Rocky Raymond//Book Three\\ COMPLETED

Chapter 8- Monster

MacKenzie' POV

"Transformers are the key." Barry says in the cortex. I sit on the desk next to Cisco as we talk.

"No, I agree..." HR says.

"Anytime the monster's shown up, any nearby have exploded." Barry says.

"They blow up." HR says.

"Car alarms keep malfunctioning too." Cisco says.

"Car alarms, transformers. What is the connection?" HR asks. "Yeah, we'll get there, fellas. We'll get there. We just got to keep trying."

"Maybe someone's pulling power out of the transformers and using it to power the monster." Cisco says.

"Power... yes, the monster. That's... ah, you just beat me to it, San Francisco." HR says.

"But that can't be it." I say.

"Can't be it..." HR says.

"'Cause we would have detected a surge in the power grid." Cisco says.

"We did not." HR says.

"Not if it was broadcast power or something like a portable Tesla tower." Barry says.

"A portable Tesla power." HR says.

"Tower." Barry says.

"Tower." HR repeats. "That's what it is. Nice. Teamwork, hmm? So PS, where I'm from, on my Earth, we call that a problem solved. I'm gonna go for coffee. On my Earth, the coffee was wiped out by blight. Can you imagine?"

HR leaves the room and Cisco, Barry and I look at each other.

"He didn't really do anything, did he?" Barry asks.

"Thank you. Took me a while to realize it, but he's just resaying everything that we're saying in a different way." Cisco says, then he holds his hand out towards me for a high five and I give him one. "Thank you for figuring out what I was saying."

"It was easy, what you said about pulling the power was completely wrong." I say.

"Wait." Barry says. "HR did have the idea for the rope."

"Ah, ah, reverse inception." CIsco says. "He made you think he had the idea for the rope, but he didn't even tell us how to use it."

"Okay, well, we're not gonna be caught off guard again. We should vibe him." Barry says.

"It'd be my pleasure." Cisco says and we walk out.

The three of us walk to the workroom.

"Where'd he go?" Barry asks.

"Doesn't matter." Cisco says. "I don't need him."

"What do you mean? What do you... hey, dude. Come on, you can't just go through his stuff; that's not..." Barry says.

"I'm not going through his stuff." Cisco says and he picks something up. "See, this is what I'm talking about. What even is this?"

I grab the object from Cisco's hands and study it. Then, it beeps.

"Now I seem to have won most of the team's trust, except Francisco's." HR's voice says.

I look at CIsco and Barry.

"Those are my things." HR says walking in. I hide the object in my hands behind my back. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" Cisco asks HR, walking over to him.

"What?" HR asks.

"Who are you really?" Cisco asks. "We know you're hiding something."

"You've been burned, twice... by a man with the same face as me." HR says. "I imagine it's hard to trust after something like that."