Author's Note: Hey guys, no new action in this chapter, but soon! I promise. This one had to happen to move things along :) Hope you enjoy!
Jitters was several blocks away from STAR Labs. Although it would have been quicker for Barry to run them there, neither Caitlin nor Cisco were willing to ask him, and he didn't offer. The three walked in near silence, aside from the sound of awkward scuffling as Cisco limped and the clacking of Caitlin's high heels on the cement. Every so often, the doctor would glance over at both the engineer and the speedster, clearly itching to check both of them over thoroughly, but all of her equipment was back at STAR. She would at least take a peek at Cisco's foot once they got to the coffee shop. On the slim bright side, Barry at least seemed to be doing better than he had been inside the building. It was the small victories that mattered at the moment.
At the group's slow pace, it took a record time of about fifteen minutes to reach their intended destination. Cisco grabbed the door and pulled open; Caitlin and Barry walked in quietly, and the engineer followed behind them, all three cringing at the heavy sound the door made as it closed. They made their way to an unoccupied table at the back and sat down together, no one quite ready to approach the bar to order. The three shifted awkwardly in their seats, the sound of Barry's fingers drumming absentmindedly on the table the only noise in their vicinity for several long seconds. Caitlin finally broke the barrier and spoke up.
"Cisco, lift up your pant leg," she said softly, and Cisco complied without complaint, sticking his foot out to rest on her chair and rolling up his jeans. She pulled down the hem of his sock a bit, examining the small, discolored area of bruising around his ankle and pushing gently. Cisco winced slightly, and the doctor pulled her hand away. "Just sprained, I think," she said. "I'd have liked to examine it better, but…" she trailed off with no need to complete the thought. Both boys knew her tools were in the complex they had fled from. Cisco gave her a small, appreciative nod before pulling his pant leg back down and withdrawing his leg from Caitlin's chair. He lifted his shirt up without being asked to, letting her quickly look over his bruise to determine it wasn't anything major. They fell back into a silence then, Barry's finger tapping becoming increasingly agitated as he stared blankly down at the table. The team was pulled out of their thoughts by a familiar voice.
"Hey, guys!" All three of their heads snapped up to the sight of Iris approaching, her Jitters apron on, a notepad and pen in hand, and a far too chipper smile on her face. "I didn't expect to see any of you here so late. I figured you'd all be at Cisco's," she said, motioning to the engineer. "Anyways, none of you came to the counter. You gonna order anything?" she questioned.
The three friends were stiff, startled by the sudden intrusion, even if it was just Iris; clearly, they had all forgotten she had picked up an evening shift. They eyed each other uneasily and Iris, ever observant, caught on quickly to the dark mood shared between them. She frowned, eyes flicking between them. "Are you guys alright?" she asked seriously, her gaze honing in on Barry. "Bar, you look pale," she said, brow creasing in concern.
"I'm – I'm fine," Barry said, trying and failing to not stumble over his words. "We're fine. It's fine." The frown did not leave Iris' face; if anything, she looked more worried, clearly seeing right through Barry's lie; she knew him well enough to figure out when he wasn't being truthful.
"You don't look fine," she said insistently, keeping her voice low in an attempt to keep from drawing attention to their little corner.
"Iris, just drop it, alright?" Barry snapped. The words came out sounding harsher than he had intended, and he felt slightly guilty upon seeing the hurt look that crossed her face, but he was in no mood to discuss what had happened with her – he refused to have her involved. The look was gone just as quickly, but Barry could sense the worry.
"Fine," she said, her eyes narrowed into a this is not over kind of look, and he averted his gaze back to the table. "What do you guys want to drink?"
"Just three espressos," Cisco jumped in, saving Barry from any further interaction with her. She nodded, casting another sidelong glance at the speedster before disappearing back behind the counter to make their orders. They remained silent until they had the steaming mugs of coffee in front of them and Iris was once again out of earshot.
"So…I'm assuming we've all come to the same conclusion that STAR Labs is being, ah, haunted," Cisco said in a quiet voice, the first to address the issue at hand. Barry and Caitlin both nodded, grimacing. Cisco paused for a moment before continuing. "I got what happened to me on video, I think," he said, glancing at the night vision camera he had set down on the table in front of him before looking at Caitlin. "I saw – I saw that doctor woman you talked to sometimes," he went on nervously, and Caitlin's eyes widened.
"Doctor Ashburn?" she questioned, and Cisco swallowed a lump in his throat before nodding. That was her name.
"She died in the explosion," Barry guessed, his voice soft, and Caitlin nodded as well.
"Yes," she confirmed, looking back at Cisco. "What did – what did she do?"
Cisco ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "She wasn't happy," he said. "She said something about wanting me to suffer. She, ah, locked the lab I was in somehow. Her lab. She started throwing things at me, pushed the table into my side. That's why I had to kick the door down. And that's right before I found you, Cait." The doctor's expression was grave.
"I saw one too," Barry spoke up, his voice still slightly rough, and Caitlin and Cisco both focused their attention on him. His fingers had stopped their tapping on the table, and now he was clenching and unclenching his fists slowly. "In the Particle Accelerator room. I, uhm, don't know who it – she – was," he said, grimacing as he thought about the encounter. But part of – part of her head was blown off. Her face was dripping blood, and I…" he trailed off momentarily, his voice becoming quieter as he caught Iris glancing over in their direction. He quickly averted his eyes. "I could see parts of her brain. And she told me…she said that you guys killed her. That I was guilty by association."
