.:39:.
Eddie flung himself back against a brick wall and squeezed his eyes at the sound of bullets ricocheting off the maroon building material. Despite the many years he put into his career, working his way up the police force, it was always hard to get used to the slight sense of fear that would creep up. Not knowing the call they were sent out on would be the last one they would ever make. Having a cloudy mind would jeopardize all of that and yet Eddie couldn't help but think about the fact that he knew who the Flash was.
His just couldn't wrap his mind around it; how someone like Barry Allen was also able to be The Flash. Was able to race around the city saving lives within the blink of an eye that would probably take the CCPD a week to do. And yet there he was, continuing to put himself out in the line of fire to continue to protect the city. And it still scared him.
Finally, there was a break in the gunfire and Eddie popped his head around the corner once more. He raised his pistol and aimed in the direction the gunfire had come from. Joe, who was across the alley from him, did the same and the two rapid-fire shot back towards the criminals. All of a sudden there was a gust of wind that nearly knocked Eddie over. He watched as yellow streaks shot across his field of vision, nearly blocked out by the sunlight, and continued to twist and twirl around in front of him. Next thing he knew, the two gunmen were sitting on the ground in front of him, tied together, with a bag full of cash sitting next to them.
The lightning streaks came to a stop as Barry stood next to them, dusting off his hands. "They put up a bigger fight than I thought they would." Eddie's eyebrows came together as he listened to Barry's distorted voice. Or what those at STAR Labs called 'flashing his voice' so that no one was able to recognize it.
Eddie had heard it a few times while out on calls and the Flash would appear. But now knowing who it was, it was pretty obvious as to who was the face behind the mask. He briefly wondered if Cadence did the same thing as Flare—something else he was trying to wrap his mind around. Guilt plagued him every now and then; he had tried to get together a task force to take down the Flash and at one point and Flare had even saved him when the Flash tried to attack him.
His head was in a tailspin.
"It doesn't look like it," Eddie remarked, slowly holstering his gun. He walked over to the robbers who continued to wiggle back and forth, trying to bust out of their constraints.
"This could've been a lot worse than it was," Joe pointed out. He walked up next to Eddie and patted him on the shoulder. "If Barry hadn't come around, then this could've been a hostage situation, a shootout, many people could've been in danger."
"Compared to the metahumans you mean?" Eddie asked in a low voice.
Joe and Barry exchanged a glance.
Eddie turned away from them, shaking his head. It was getting harder and harder to accept the truth of the city. There were many things going on that he didn't know about. Things in a world that he wouldn't believe if he didn't see it with his own eyes. Even dealing with Captain Cold and Mick Rory that one time had been like something out of a movie.
And now here was The Flash, popping up around corners and taking down those that had the powers he could only see in movies.
And to know that Harrison Wells was behind the whole thing? That was hardest part to understand. Not to mention his sudden disappearance from Central City.
"The metas haven't really been a problem lately, but it is something that we have to put some of our attention towards," Barry agreed. He shook his head, reaching up to pull off his hood then seemed to change his mind, dropping his hand.
With a sudden burst of speed Barry took the criminals and locked them in the back of the police cruiser. When he reappeared with Joe and Eddie he pulled off his hood, slightly out of breath. "Speaking of metas, have you found Dr. Wells anywhere?"
Joe was silent for a long moment, looking at Barry. When Eddie glanced at him it appeared he was doing his best to keep from saying what he really wanted to say. And Eddie had the sudden feeling it had something to do with him. "We have an APB out for him," Joe replied. "But chances are he may be long gone by now."
"And you're sure he's the one that killed your mother?" Eddie asked Barry. He looked into Barry's eyes, looking for any sort of hesitation. Instead, all he saw was sorrow.
"Yes, I'm sure." He licked his lips and glanced at Joe for a minute then back to Eddie once more. "It's hard to explain, but I know for sure. He confirmed it to me. To Joe, to Cisco and Caitlin."
"So STAR Labs has something to do with this?"
