Newspapers covered almost every surface of Lucy's new place. An extended stay facility had been the right call, and when she had asked them to remove the mirrors, they had done so. Sure, they had looked confused, but Lucy doubted that it was the weirdest thing a customer had asked. A Dark-free working space had calmed Lucy down significantly over the last couple weeks. There was still no sign of Caan, but other things had occupied Lucy's thoughts.

Barry had said to the police that a man in a blur had killed his mother. Lucy believed him. She'd dealt with vampires, werewolves, and 'shifters.' She could deal with this man. She would find this man and find a way to get her father out of jail. Not her father. A version of her father, Lucy told herself bitterly. The lines had gotten blurred over the investigation, but she had to remember that this wasn't her world. Barry wasn't her brother.

Her phone buzzed, and she'd noticed that Barry had texted her back. Due to Anti, Lucy couldn't exactly use a computer to look things up. She'd asked Barry if he could talk to her tonight. The particle accelerator had gone online, and he had said that he'd call her when he left to drop off some things to drop off some things at the police station. Lucy quickly texted that she'd meet him there.

The sound of rain made her decide on a coat before she headed out the door. After a quick cab ride, Lucy entered the building. The coat had shielded her somewhat, but she was still shivering with cold. As she rounded the corner, she nearly collided with someone.

"Oh, excuse me," Lucy said and looked up to see Eddie looking back at her.

"No problem. I was hurrying too. We should probably start looking where we're going," he said with a bashful smile.

"Uh, yeah. That'd be… smart. I'm here to see someone. Barry Allen."

"Oh, he'd be up there," Eddie said and pointed to the staircase.

Lucy thanked him and walked to the staircase. Eddie said something before a loud crash echoed from upstairs, and Lucy bolted up them. The glass in the lab had shattered. Lucy began to panic as she found Barry on a shelf with broken glass surrounding him. Checking his pulse, she found none.

"Oh my God," Eddie said from behind her.

"Eddie, call the ambulance! NOW!" Lucy yelled and picked up Barry using all her strength. She made it to the doorway before she had to put him down. At least he wasn't on the shelf or on the glass, Lucy thought as she desperately began doing chest compressions. There was a small gasp from Barry lips. Tears escaped from Lucy's eyes, and she smoothed Barry's hair down as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"It's going to be okay, Barry," Lucy whispered as much for Barry's sake as her own. "You need to hang on." Her voice broke as people came in with a stretcher.

The EMTs carried him out on the stretcher, and Lucy took a moment to catch her breath. Should she follow them? No, Iris would be there, and that might lead to questions. Besides Lucy had watched her brother in the hospital slowly die in the hospital before, and there was no way that she could do that again.

"Um, hey," Eddie said, and Lucy looked up at him from the floor. "They're taking him to the hospital. I already called Barry's family. Do you need a ride?"

"I need… a few moments. To myself. Thank you though," Lucy replied.

Eddie looked like he wanted to ask more questions but stopped himself. As he walked out and closed the door behind him, Lucy got up off the floor and looked around. Most of the shelves had been pushed over. The only things left standing were the computer and some kind of bulletin board. Lucy walked over to the board and saw that Barry had been researching the same articles. A sense of pride welled up in her. After all those years of no one believing him, he still hadn't given up on getting answers.

An odd static filled the air. Lucy's heart almost stopped when she turned to see Dark hovering over the glass with an amused smile. Even though he was standing there, Lucy could see right through him as though he was an illusion.

"What? How?" Lucy whispered with fear and took a step back.

"Isn't it simple?" Dark asked and took a step closer. "You're closer to letting me into this world. All I need is for you to say it, and then you can let me take control. I can save him. That boy."

"I don't believe that!" Lucy whispered back furiously. "Not for one second. Where's my guarantee? And just how were you planning on protecting me anyway? You can't do anything."

