're dealing with, didn't you?" I droned to Barry and crossed my arms, but my face conveyed that I was just teasing him. He smiled widely at me before turning to Joe to explain.

"They get really excited about this kind of stuff."

"The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars. Except Iron Heights isn't exactly equipped to deal with these… metahumans." Joe stated in a serious tone.

Dr. Wells was quick to retaliate, "Well, I guess it's lucky that the ones that you've encountered so far are no longer with us." Behind him, I could see Cisco's eyes drift down a fraction. Whether it was in respect or condolences, I'll never know.

I ought to get better at this whole "eye reading" thing, right?

Meanwhile, Joe was trying to find a solution to our current dilemma. "Unless we're planning on executing every super-criminal we stop… you geniuses are gonna have to come up with a way to contain them."

Cisco's eyes gleamed in delight, "A metahuman prison. Sweet." I could practically see the gears turning in his head, already coming up with a million new ideas.

"Until we can figure out a way to remove their powers."

"There is one place here that could hold them." Dr. Wells and Caitlin's heads swiveled towards Cisco's direction, almost in sync.

A moment of silence, then Caitlin pushed on her disagreement. "You can't be serious. We haven't been down there since—" She stuttered for a moment, before protesting again. "It's cordoned off!"

But Dr. Wells seemed to agree with the former. "Cisco is right. It could be modified to work as a makeshift prison."

"What could?" Barry and I spoke in unison, before we looked at each other, startled.

"That's not creepy at all…" Cisco muttered just before Wells answered our question

"The particle accelerator."

I could practically hear the small gasp that came from Caitlin, as Wells' words made her ideas a reality. I now understood why she was so insistent on not working down there. Because it was where she lost her fiancé, Ronnie. I could see her eyes cloud over as Dr. Wells announced that we were all going down to the particle accelerator ring. It took a couple of tries, but she eventually pulled out of it.

"Dr. Snow? We're going down to the particle accelerator ring now." Dr. Wells started to wheel back from under the table and out of the room.

Barry cut in, "Actually, Dr. Wells, I could use Caitlin's help identifying the poison gas." I could see her shoulders slump in relief as she realized that she wouldn't have to go down to the place which I imagined haunts her as much as my nightmares haunt me. "If that's okay with you?"

Dr. Wells nodded and motion for me to follow he and Cisco, which I did. But before I left the room, I squeezed Barry's arm affectionately and he looked down at me, telling him with my eyes that I really appreciate what he'd done for Caitlin. My best friend was the sweetest person and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

I nodded to Caitlin as I left the room, following Dr. Wells and Cisco to the particle accelerator ring. I could feel the tensions rising as the three of us ventured down deeper into the halls of STAR Labs. We reached a particular hallway and both scientists paused for a moment, then turned and walked down the ramp leading to a door. I, of course, just followed them.

Cisco stepped over to a touchpad and slowly started entering in a keycode and eventually pressed a circle shaped button for a few seconds. The three of us watched as the doors of the accelerator ring finally opened with a dramatic electric hum.

Wells seemed to unlock first, "The copper in the tube is arranged to form cavities and we can use those cavities…" He wheeled forward under the hull and Cisco and I followed silently. "…as containment cells."

The air was dead silent for a moment as I looked down the gigantic walls of the failed particle accelerator. It had the feeling of a ghost town, and I could sense the loss and disappointment that echoes through this ring. Wells seemed a little more sullen as he continued his explanation.

"Of course, I'll have to design the cells to counteract metahuman abilities… but it might just work." His deep voice echoed throughout the huge space we stood in, and I got chills from the scale of it all. Suddenly, Wells' head popped up, as if he had a bright idea. He further explained, "But first, we have to decouple the injection system on the gantry level. I'll be right back." Then he suddenly backed up and wheeled out of the tube.

"Why don't I do that?" Cisco suddenly insisted, bringing a halt to his unusually quiet demeanor for the moment. Wells declined Cisco's offer, saying that he "needed the exercise" and exited. I could practically feel how uncomfortable Cisco was, so I tried to loosen up the moment with a joke, hoping to get some witty banter out of the engineer.

"If only I could understand what Wells was talking about, I might actually be of some help. This isn't really my field of specialty heh…" But of course my joke fell flat (like always) and I started to frown once I saw the faraway look in Cisco's eyes. It was the same cloudy expression that Caitlin had up in the cortex.

"Cisco, hey. Cisco! What's wrong?" I put a hand on Cisco's shoulder and shook him just the tinniest bit. The cloudy look on his face went away gradually, but the sullen expressions stayed. "Are you okay?"

"This is where is happened. This is where I killed Ronnie." I gasped in shock at first, but then I collected myself because there had to be an explanation.