"Not in the way you're thinking. Caitlin and Cisco, they didn't know anything about Dr. Wells and what he was planning. They're innocent of anything that could possibly come their way."
"So if he killed your mother that means he's the man in yellow so…" Eddie swallowed hard, slowly starting to understand everything. "So he has powers too. He can move as fast as you can."
"Maybe even faster," Joe agreed.
Eddie nodded once more. He looked at his watch and back to the cruiser he and Joe took to the crime scene. "We should be getting back to the CCPD; Captain Singh is going to start wondering where we are." He walked to the passenger side and climbed into the seat. A yawn escaped his lips before he could stop it. It seemed like these criminals were starting to work earlier and earlier.
After a nice night with Iris complete with seeing a movie and having a nice dinner, the last thing he wanted was for that bliss to be interrupted by an early morning call. But that was the life of a police detective, things were always happening 24/7 and there was nothing that could be done about it.
"Hey." Eddie looked up; realizing Joe was suddenly sitting next to him. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something." Eddie shook his head and Joe sighed. "Look, I know this is really hard for you to wrap your head around—"
"—I don't like lying about it," Eddie interrupted. He held up his hand. "I get that you want to do what's best for her. I get that you're trying to keep people's secrets and keep people safe but I don't like lying about this." Eddie glanced into the backseat of the car and noticed the criminals were knocked out. Barry must've taken care of them before putting them in the car.
Or the speed that Barry moved them had knocked them out or something. Like when he was about six years old and at the fair, riding the spinning ride. Someone had asked for an increase of speed and the next thing he knew, he was waking up with park employees pressing ice packs to his face and neck.
"Eddie, this is something that we have to keep a secret. The more people that know about Barry, about metahumans the better chance we have of a citywide panic. And we can't have that. The more things go out of control…"
"Things are already out of control, Joe! There's a guy whose running around out there who should be brought in and tried for murder. He moves so fast that he can kill anyone before they have another thought. How is that keeping anyone safe? How does that keep Iris safe?"
"Her not knowing is for her protec—"
"Bullshit!" Eddie interrupted. "I'm sorry, Joe, but that's pure bullshit. Iris can take care of herself. I've seen her do it many times before and you know that she can. She's already seen the Man in Yellow. She was the one who told you he was back in the city. Thanks to her, you probably wouldn't know his real identity. And now you know and you're just going to sit back and hope he comes back into the city to catch him?"
"Barry, Cadence, Cisco, and Caitlin have been looking for him, tracking him for the last three days. We're not sitting around waiting for him to come back."
Eddie clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it down on the dashboard. His strike was so loud it made Joe jump. So loud he was surprised the men in the back hadn't woken up. "And you expect us to do what? Sit around and wait with our thumbs up our asses?"
Joe swiftly turned in his seat and grasped Eddie by the neck. Not in an intimidating grip, not in a way to show that Joe was angry at him. But in a way that showed he understood. It was much like a fatherly grasp to make sure the son was paying attention to him.
"Do you think I like keeping this a secret from her?" Joe asked. His voice came out raspy and with a slight quiver, betraying his emotions of the situation. "Do you think I like to know that I continue to lie to her as the days pass? Barry begged me to tell her once he first received his powers and I told him not to. I can't imagine what would happen if everyone who's trying to hurt Barry caught Iris in the crossfire. I'm trying to keep her safe!"
"She'll be safer if she knows!" Eddie said. He said it through gritted teeth causing it to come out harsher than he intended. "She's a journalist, Joe! She's probably putting herself in more danger than anyone else from that alone! You were the one who told her to stop investigating Dr. Wells and she did that, but now she's investigating The Flash. She wants to know who he is and won't stop until she does!"
Joe closed his eyes and dropped his hand from Eddie's neck.
"And if you know anything about Iris you know she's not going to give up. I think, on some level, she already knows."
Joe continued to lean back in his seat, eyes closed, breathing heavily. Finally, he lifted his hands and grasped the keys that sat in the ignition. "We need to get these guys in for booking."
