It wasn't until Friday that Cisco was finally able to get together with his contact, and by the time the meeting rolled around, Team Flash was relieved. Though there still hadn't been 100% agreement that it was, in fact, ghosts causing the mysterious happenings in STAR Labs, they were all ready to figure it out, desperate to get things back to normal around the complex. Just in the three days between Cisco announcing his theory and his meeting with his contact, Caitlin had been harshly knocked out of her desk chair, Cisco had gotten scratched, and there had been an unfortunate incident where Barry had gotten briefly knocked out from a heavy door suddenly flinging open. Though, Cisco had said that he deserved it for laughing when he got rat traps stuck on his fingers. It was around noon when the engineer made it to STAR Labs, lugging several bags into the Cortex. Caitlin was sitting with Barry, who had made the trip over on his lunch break.

"Whoa, that's a lot of bags," Barry observed, quickly moving to help his friend as he spotted him walking in. All of them were quickly set down, and Caitlin raised an eyebrow.

"Is all that stuff for the lockdown?" She asked. Cisco nodded.

"All of it," he confirmed as Barry started to rifle through the bags.

"What is all of it?" the speedster asked curiously.

"Well, there's an EMF detector, EVP recorders, a night vision camera, a thermal camera, extra batteries…" Cisco trailed off. "And probably more than that. But that's the basic stuff, which is really all we need."

"Do you know how any of it works?" Caitlin questioned as she watched the boys start to sort through the bags.

"For the most part," Cisco said. "James – the guy I met with – he gave me a run-down on how to use it all. It's not too hard, really. I'll show you guys before tonight."

"So we are doing it tonight, then?" Caitlin asked, and Barry looked to her.

"Do you really want to wait any longer than we already have?" he asked seriously, and the doctor shook her head with a sigh. Things were getting far too intense for her liking, and whatever was happening, she wanted it to stop; they all did.

"What are you going to tell Joe and Iris?" Cisco asked Barry after they had finished emptying all of the bags. Barry's face scrunched up.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I guess I'll just say I'm staying at your place or something. Joe doesn't believe in ghosts, but I still don't think he'd be happy with us doing this. Iris doesn't know I've been working here at all, but she knows I've been spending time with you guys. I don't think she'll think it's weird if I say I'm staying with you."

Cisco shrugged. "Whatever works, man," he said, and Barry nodded, glancing at the watch on his wrist.

"I have to get back to work," he said, but gave his two friends a pointed look first. "If anything happens," he started, "Call me. Otherwise, I'm out at 6:00 tonight and I'll come right here after."

Caitlin nodded, smiling softly at the speedster. "We'll call you if anything happens. Now go before you're late," she chided, and Barry smiled back at her, taking a cautionary look around the room before flashing out.

"I still can't believe we're doing this," Caitlin said with a sigh after he had gone, running a hand through her hair, and Cisco gave her a sympathetic look.

"Look at it this way," he said. "It's just one night, and then we can get back to normal. Or as normal as we were before at least, dealing with evil metahumans." Caitlin laughed softly.

"At least we're slightly more equipped to handle metas," she said. "Let's just hope tonight goes well." Cisco gave her a small smile.

"Hey, we're prepared and have a speedster on our side. What could go wrong?"


Barry for once in his life found himself on time as he raced from the precinct and over to STAR Labs practically as soon as his shift had ended, hastily giving Joe his excuse of staying over at Cisco's apartment before bolting. He flashed himself into the Cortex, startling both Caitlin and Cisco with his sudden entrance.

"Ah, Barry. Right on time," Cisco said, recovering quickly. The engineer had a small handheld camera in one hand, and motioned for Barry to come closer. "Ready to learn how all this marvelous equipment works?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows playfully. Barry snorted.

"Yeah, let's hear it," the speedster said, coming to a stop beside his two friends.

"Okay, so this little number is a night vision camera. Pretty simple. This button," he said, pointing, "Turns it on. And this one is for recording. It allows you to see where you're going better in the dark and records better in the dark, which will come in handy when we turn the lights off."

"Wait, why are we turning the lights off?" Caitlin interjected.

"Come on, Cait, how many ghost hunters have you heard of who investigate with the lights on? It's science, or something."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow. "I don't know of any ghost hunters period, Cisco, because before last week I didn't care about ghosts. And I really don't think it's a good idea to go running around this place in the dark."

"Well, that's why we have the night vision camera and flashlights," Cisco replied. "Also the thermal, which I'll show you in a minute. We'll be fine!" Caitlin eyed him skeptically but kept her mouth shut, and he continued. "Anyways, this one's a recorder," he said, putting the camera down and picking up a smaller object. "It's even easier to work. One button starts and stops recording, and it supposedly captures spirit voices. There's only one night vision camera, but I have one of these babies for each of us."

"And what's that one?" Barry asked, pointing.

"Ah, I'm getting there," Cisco replied, picking up the device Barry had pointed out. "This one's an EMF detector. When you turn this on, it'll be able to detect higher electromagnetic field readings in any given area. Supposedly spirits affect that kind of thing, so it's supposed to alarm if one is nearby."

Barry gave a brief nod of understanding.

"And lastly," Cisco pushed on, putting down the recorder and picking up another camera, "We'll be using this thermal camera. It's like the night vision one in the respect that it lets you see somewhat in the dark, but the point is to detect lower or higher heat signatures. You know, like cold spots and stuff."

"That's it?" Caitlin asked, and the engineer nodded.

"Yeah, I told you we don't really need to use everything I got. I think these are fine."

"So who gets what?" she asked as a follow-up.

