Central City Police Department
Afternoon
"This is a photo of Wells at Stagg Industries the night Simon Stagg disappeared," Mason is in the interrogation room with Eddie, showing him the picture of Wells in his wheel chair, "That was the last time anyone saw Stagg."
"It's suspicious, I'll admit, but it doesn't make Wells a murderer." Eddie said, although he suspected that Thawne (and man was it weird to call Wells by his name) probably had killed Stagg.
"How about the fact that none of the security teams recall Wells leaving the building? Or that the security cameras in Stagg's office have a three minute gap? Someone tampered with the footage, and now Stagg is missing. I'm not a cop, but I'm pretty sure that's enough circumstantial evidence for a search warrant, isn't it?" Mason challenged and Eddie had to admit he had him there. "What do you have on him?"
"I'm not at liberty to say at the moment. There will be a press conference tomorrow afternoon. You'll get your answers then." Eddie promised.
West House
Same time
"Iris, I'm fine." Joe assured his daughter as she helped him sit down on the couch, leaving his crutches nearby.
"You have a broken leg dad, you're not fine." Iris told him concerned and Joe chuckled.
"Not like I've never been injured on the job before. I just gotta stay off it for a few weeks, I'll be fine." Joe assured her.
Before Iris could respond, the front door opened and the Wests looked up as Barry walked in. Immediately, Joe picked up on the tension between his children.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Iris stammered and mentally scolded herself for the stupid question.
"I do live here," Barry raised an eyebrow as he closed the door, "and I wanted to check up on Joe."
"Iris, why don't you get us some tea?" Joe said, hoping to have a moment alone with his son.
Iris was only too happy to get away from Barry. Once she was gone, the tension left with her and Barry visibly relaxed as he made his way over to Joe.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Barry asked in concern as he sat down next to him on the couch.
"I'll be fine. But I am concerned about you. Iris said you basically cut her out of your life," Joe said and Barry looked away, "Bar, you can't really blame Iris for what happened to Cisco."
"You're right, I don't. I blame myself. Do you know what I see every time I look at her now?" Barry asked, looking over at Joe and continuing before Joe had a chance to respond. "I see Cisco's face as Wells or Thawne or whoever he is puts his hand through Cisco's chest. Because I wasn't there to stop him, to save my friend. Because I was too wrapped up with Iris."
"Barry, there's no way to know for sure if you could've saved him even if you hadn't been with Iris." Joe reasoned.
"Maybe," Barry allowed, "but since Cisco died, I've been looking back at the way I've acted when it comes to Iris. I always put her first, everyone else be damned. Sometimes it puts other people in danger Joe, innocent people who I'm not there for because I'm too wrapped up in her. That's not love Joe, that's obsession. And I can't do it anymore. I can't love her because it turns me into a bad person and I can't hate her for something that's not even her fault."
"So…where does that leave you two?" Joe asked quietly, neither aware Iris was listening form the kitchen.
"That's the thing Joe: I don't know." Barry admitted with a sigh.
Star Labs
Night
Barry is at the computers, frowning as he stared at the screen in thought. Barry looked up as he heard someone enter the room and froze upon seeing Caitlin.
"Hey." She said quietly as she walked up to him.
"Hey. What are you doing here?" Barry asked carefully.
"Where else would I be?" Caitlin asked and Barry nodded as she walked up next to him, seeing what looked like 3D computer images of something. "What is that?"
"A 3D model of Star Labs. Cisco told me about it once." Barry said.
"What are you doing?" Caitlin asked curiously.
"Well, I realized if we were going to stop Wells or Thawne, that we need to think like Cisco would. Like an inventor," Barry clarified at her confused look, "Thawne built this place. There are lots of places he could hide things, things he didn't want the rest of us to know about. So I've spent the last hour looking for anything out of the ordinary."
Suddenly, a deep went off and one of the areas flashed red and Barry straightened up and Caitlin leaned forward.
"What is that?" Caitlin inquired.
"I don't know." Barry told her honestly.
Barry and Caitlin walked to where the image was and Barry placed his hand on the wall. Behind it was something that should not be here. Suddenly, there was a light over his hand and part of the wall opened up. Barry and Caitlin exchanged a startled look before they walked through the make shift door.
As they walked in, lights came on to reveal a white room made of some kind of steel. But what had Barry's attention was the holographic newspaper.
"What in the hell?" Barry said and Caitlin followed his gaze.
She gapped as she saw the headline and date:
Flash vanishes, missing in crisis. Written April 25, 2024.
Like Barry said, what in the hell?
Sorry that it's still a rather short chapter, but come on, is that not the perfect place to stop?