"Fine."
Eddie leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples as Joe headed back towards the CCPD. "It's so hard to keep up with who knows what and who doesn't," he remarked.
Joe chuckled. "You'll get used to it."
.
..
...
Barry had never been so tired in his entire life. He had put in long hours of racing around Central City and other neighboring cities to look for Dr. Wells. Got little sleep—with his thoughts racing enough so when he was called in for work he only had a few hours of shut eye. Then he had to go through his day as if things were normal.
As he and Iris went to their Zumba class that morning—of which Barry was still trying to get out of—he couldn't help but notice that Cadence seemed to be going through the motions as well. When he caught her eye she gave a fleeting smile and turned away, almost completely distracted.
Still, no one else seemed the wiser despite Barry rapidly shot his eyebrows upwards to keep his lids from falling shut. Not even a shot of Espresso from Jitters could keep him going. Thankfully Iris was energized enough not to notice the difference.
"Oh God, I don't think I'm going to be able to bend for at least another week," Iris complained, slowly lowering herself down into the seat opposite of Barry, passing him a steaming mug. "That class really kicked my butt today."
"Which is strange considering you used to be a dancer," Barry pointed out.
"I believe you'll find the words 'used to' to be generous," Iris pointed out. "I was not a dancer at all. My cousin is a dancer; I just like to do it for fun." She wrapped her hands around her mug and brought it closer to her body. "And if we're talking about things we used to do in the past, I played field hockey and was part of the Student Government. And, by the way, my speech was one hundred times better than your acceptance speech after winning the Science Fair for the, what, fifth year in a row."
Barry made a face as he swallowed his mouthful of coffee. He felt himself starting to wake up a little. "First of all, it was the Synopsis Science and Technology Championship for future scientists, technology experts, engineers, and mathematicians," Barry corrected her.
Iris made a face, making him laugh.
"And secondly, the only reason your speech was so good was because you begged me to help you with it."
"I didn't beg you," Iris said.
"Yes. Yes, you did. And I remember because you bugged me about it for three days, moaning and groaning and saying you were going to embarrass yourself and blah blah blah." Barry laughed, leaning out of the way to fend himself from Iris throwing her napkin at him. "No, Iris your speech was good. Everything you did was good. You didn't become valedictorian of your class for nothing."
"Yeah," Iris agreed with a bashful smile. She blew on her hand and buffed it along her shirt. "I was that good. Seriously Bare, you really did help me with a lot of things. And Dad, too. You know he wouldn't let me give up when things got hard."
Barry grimaced.
That wasn't really what he wanted to hear.
"Apart from trying to follow in his footsteps," She continued, looking down in her mug as if something was written at the bottom. Her eyebrow twitched upwards as she pressed her lips together. It was a conversation topic that was always hard to bring up.
With a light shake of his head, Barry tried to think of the words that were going to help. "You know he was just trying to protect you."
"I know, but I don't need to be protected," Iris insisted. "I've been briefed on self-defense practically since I was born. I know how to use a gun. I know how to stay calm in any situation such as a robbery, a carjacking, a nuclear bombing for all I care. I can protect myself more than I need anyone to protect me."
"Right and you can stand up to those metahumans that are running around just fine," Barry said with a lift of his eyebrow.
Iris stuck her nose into the air. "I can so. And not just because I know what I'm doing, but because the Flash is out here and ready to save anyone that needs help." She reached out and gently pushed her spoon around in her mug. "I don't know, sometimes I feel like he's like a guardian angel to me. He's saved me so many times."
Barry tried not to let the smile on his face be too noticeable. He cleared his throat and rested his palm over his mouth as not to make it obvious.
"But you spend a lot of time working with STAR Labs," Iris said, snapping Barry out of his thoughts. It was such a change in conversation topic that he could practically hear car tires squealing in his head. "And the CCPD I mean. Dad never tells me anything about the metahuman cases, how they're all classified. But you've worked with Caitlin and Cisco on many occasions, even Dr. Wells. You all must have some idea on who the Flash really is? I'd like to personally thank him sometime."
