It was funny how, when startled greatly, thoughts weren't always the most logical. Cisco, for example, found himself suddenly grateful that both Barry and Caitlin were no longer in the Cortex to hear his undignified yelp as he dove to the floor to avoid being hit by the speeding projectile that definitely seemed intent on slamming into his head. Eyes wide and heart pounding, he got shakily to his feet once he heard the object crash into the wall behind him. He made his way slowly over and crouched down beside the now-broken – desk lamp?
"What the hell?" Cisco asked aloud to himself, standing up and swivelling his head to stare at the metal table, set against the wall opposite the desk with the computer monitors; sure enough, the lamp that had been sitting on it was no longer there, because holy shit, it had flown across the room at high speed and nearly crushed his skull. And there was absolutely no logical explanation he could think of as to why it had happened. It was as if it had been thrown, and there was no one in the room with him that could have done it.
"Caitlin!" he called out. He could hear the panic in his own voice, but couldn't bring himself to care now. "Caitlin, get in here!" Thankfully, the woman hadn't gone far. Nearly right after he had called her, he could hear her quick footsteps as she came back, appearing through the doorway only seconds later.
"What is it?" she asked, looking somewhat concerned.
"That's the problem," Cisco said, stepping back and pointing to the busted desk lamp on the floor. Caitlin gave him a puzzled look.
"You broke the lamp?" she asked, clearly not comprehending why he was so freaked out.
"No, the lamp tried to break me!" he said. "It freaking lifted itself off of the table and flew at me!"
At his urgent words, Caitlin's eyebrows shot up. "It…flew at you?"
"Yes!" Cisco practically shouted.
"Okay, just calm down," the doctor said gently, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder to try and placate him. Cisco did his best to listen, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to get his heartbeat back to normal.
"Cait, that thing almost killed me," he said seriously, his voice wary.
"Okay, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical -"
"Nah uh," Cisco cut her off, shaking his head insistently. "There was nothing logical about that."
Caitlin frowned, thinking carefully for a few moments before she spoke again. "Do you…do you think it could be a meta?" she asked slowly.
"You mean, like, in STAR Labs?" Cisco asked, and Cait nodded. Cisco frowned too now, considering her words. "...Barry did think he saw someone in the basement," he added, seeming wary. "He said it even felt like someone touched him."
"You didn't tell me he felt someone touch him," Caitlin said, crossing her arms, and Cisco gave her an apologetic look.
"I don't think he wanted me to. And anyways, I thought he was just being paranoid. I didn't see anyone. But now…" he trailed off, looking nervously around the room. "Cait, if it's a meta, it could still be in the room," he said, lowering his voice, and Caitlin suddenly looked much more concerned.
"Call Barry."
After Cisco's semi-frantic call to the speedster, without many details included, it only took him a few minutes to get break away from Iris and get back to STAR Labs. He came speeding into the Cortex, skidding to a stop in front of Caitlin and Cisco.
"Iris is not happy about me skipping out on the movie," he informed the two, but quickly switched tracks. "What happened?"
"We think there's a metahuman in the building," Cisco said quietly, eyes flicking side-to-side as if looking for said meta. Barry was immediately on alert, also scanning the room, but they appeared to be the only three there.
"Why would a meta want to break in here?" Barry questioned.
"I don't know, revenge? This place is the source of their powers, and the ones we've encountered so far don't seem too happy about that," Cisco pointed out. "But we need to find them and get them into the pipeline, ASAP."
"What makes you think there even is one in here?" Barry asked in turn, and Caitlin pointed towards the wall. The speedster looked over and spotted the broken desk lamp on the floor, raising an eyebrow.
"Cisco says it just lifted off the table and flew at him, like someone threw it," she explained. "Plus, you said you thought you saw someone in the basement," she added. "The two events could be related."
"So…we're potentially dealing with a metahuman who can turn invisible?" Barry asked, and Cisco and Cait nodded.
"Great, just what this Sunday needs," the speedster said sarcastically, and was in his Flash suit in seconds, cowl pulled up to hide his face. "So what's the plan?"
"Uh, yeah, we didn't exactly get that far," Cisco informed him.
"Seriously?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, and Cisco crossed his arms now.
"Okay, I don't see you coming up with anything." Barry sighed.
"Well what do you want me to do?" he asked. "I'm fast – I can't see invisible people."
Caitlin stepped in then, in an effort to try and break the building tension. "Okay, let's calm down and think about this rationally," she said, giving the two boys stern looks. "Whoever it is wouldn't want to move too far from the Cortex, if they attacked Cisco. Just – search the surrounding rooms, see if anything seems off or has any signs at all that anyone besides us has been in there," she said to Barry. "Cisco, check the surveillance cameras; I'll keep watch to make sure nothing else…flies at you." Both boys nodded, and Barry was off in a blur of red and yellow, Cisco immediately walking over to the monitors and sitting down. His fingers worked fast on the keyboard, opening the program for the security cameras with a determined expression on his face. Caitlin stood close by him, eyes constantly scanning the room to be sure nothing out of the ordinary was happening. The only metahuman activity she witnessed, however, was Barry speeding back into the room after a few minutes. There was a frown on his face.