"What happened Cisco, what do you mean you 'killed Ronnie'?"

Cisco took a shaky breath before explaining to me what exactly happened, "It was the night of the particle accelerator explosion. We were all celebrating the success that we'd all worked so hard on, when in an instant everything was going wrong. Ronnie and I came down here to fix the core, but Ronnie insisted that he go inside to fix it himself because… well… he built the thing." Cisco chuckled humorously as a stray tear fell down his face. "He told me to lock the doors behind him after two minutes. And I did. We never saw him again. And it's my fault."

"It sounds to me like you were just following orders. Ronnie knew what he was doing, and he was willing to sacrifice his life to save yours and everyone else's. Cisco, it's not your f—" I tried to tell Cisco placatingly, but before I could finish, Dr. Wells interrupted us. We started walking back up to meet the Doctor, when he started talking to Cisco.

"It must be hard for you, coming back down here." While I had kept walking, I looked back to see that Cisco had paused. Right in front of Dr. Wells. "A lot happened that night. If you feel the need to talk, I—" But Cisco interrupted him.

"I was just thinking…" Cisco had the look on his face that I had spent years perfecting. The I'm fine, I promise there's nothing wrong with me face. I knew one when I saw it. "… We need to nail those voltage calculations. One fault and the helium blowback could damage the mountings." Cisco continued past Dr. Wells and I as he basically ran out of the door, into the hallways, and back up into the cortex.

"Smart." Dr. Wells agreed as he stayed facing his greatest failure. I of course, just stood there, as I didn't really have a place down there.

"Yeah, I'm just… I'm gonna go. See you tomorrow, Dr. Wells!" I awkwardly said as I slowly exited out of the ring entrance and out of STAR Labs.

I needed a new pair of boots, since mine were about ready to fall apart at the seams. So I decided to go to the mall and scavenge a few stores to find the right pair.

When I finally found a great pair for a reasonable price at Central City Shoes (cliche name, I know, right?). I walked onto the elevator and waited as it traveled onto the second floor. A woman in a suit stepped on and smiled politely at me. I returned the smile as I pressed the close door button. When suddenly, a gloved hand stopped in between the doors and pried them open. A bald man stepped inside and got into the woman's face with a scary smile.

"Judge Howard? It's nice to see you again." He stated with a smirk. I looked at the woman's face which suddenly had a look of horror and disbelief plastered all over it as she said just two words.

"You died."

The man tilted his head creepily, "You say that like it was an accident." Then his head turned to face me, and I backed up as he looked me in the eye. "You wanna know what the last thing she said to me in the courtroom?"

I shook my head quickly, "Not really, no."

He turned his head back to face the Judge and leaned in as he said, "'May God have mercy on your soul.'" I saw him step forward, and I sprung into action.

Kicking the man in the side, I pressed the down button hoping to get us off of the elevator. He stood back up and I punched him, but he stood his ground as I stumbled through him. As soon as he turned back into human form, he backhanded me. I hit the nearest glass wall before turning to face the madman.

"You know, what's one more casualty? I'm still getting what I want." He soon started to evaporate and turn green. My eyes widened as I felt the familiar tingling sensation behind my eyes, but I was soon distracted from that as I started choking. My eyes watered and I put a hand to my throat as my lungs screamed for air. Just as I was seeing black spots in my vision, the metahuman's face stopped right in front of me. I was leaning up against the glass doors of the elevator, trying to get away from him, when he smiled at me.

"Just for today, I'm gonna keep you alive. But only to deliver a message: I'm coming for them."

I managed to get enough oxygen in my lungs to ask, "Who's… 'them'?"

"Everyone responsible." He smiled deviantly and pushed past my face as I started to choke once again. As the glass doors opened and I collapsed to the ground, struggling to crawl away from the box that was almost the cause of my death, I saw a fraction of a crimson blur before unconsciousness finally…ironically… had mercy on me and took me under.

A/N: How'd you guys like my little Walking Dead tribute (if you can find it)? Just a teensy little insert, because I miss the show so much at the moment. I'm ready for season 7 already! I think that TWD is the reason why I'm not afraid to really beat up my OCs. It's a bad influence for me, but it makes for a better story, right?

Anyways, sorry I took so long to update, I've had finals and many a things to cause an existential crisis. Like a real crisis, mental breakdown and all. I'll be really honest, life hasn't been all that gracious to me lately and I'm at that point where I'm questioning everything I'm doing, everything I am, and everything I'm going to do. Luckily, writing this story has been sort of an escape from my currently crappy reality.

Thanks to all of you who favorite/follow/review. You all keep me going and inspire me to make my writing better. Thank you.

Please review, I love to hear feedback from my readers (whether it be positive or negative). See you next update :)