"You can have the thermal," Cisco told her, handing the device over to her. "I think Barry might screw with it, since you've said his temperature runs a little hotter. And like I said, everyone gets a recorder. The rest…"

"You take the night vision cam, Cisco," Barry interrupted. "I'll be fine."

"Alright," Cisco replied with a shrug. "You can take the EMF detector then," he added, and handed it over. Barry proceeded to turn the device over in his hands, looking it over with mild curiosity. Barry, the only one without a camera to aid his vision, grabbed a flashlight from a nearby drawer.

"So are you guys ready?" Cisco asked. Caitlin drew in a deep breath and nodded as Barry steeled himself up. "Okay," he continued upon seeing their reactions, handing them each a flashlight. "I'll start in the basement and kill the lights from down there. You guys just – pick a direction and go. Good luck." And with that said, the engineer walked off, leaving Caitlin and Barry alone to give each other nervous looks before heading their different ways as well.


Despite Barry's readiness and willingness to agree to Cisco's plan, he found himself almost regretting it the moment the lights in the building went off, leaving him standing alone and in total darkness. The speedster found his heart rate picking up as he fumbled around with his flashlight for several seconds, finally getting it to turn on. It didn't do much to illuminate the surrounding area, but it was better than nothing. He sucked in an admittedly shaky breath before continuing on his way, flashlight clutched tightly in his right hand and the recorder Cisco had provided him with in his left. Honestly, he didn't even know where he was going. The vast majority of the place was abandoned and unused, and he really didn't know his way around it. He soldiered on anyways, searching for anything out of the usual. For nearly half an hour, nothing caught his attention.

It wasn't until he found himself on one of the lower levels that he heard it.

Barry stopped dead in his tracks, ears strained, and could make out a series of small metallic clanging sounds coming from somewhere down the hallway he had meandered into. And God, in the short time since becoming the Flash, he had faced so many dangerous and terrifying situations – but in that moment he found himself very much dreading what was to come even more than a metahuman attack. He took several deep breaths before turning his flashlight off, not wanting to draw attention to himself more than necessary, and switching the recorder on before creeping slowly towards the noises. They seemed to be originating from behind a closed door a few feet away. The speedster stopped briefly in front of the door upon reaching it, pressing himself closer to it without pushing it open just yet. Sure enough, he could clearly hear the clamor coming from inside. Barry bit at his lip, turning his head to look back the way he had come for several seconds as if hoping that Caitlin or Cisco would materialize and accompany him, but he was still very much alone. With a sigh and a small burst of cautious determination, he slowly pushed the door open.

Almost immediately, the EMF detector in his hand started alarming, causing him to jump, staring down at the small object with disbelief. He closed his eyes momentarily, working to keep himself in check. Just because the thing was supposed to detect spirits didn't mean it actually did. Hell, anything could be setting it off. And there still wasn't any evidence that the supposed spirits they were searching for evidence of even existed. Not that he was doubting that they could, but…well, he'd rather not think about it at the moment. Barry let out a breath and opened his eyes.

The inside of the room was just as dark as the hallway, though he was thankful his eyes had had some time to adjust to the blackness before arriving here. He blinked as he stepped carefully over the threshold, trying to ignore the annoying beeping of the device in his hand, his eyes vigilantly scanning where he had ended up, and nearly blanched.

This was the room the Particle Accelerator had been kept in. He could make out the outline of the large, broken device in the middle of the room, and –

Barry froze. As his eyes flittered over the machine, they were drawn to a seemingly dimly lit figure standing by it, hands moving skillfully over the thing as the metallic noises continued. This figure – a woman, he could make out, humming quietly under her breath – was the source of the sounds. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, his heart beating erratically even as he tried to keep himself calm.

"Get a grip," he whispered to himself. It probably wasn't even something paranormal. Maybe the woman had broken in and gotten lost in the facility, or maybe –

Barry took a hesitant step forward, but stopped again as the figure suddenly turned around. His next breath hitched in his throat.

Because yes, she was definitely giving off a faint glow, and it was enough to see that – oh God.

He was sure his eyes were about wide enough to bug out of his head as he saw that there was a red, sticky liquid that could only be blood dripping down her face, emanating from a hole in the right side of her head large enough for him to quite literally see parts of her brain through.

Barry felt like he was going to be sick, his legs trembling. And damn it, he knew he should have ran, gotten the hell out of there, but he couldn't bring himself to turn away as she just stared at him, his eyes glued to the gruesome sight. Then she took a lilting step forward, and every sane part of the hero was yelling at him at once to move, to go, but suddenly he wholeheartedly understood the saying "deer in the headlights." His feet might as well have weighed a hundred pounds each, unable to even twitch, let alone carry him out of the place. He watched as she took one more strained lurch towards him, gaze focused, and then stopped, not much closer but still far too close for his liking. And she opened her mouth, and the voice that followed was quiet but all too clear in the empty, desolate room where everything had started.

"Your friends killed us," she rasped, her eyes narrowed, and Barry was shaking like a leaf now.

"I –" he started, trying to get out a word but not sure where he was going with it, unable to continue.

"They killed us," she repeated, and looked straight into his eyes then. "Guilt by association."

And the speedster dared to blink, and suddenly she was gone like she had never been there at all. The EMF device went silent before slipping from his weak hand at the same his flashlight fell from the other.

His legs gave out then and Barry sank to his knees on the floor, sweaty palms pressed against the cool concrete as he tried to hold himself together.


Author's Note: Okay! So finally some real ghosty action, and I hope it doesn't feel like I rushed it or put it in too soon or anything! I just really wanted you guys to have that ;)

Featured in the next chapter: Caitlin and Cisco's individual experiences in their own parts of the building