Catalyst (probably not going to update anymore, don't watch the show anymore)

Chapter 49

Cisco and I watched Oliver's public service announcement he gave to Starling City on the news, and it seems now that he has chosen to be called the Green Arrow.

"I hate it when they put a color in their name," Cisco grumbled.

I laughed, "It's catchy."

Around us, Caitlin, Professor Stein, and Iris were gathering information on Sand Demon; Jay decided to stay in the pipeline until Barry decided to trust him, or until I made him get out.

"Yo," Barry greeted as he ran in.

Cisco got up and went to the monitor that displayed the results on the sand. "Yo," he explained, "the sample you gave us. Not sand, definitely human cells."

I smirked, and then joined everyone who watched Cisco explain. "Yeah, Barry sighed, "I already got that."

"I hate to say it," Cisco shrugged, "but I think this Earth-2 theory is starting to make sense."

Barry was shocked. "For real?" he asked sarcastically.

Iris glanced at me confused, and I announced, "Barry thinks Jay is lying about Sand Demon and everything else."

"My point is that I'm just not going to believe some guy that walks in here and says a few things that sort of check out," he explained.

I glared at him. "Sort of? He was right about Zoom."

Barry argued, "We don't even know anything about Zoom. What is Zoom? Is Zoom even real? Right now that's just a story around a campfire." He turned around, and asked Stein, "Have you found a breach yet?"

"Not yet," Stein explained, "but we know how to now."

Barry looked at Caitlin. "Have you found one thing to suggest that Jay is a speedster? Is the speedforce even in his system?"

Caitlin responded shyly, "It doesn't appear to be."

"See," Barry said to all of us, "we are scientists. You are a journalist," he pointed at Iris and then me, "You are the director of Star-Labs. We test, we prove, we report. That's what we do. Except right now, nobody here wants to do any of that except me."

The room went silent.

I calmly asked Barry, "Bar, can you meet me in my office for a second?" He ran both of us up to my office, and I shut the door. "Sit," I instructed him, pointing to the white chairs in front of my desk. Barry sat down, and I sat down in the chair facing him. "What's happened to you?"

"Me?" Barry asked dumbly.

I snapped, "Yes, you. The you that I fell in love with, the you that's my best friend, the you that became the Flash," I was obviously angry now, "I haven't seen that you in a long time."

He sighed, "A lot's changed, Finn."

"Yeah, it sure has," I scoffed, "You've learned how to not trust people. What is it about Jay that you don't like?"

Barry got up and sat down on the window seat, and stared out at the brightly lit city. "I don't know," he huffed.

I joined him at the window seat, and took his hand into mine. "It's because he reminds you of Eobard, isn't it?" I asked with a hint of sadness in my voice.

"We trusted that man for months," Barry said softly, "and you know what? Eddie is dead. Ronnie is dead. You almost died. And a whole lot of other people in this city, they're dead too. All because we trusted him. I'm not going to let us make that mistake again."