A vein in Dark's neck twitched as he regarded her with a mixture of frustration and interest, and he replied calmly, "I gave you my word before. As long as you are in my world, I will allow no harm to come to you. YOU NEED ME!" His voice now had an odd resonance as though multiple people were speaking at once. Dark had yelled the final part with a rage that Lucy hadn't expected. "I won't hurt you."

"I remember your promise! And then you immediately tried to attack me with that loon when I stopped playing your game."

"That's a new one!" Anti yelled from the computer with cheer. "Loon! That's pretty great. Oh… but I can make Dark go away for now… if you really want me to."

"Mind your own business, Anti," Dark said coolly, but he seemed to glitch for a second with a scream.

"What do you want?" Lucy asked Anti. "You want something."

"Only for you to let me stay in your laptop this time. I can help you. A murder mystery sounds like fun! You can always break it again, but then you'll have to deal with this tool."

"Anti… you know what you're doing… and I'd suggest you stop now. DON'T INTERFERE! Before you get yourself in too deep," Dark said with an odd glitch as the white noise started to invade Lucy's head.

"Alright, Anti. Work your magic," Lucy said.

Dark glared at them before the illusion shattered. Anti cackled from the computer and smiled madly at Lucy.

"We're gonna be great partners!" Anti said excitedly.

"I doubt that, but as long as you keep Dark out of my hair, it's okay. Now I should go buy another laptop."

"Yup! Yup!"

Lucy sighed and walked down the stairs. Eddie had waited by the front entrance and waved when he saw Lucy. He offered sheepishly, "Do you need a ride? I'm about to leave work anyway."

"No, I need some time to myself," Lucy answered and walked by him. "But thanks."

"Oh, one more thing… I never said my name, but you knew it. How?"

Lucy inwardly groaned but replied, "We went to school together. I had a crush on you, and you never knew it."

"Oh, really?"

"No, I just read your signature on the forms you were carrying."

"Oh," Eddie sounded less enthusiastic and not completely convinced. "I guess I'll see you around then. Take care of yourself."

"I will."

Lucy walked out into the rain and dashed up to a waiting cab. Luckily, he had just finished his break and didn't have a customer yet. Lucy thanked him and gave him the address of an electronics store close to her place. It was within walking distance. She'd just have to make sure the laptop was bundled up before she left the store.

A man shoved her to the side as she entered the store and gave her an angry look. The employees yelled at him. There was no reaction from the man as he stormed out. He looked to be about the same age as Barry. Probably some spoiled kid. The employees quickly helped her find a laptop and bundle it up before she left. The man had long disappeared. With any luck Lucy would run into him again sometime. It'd be good to have a stooge for her ever-rising stress, and Lucy needed a release.

Once she set up the laptop in her suite, Anti looked around appraisingly.

"So, you're not curious why I helped you?" Anti said in his weird glitching tone.

"I know why. You and Dark have some kind of feud going on. So sad to see. You guys were such great pals when you were chasing me down."

"That rat tried to kill me after! Said that it was my fault that you got away!"

"Oh, how surprising," Lucy replied in a monotone. "Why am I so interesting to you guys anyway? Is it because I landed in your world?"

"Yeah, but that's not the only reason. In our world, you've got a weird… glow. Like you're not human either."

"Is that why you wanted to slit my throat? To see if I would bleed differently?"

"Hey, now," Anti said as though hurt. "I didn't mean to scare you… well, yeah, I did. But I mostly just wanted to see what you'd do. Nice kick by the way."

"I try," Lucy replied and cleared some of the papers away. "You said that you could help me. How?"

"Well, I could sort through the online articles, and you can do all of the actual legwork. Unless… you want to invite me to this world. I've been good, haven't I?"

"For the whole past hour but no," Lucy said sternly as he gave her puppy eyes. "And what do you mean 'invite' you? Why does it have to be me?"

"Only certain people have the ability, and you're weird because you've been to quite a few worlds," Anti explained. His voice wasn't as distorted as before. Maybe that was because she had given him access to the laptop.

Lucy nodded and brought over some of the articles.

"Okay then. Let's get to work."