archimedes |b. allen|

too slow

too slow

"So, Wells set up a fake showdown with a fake opponent who was never really there?" Eddie asks, the five of us gathered around the trap they had used this winter to attempt to capture The Reverse-Flash.

Cisco, Barry, myself, Detective Thawne, and Detective West stood face to face with the hologram of The Reverse-Flash, readying ourselves to go over, and then follow through on, the plan to actually trap Wells.

"He figured if we saw both of them together it would prove that he wasn't The Man in Yellow," Barry explains, hands in his jacket pockets and eyes trained steadily on the yellow holographic blur facing us in the chamber.

A shiver runs over my spine as Detective Thawne replies, "This all just keeps getting crazier and crazier."

Cisco deactivates the hologram, the elevator doors dinging behind us, and Caitlin appears. "I just talked to Dr. Wells. He's attending a lecture downtown, won't be back until five."

Barry glances at me, who was already looking at him, our eyes locking and lingering for a second too long before he drags his gaze over to the long haired man next to him, "All right, Cisco, you know when he gets here you need to be working on the trap so he sees you set off the hologram."

"Hold on," Detective West cuts in, "isn't that, in your dream, when everything went all..."

Cisco grunts, "Kali Ma. Temple of Doom. Yeah, that definitely happened... But this time, I'm ready for him."

Cisco looks to Caitlin, who gives him a reassuring nod. They're seriously the cutest nerdy besties.

Stepping onto the platform, Cisco explains, "I originally designed the force field to keep a speedster from getting out. But I've reversed it. Now, it won't let one in."

He pulls out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, selecting a setting as a beep sounds and the force field buzzes to life. Cisco then jokingly beckons his finger toward Barry, tempting him to test out the modification.

Barry's face hardens, his eyes narrowing as he says, "Back up."

We all do as he says, taking large steps backwards as Barry shakes out his arms, readying himself to run.

It all happens so fast that if it weren't for the trail of lightning following behind him, I'd hardly be able to tell that Barry ran at the force field at all. That is, if he hadn't crashed into the tech cart just on the other side of Detective West.

Barry was gripping his shoulder as I instinctively rush to his side, kneeling down next to him and assessing quickly for all I really care about: blood.

He lets out a groan, and another when I rip his jacket back to check for bruising or dislocation on his shoulder, lucky to only find it pinked up from the contact.

Barry coughs, snapping me out of my assessment of his injuries and bringing my eyes to his. "It works," he chokes out, the air had obviously been knocked out of him.

And then he's looking at me. Steel eyes trapping my dark ones, the air suddenly getting thicker, hotter, and harder to breathe. His eyes dart back and forth, so close that he can't look at both eyes at the same time. It's the second that his eyes dip down, glancing to my lips just for a millisecond that someone behind us clears their throat, snapping the both of us out of our gaze.

I stand abruptly, extending both my arms down to help him up and solidifying my feet to the ground as I hoist him up like he was a bag of feathers.

His eyes look bewildered at my strength, but I just simply say, "Dense," in explanation.