Oh, he's no one. Just the guy sitting in front of you, Barry thought. But he did his best to appear nonchalant. As nonchalant as he could be without acting like a total nut job. He was supposed to act like things were okay when all he wanted to do was race off and look for Dr. Wells again. "N-No, w-we, we, don't really talk about it. I mean, I'm sure even they don't know who he is." He finished his coffee and set it aside. "But if I did I'd tell you."
"Because we're best friends," Iris agreed.
She reached out and grabbed his hand, something she always did and he froze under her touch. It was just…weird. Wrong. This was Iris. Yeah, he had been in love with her for a long time but she was also his best friend. They used to hug and stuff all the time. But this time it was different.
Or maybe it was just him.
Maybe it was his guilt knowing that Eddie wouldn't like it? That had to be it. They didn't talk much about Iris's relationship since she started to date Eddie or when she moved in with him. When the two were dating other people throughout middle and high school they told each other everything and got advice. But now…they didn't do that. Iris didn't share that part of her life with him.
Did she share it with Eddie? He probably wouldn't like that sign of affection…
Cadence probably wouldn't either. That was it. He liked her, he really did, but things were too hard to have a relationship.
Maybe he was doomed to a life without being able to settle down.
Licking his lips, Barry continued, "And as far as I can tell, they just call him in whenever they need his help. It's only when our cases with the CCPD cross with metas that I really go over there. Not so much at all."
"So they know nothing at all? Not even what he can do?"
"Well, I guess we can just speculate," Barry insisted.
Iris squeezed his hand then removed it to her lap. She then looked at the ceiling with a dreamlike smile on her face. "I bet he can run faster than a bullet."
"Well, he's the fastest man alive," Barry interrupted, feeling himself go on autopilot as he spoke about his abilities. "And if he can go at least the speed of sound that means he's at least able to go faster than a speeding bullet. I'd say closer to 500 miles per hour by now." He cleared his throat as Iris turned back to him, eyebrows furrowing together. "I mean, that's just a guess. You know…with science and…and everything."
Iris continued to watch him for a minute.
A line of sweat formed at Barry's hairline. He started to reach up to rub his neck then winced and brought it down again, bicep straining to do its job.
Iris laughed at his discomfort. "I guess Cadence really kicked your butt today, too." She leaned towards him, dark lips pulling back into a teasing smile. "Shouldn't you be used to it by now? I mean, you did all of those musical theatre classes when you were in school."
"Yeah, but that's different than doing it every day," Barry pointed out. "And for having a teacher that's so sadistic," he added under his breath. He was sure Cadence had purposefully stuck him with the woman who was heavier than him during her class that morning. The laughter she barely managed to keep in when her eyes shifted his way was a testament to that. "When I was doing it in high school it was every day for as long as production went on, not every day."
"Yeah, but she's good at it," Iris said. Barry's eyebrows lowered when he noticed the meaningful expression on her face. No, not meaningful. There was something else there, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. "You two seem to have grown really close. I mean, she's your Zumba teacher and works at the CCPD now…"
"Yeah, well she needed the job or else she wouldn't have been able to stay in Central City," Barry explained without giving too much away. "And she was the one that went and got the job herself so…" he shrugged. "It's been pretty cool. It's good to know someone other than Joe has my back there and isn't constantly calling me Baby Face."
Actually, he wondered why Iris and Cadence weren't closer friends. Iris and Caitlin were close and the hung out at Jitters and at the bar every now and then. Cadence and Caitlin were best friends. But the three weren't particularly together. And Barry remembered the small jabs that Iris sent Cadence's way when they were speaking about the Man in Yellow.
It seemed to come out of nowhere, Barry thought.
He was broken out of his thoughts once more when Iris asked, "Does she know the identity of the Flash?"
Yes. Barry blinked. "Not that I'm aware of. Captain Singh won't let us talk about him too much. Not unless our current case has to do with him. I don't know, I think he's still in the mindset of the Task Force, no matter how much the Flash has helped us."
