Vera Pyra (The Flash) (Book One)

Chapter 8__Pyra vs. Flash and Arrow

Cisco, Caitlin and I were at STAR Labs.

Barry was out there, suited up as the Flash.

"Barry, bank robbery in progress at Cunningham and Sampere," I told him.

"I got it," Barry told us.

"Wait," Caitlin told us. "That's where I bank."

"Once superthieves showed up, I went mattress," Cisco told us.

Barry had taken care of the bank robbery on his own, but hadn't caught the actual thief.

~

Everyone at the bank robbery had been angered enough to try to kill each other.

We thought another metahuman might have been involved.

"Anger, hate, aggression," Wells told us.

Cisco imitated Yoda's voice. "A Jedi craves not these things." There was no reaction. "No one is feeling that quote?"

"Everyone in the bank went total savage for, like, five minutes," Barry told us. "And then they were fine again."

"Anger can be a powerful emotion," Wells told us. "If this metahuman can engender irrational feelings of anger in his victims, he can do a lot of damage."

Caitlin walked closer. "Detective West helped me get a copy of the CAT scans the hospital did on everyone at the bank. Take a look."

Caitlin plugged the drive into the computer.

The image appeared on the four screens on the wall.

"Look at this," Wells told us. "The emotion centers of the brains are still showing signed of being overwhelmed."

"Particularly the area that controls executive function," Caitlin told us. "That's the part that stops people from doing whatever random and potentially destructive things that pop into their heads."

"How do you think the meta does it to them?" I asked.

"That's the half-million-dollar question," Caitlin told us.

Barry's phone buzzed. He pulled it out to look at the message. "Hey, if you guys figure it out, just give me a call, okay?"

"Is the Flash off to another rooftop rendezvous with Iris?" I asked.

Barry shook his head. "No." I raised my eyebrows, unconvinced. Barry nodded. "Yeah, but she probably just wants to ask me... I mean, you know, him... about metahuman stuff for her blog."

"Do you want some advice?" Caitlin asked.

"No matter what I say, I'm getting the advice, right?" Barry asked.

"Don't get involved, as the Flash or yourself," Caitlin told him. "You don't wanna be the one to blame for their breakup."

Barry nodded. "Okay, I hear you."

Barry zoomed to get into his Flash suit, zooming out, leaving.

~

Cisco, Caitlin and I walked into the Cortex to see Barry in his Flash suit and Felicity's shirt on fire, so she had to take it off and leave herself in a bra.

Felicity grabbed her purse, using it to cover herself, looking over all of us. "I'm glad I decided not to go braless."

"You guys remember Felicity," Barry told us awkwardly.