Phoenix (The Flash - Book 1) [RE-UPLOAD]

Chapter 7 - Power Outage

I walked into the Cortex, finding Cisco, Caitlin and Dr. Wells waiting.

"Hey, guys," I greeted them with a smile.

"Where's Barry?" He asked, looking at me. "He's late."

"Late is kind of his signature move," I answered as I walked over to a desk, phone in hand.

"Hey, you guys wanna see my signature move?" Cisco asked.

Caitlin tilted her head at Cisco and that's when I felt a gust of wind behind me, signaling Barry's arrival. I turned to look at him as he took a sip from his coffee cup.

"Sorry, guys. I got a little held up," he told us, smiling and we all looked at him. "You had to be there."

"I'm gonna need a moment or two alone with Barry and Zoe," Dr. Wells said.

Caitlin quickly walked out and Cisco followed.

"Ooh, you're in trouble," Cisco said as he past us.

I sighed as Barry went to sit down.

"Now may I remind you, we had an agreement that we would help you with your heroics out there while the both of you would help us research and develop your abilities in here. Right?

"Yeah. No, I know. I guess I've just gotten a little caught up with being able to help people. You know, put bad guys away. Feels good."

"Imagine how good it would feel to cure diseases, stop aging, reverse paralysis."

"All good causes," I piped up. "So how could we help you do that? You need more MRIs? More blood?"

"I need more speed," Wells said, rolling closer.

I nodded. "Okay."

"Speed is the key to progress. Zoe, when you and Barry defeated Tony Woodward, you were able to synchronize your flight speed with Barry's running speed. Now that's an amazing feat, but I need you both to kick it up a notch."

Suddenly, both mine and Barry's phones went off.

"There was a homicide," Barry told Dr. Wells. "I'm sorry. I've gotta go."

"Me too, I've been called in to help," I said as Barry stood.

"This is not just about you. Remember that."

I gave Dr. Wells a small smile and nodded before looking at Barry.

"Yeah," he said and we both left S.T.A.R. Labs together.

------>

At the crime scene, Barry pulled back the sheet covering the victim and lying before us was a severely burned corpse. I gasped and kneeled next to him. Barry exhaled and turned when Zach and Joe approached us.

"I hope you both skipped your breakfast," he said to them.

"Whoa," Zach said.

"What the hell could do that?" Joe asked.

"Two thousand four hundred degrees, give or take," I told them, standing up.

"This area is filled with combustibles. How come nothing else burned up?" Zach asked.

I hung the camera I held around my neck by the strap and started to climb the scaffolding nearby.

"Where are you going?" Barry asked.

"You see the soot on the ground where the cement is burnt?" I asked as I climbed.

"Yeah," Barry answered.