Caitlin and Cisco both frowned, looking uncomfortable.
"So this is about the explosion," Cisco murmured, an unpleasant expression on his face. "But I don't get it. We weren't the ones who caused it. Why would they come after us?"
"We work for Dr. Wells," Caitlin replied, biting her lip. "He's the one behind the whole thing. And me and you were working at STAR when all of it was going on. I don't think they care whether or not we're directly connected."
Cisco ran a hand through his hair, his shoulders slumping. "Cait, did the two figures you picked up on the thermal say anything?" he asked, and Caitlin shook her head.
"No, they just came after me," she said. "That's why I locked myself in the room, why they were pounding on the door."
"Either way, I think the point is pretty clear," Barry spoke up bitterly, and Cisco nodded.
"They want revenge. We're lucky we got out of there tonight. And I don't think it's a great idea to go back."
"We can't just leave," Caitlin said, her voice barely above a whisper at this point. "What happens when Dr. Wells comes back? What are we supposed to tell him?"
"I don't know," Cisco admitted. "But what are we supposed to do?" Their little lockdown was one thing, before they knew exactly what they were dealing with. Now that it had been confirmed, and they had all been through their own terrifying experiences, it felt a lot more real. Nothing like this ever happened on the dumb ghost hunting shows.
"What about getting a priest or something? Isn't that what they always do in the movies?" Barry questioned awkwardly.
"You really think any priest in Central would be willing risk their lives to come to STAR Labs and deal with angry, potentially murderous ghosts?" Caitlin asked, raising an eyebrow. "And that's if they even believed us in the first place. It sounds ridiculous."
"Then we're gonna have to do something about it ourselves," Barry muttered, and Caitlin's eyes widened.
"Are you crazy?" she asked, far too loud. Several heads turned their way, and Barry caught Iris looking over again as well. Caitlin's cheeks flushed at the unwanted attention, and she quickly lowered her voice. "Look what happened there tonight by ourselves. Barry, you went into shock."
It was Barry's turn to blush, his cheeks turning bright red, but a hard, determined look crept into his eyes.
"Because I wasn't prepared," he said. "None of us were really expecting to find what we did. But now we know. And like you said, we can't just abandon STAR Labs."
"What are you suggesting, Barry?" Cisco asked.
"We should look over everything we recorded tonight, study it. Do some more research…and find a way to get rid of them."
Caitlin and Cisco both looked uneasy at the idea, and Barry could see it plainly on their faces.
"Look, I'm not saying that it's the greatest idea," he admitted, letting out a sigh and running a hand nervously through his hair. "I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but what else is there? We have to deal with this, and the sooner the better."
"I know you're right," Caitlin admitted meekly. "I just – I don't like it. You realize about a year ago, all of our lives were normal, right? No metahumans…no ghosts. This is a lot to take in."
"Amen," Cisco muttered, taking a big sip of his coffee.
"We can do this," Barry said, trying his best to sound confident, but it sounded rather shaky even to his own ears. Cisco and Caitlin nodded numbly, clearly lacking confidence as well. The three quietly nursed their coffees for a few more minutes until they had finished, and Cisco broke the silence.
"We can go to my place," he offered. "Iris and Joe already think Barry's crashing there anyways. It'll be easier to get research done if we're all together."
"Alright," Barry said with a nod, placing his empty coffee cup down on the table, placing the money they owed down before standing. Cisco and Caitlin followed suit, and the members of Team Flash walked close together out the doors of the small coffee shop and towards Cisco's apartment.
"Dad? I'm home!" Iris called out as she walked in the front door of the house, setting her bag down and kicking her shoes off.
"In the kitchen!" her father's voice called back, and the barista made her way to the room, smiling softly as she found him sitting at the kitchen table finishing a later dinner. "Hey, baby. How was your shift?" he asked as she sat down across from him.
"Fine," she said. "I actually saw Barry and his STAR Labs friends there," she added, and Joe raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Hey, did…did Barry ever say why he was spending the night at Cisco's?" she asked.
Joe shook his head. He had assumed it was something Flash related, but he wasn't about to tell Iris of his suspicions. "No, he didn't. Why?"
Iris sighed before continuing. "It's just…they all seemed really off. Like they were spooked or something. And when I asked Barry about it, he was really snappish and wouldn't tell me anything. I'm worried."
Joe frowned at the new information. Barry had seemed fine that morning at work, and as far as he knew, there hadn't been any metahuman activity today. He couldn't think of anything else off the top of his head that would have his foster son acting strangely.
"...I'm sure he's fine," the detective tried to assure his daughter. "But I can talk to him tomorrow, if it'll make you feel any better." Iris nodded.
"That'd be great," she said. "I wanna talk to him too. We can do it together."
"Whatever makes you happy." Iris smiled lightly.
"Thanks, dad. I'm gonna head up to bed." She stood and walked over to his side of the table, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby," Joe replied as she walked away. "Night." Once she was gone, he sighed softly and quickly finished his dinner.
What was going on this time?