"I didn't see anything weird," he said, reaching up to pull his cowl down. "Don't you think they'd want to do something, if there were someone here?" he asked. "If they went through the trouble of breaking in?"
"We already speculated that they're invisible, Barry," Cisco replied without looking up from the computer monitor he was looking at. "And they did do something. They tried to hit me with a freaking lamp." Barry opened his mouth to respond, but Cisco groaned frustratedly, stopping him. "But there's nothing on the cameras either. There should at least be footage of a door opening, or something."
"Maybe it's not a metahuman after all," Caitlin said gently. "We might have jumped to conclusions a little fast."
"What other way would that lamp have flown at me?" Cisco questioned. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe it got blown back by the force of Barry running out?" she asked slowly, thinking aloud. "The table where it was sitting on is by the doorway, and the draft that he creates when he takes off is pretty significant." Cisco frowned, not looking very convinced.
"I mean – it could have, I guess," he said, eyeing the lamp still on the floor skeptically. "But what about Barry's thing, in the basement?"
Caitlin shrugged. "Barry's been pushing himself a lot, what with insisting on fighting metas as well as crime," she said with a pointed look at the speedster, who rubbed his neck and gave her a sheepish smile. "In all honesty, that could be chalked up to tiredness. Or paranoia. No one likes dark basements."
Cisco sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I guess that makes sense," he agreed reluctantly, and Caitlin nodded, looking back to Barry.
"Sorry to take you away from Iris, Barry. But thanks for coming. You're free to go back."
Barry smiled happily. "I will," he said, quickly speed-changing out of his suit and back into his regular clothes. He paused when he was done, looking at his two friends. "But if anymore, ah, objects go flying, don't hesitate to call me," he added before speeding back out of the Cortex, leaving Caitlin and Cisco alone once again. The doctor looked back over to Cisco, whose attention was focused back on the broken lamp.
"You okay?" she asked sympathetically, and he nodded, looking back over to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Just shaken up, I guess."
"Of course," Caitlin said with understanding, giving him a soft, comforting smile. "Listen, why don't you go home and get some rest? We don't really have anything important to do, since we're not having Barry train today. Take a break. I'll take care of the lamp, don't worry about it." Cisco raise an eyebrow.
"You sure?" he asked, and she nodded again.
"Positive," she assured him. "Go on, go home." Cisco gave her an appreciative smile.
"Thanks, Cait," he said, and wasted no time in leaving the Cortex; after both the power outage and the lamp incident, Caitlin didn't blame him the least bit. Once he was gone, she walked over to the opposite side of the room to grab the trash bin before walking back to the lamp, kneeling down on the floor to start scooping up the pieces. She only paused when she felt a sudden sharp pain on the side of her neck, dropping the pieces back onto the floor with an exclamation of discomfort.
She clapped a hand to the now-tender spot with a frown, rubbing it gingerly, and stood then, the lamp forgotten as she made her way quickly to the closest bathroom. Upon reaching it, she brushed her hair to one side and turned her head slightly, glancing into the mirror. At first, the skin looked completely undisturbed. But as she took a closer look, she could see that there were three angry red marks starting to form, starting right under her ear and stretching midway down her neck. She felt her heart rate pick up, her mind racing.
Were those – were those scratches? Though it wouldn't do her any good, she internally started to panic. Oh God, was there actually a meta in STAR Labs? She had just sent both Barry and Cisco away, and now she was alone, and what if –
She sucked in a breath, trying to calm herself down. No. If someone had gotten close enough to scratch her, she would have…she would have felt it. No one could have gotten so close without their breath on her neck, or brushing against her shoulder or –
She took another deep breath, her heart rate beginning to slow back down. But if it wasn't a meta, then what had made the marks?
She frowned, looking at them intently again and running her fingers gently over them. The doctor winced at the contact. There was no blood, which meant at least the skin hadn't been pierced, but they were definitely welted, and they hurt like hell. For a moment, she almost considered calling either Barry or Cisco back. But for what? She was the doctor, not them; they wouldn't be able to do anything for the injury, and she wasn't going to force Barry to search the place again. Not to mention that he was with Iris, and Cisco definitely deserved some relaxation after the day he had had. Caitlin sighed, walking out of the bathroom and into the med bay, where she quickly found a bottle of spray-on disinfectant and some gauze. She used the disinfectant on the scratches just to be on the safe side, hissing at the stinging it initiated atop of the pain that was already there. Then she taped the gauze on over the marks and got the hell out of there, the broken lamp forgotten.
Whatever was going on in STAR Labs, she did not want to deal with it alone.