Barry looked away. He didn't give anything away did he? It got so exhausting all the time. Having to keep his secret a secret, Cadence's secret a secret, Caitlin's, Cisco's, and Dr. Wells's secret a secret, and knowing Joe and Eddie were in on it.
Being able to feel completely relaxed was a commodity he didn't have and probably would never half for as long as he had his powers. He kept forgetting who knew what and whether or not he was supposed to know something, and if he did who had he told it to…
Hanging out with Iris when he didn't have to worry about The Flash was always great. Few and far between but great. It was a fine price to pay to hang out with the best friend he felt he was starting to drift away from. Then again, she had her own life with Eddie and he had his own life with…all of STAR Labs. But they had their shared life with Joe, a childhood they couldn't forget so what was the problem if they didn't talk to each other all the time.
Guilt, he reminded himself.
Finally, he realized the silence that stretched from Iris and looked over at her once more. This time her expression was even more of what he couldn't quite comprehend.
"What about Flash Fire?" She asked. "Do you guys have any ideas who she is?"
"It's Flare," Barry corrected her once more, a little annoyed. The conversation topic was starting to anger him. It was the only thing Iris seemed to talk about now. "And no, we don't know who she is either? Why are you asking so much?" Then he understood. "It's for another article isn't it?"
Pressing her lips together Iris hesitated. "You know they only want me to write stories about The Flash."
"So write stories about The Flash, Iris. And Flare, she's really helping him. I know the city really knows about the Flash but they are partners. And besides, the more you go into his identity the more you're going to put yourself in danger."
"I can take care of myself, Barry. We already went over this."
"I know that, but things are getting worse with him."
"How do you know?"
"What?"
The question, somehow, had completely blindsided him. Maybe because she was directly asking him, maybe it was because of the intense look she was giving him. He started to sweat even more, reaching up to carefully wipe a bead away from his temple.
"How do you know that things are getting harder for him? How do you know that Flash Fire goes by the name of Flare now? How do you know all this stuff?"
Barry took a deep breath. "Like I said, a lot of what we do with the CCPD crosses over with the cases we work. So I can't tell you."
Now Iris was glaring at him. "You just said that you didn't know anything. So how can you not tell me something you don't know?"
"I—I don't…"
"What else has happened to you since the Particle Accelerator explosion?"
"…A lot of stuff." At least that's the truth. "I can't…I can't really explain it. Sometimes it's like everything has changed and I'm just running to catch up." He lifted his gaze and looked at Iris, who continued to watch him and he gave her a disarming smile. It felt wobbly, threatening to fall off. "But I've always felt that way, Iris. You know me. I'm always trying to do my best in everything. Why do you think I worked so hard at school?"
Barry rubbed his neck again, which he was startling to realize was his nervous habit. "I came out of a coma, Iris. A long coma; you couldn't have expected things to be exactly the same. I didn't. Not when I came out and realized everything around me moved on."
"Moved on," Iris repeated. "But didn't change." She stood up, smoothing down the back of her shorts. "And, sometimes, I can't help but think it's not something but someone."
Barry's breath hitched in his throat.
Was she referring to The Flash…or someone else?
"Iris, I…" Barry's phone buzzing caught their attention and he quickly pulled his phone from his pocket, realizing he was being called into work.
"You have to go?" Iris asked. She stood up, pulling her purse over her shoulder. "That's funny, because I do, too."
Barry watched her leave but made no move to go after her.
.
..
...
"Mom, are you okay?"
Cadence glanced at Brady as he sat quietly in the passenger seat, looking hard at her. She turned her attention back to the road as she shrugged. "Of course, why?"
"I don't know. You just look like there's something wrong. Is it something I did? Are you still mad about sneaking out to find Grodd?"
Cadence's grip tightened on the steering wheel. "I don't know; have your ears stopped ringing from my yelling at you?" She ran a hand through her hair. "I'm fine, just thinking about some stuff."
"About Grandpa?"
A fleeting smile came to Cadence's face, realizing how close Brad and Harrison really had become before his secret was revealed. "About Harrison and some other stuff." She glanced at Brady and she found he was still looking at her. "You want me to be honest?"
"You always are," Brady reminded her.
"I'm angry at Harrison but I don't fully believe that he's the evil man he told us he was. I'm angry knowing that my mom is alive and Barry lied to me about it."
"But MaMaw has always been alive."
"I mean Tess Morgan."
"I have another grandmother?"
Cadence couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "Yeah, I need to write up a family tree so that we can keep everything straight. Even I'm starting to become even more confused. Yeah, I'm angry about that. I'm angry at Ryder. I'm an angry about a lot of things."
She felt the steering wheel start to noticeably warm under her hands and took a deep breath to calm down. Almost immediately the warmth went away.
"But the thing is…I realized a lot of what's happened is my fault and I've never take responsibility for it. I've told you over and over again that I don't blame you for anything that's happened and I really don't. If I were to live life over I'd still have you the same way, but I wouldn't have passed off responsibility for my actions on everyone else. I've blamed my parents for years for kicking me out when I could have admitted I was wrong and scared and that I needed their help. I blamed Ryder for being a jerk for moving away and not getting in contact with him when it was really his parents that were to blame. I could've kept my relationships instead of being so angry about things that were purely my fault. Maybe then I wouldn't have screwed things up with Barry."
Brady looked stricken. "You're not dating Barry anymore?"
Cadence gave him a look. "Out of all of that the only thing you're worried about is me not dating Barry?"
"Is he still going to be my friend?"
"Yes, he's still going to be your friend. You just got your metahuman name. He can't dump you after that." She cleared her throat, focusing on the elementary school as it loomed in the distance. "The only thing I've wanted to do was be a good role model for you and I'm sorry I couldn't always be that for you."
Brady nodded.
He was silent for a long time, the longest she had ever heard her son silent before he spoke up. Something in his voice made her slow the car to a stop. "Mom, I lied." Cadence glanced at him. He sniffled. "I lied about not remembering things when the Assassination Bureau took me. I remember everything. And I can't sleep because I keep thinking about it."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Her hands dropped to her lap as she looked at him, her heart hammering tattoo against her ribcage.
"I didn't want you to be scared." He wiped at his eyes. "I was scared, Mom."
Cadence quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She stroked his hair as he held onto her, silently crying.
.
..
...
Breathtaker turned as General Eiling slowly shuffled his way into the empty office, almost as if in a daze. The bruises that lined his arms were offset by the black eye and dried blood coming out of his nose. If Breathtaker noticed General Eiling's appearance he didn't reference it.
"What happened?" He demanded.
General Eiling slowly turned his head, eyes focusing and unfocusing before he mumbled, "Almost had him. Didn't work out," almost as if his jaw had been broken.
Breathtaker clenched his hands into fists and almost immediately there was a surge of power that blew up the computer next to him, caused a massive crack to ripple through the wall, and made the floor rumble. General Eiling stumbled backwards threw out his arms to keep himself upright.
Then Breathtaker opened his hand and the shaking stopped. "Don't worry. Anyone that doesn't have a backup plan is sure to fail. And I always have the upper hand. I just need to make sure that Brigade knows what she's doing."
"How do you plan to get to the Reverse-Flash now?"
"Through The Flash."
A/N: Woohoo, finally getting to the good part with the next chapter. So what'd you think? There was a lot of admissions and revelations in this one so I hope it didn't feel too slow for you guys to read.
To amp up your excitement even more I'm working on the first few chapters to Fuel to the Fire already and there are plenty of things for you to look forward to in the action and romance department. ;) Also, I plan on having that story have more of a original plot approach, much like Flash Fire did, though it'll still have Zoom, Patty Spivot, and the different Earths as major plot points. Also, I think I'll have it more from Cadence's POV rather than jumping around os much. Let me know what you think.
So I'll update again soon.
-Riles