"The casino wasn't the target," Parker announced when Cisco and Dr.Wells arrived. "In the event of an attack, the casino is prepared to relocate the money."
"That was Snart's plan all along. He wanted to trigger the move," Barry explained.
Cisco bent over the computer, his fingers typing wildly across the board. He found the location of the truck easy and told Barry, who grabbed the suit and bolted.
Parker leaned over and pressed the microphone.
"Hey, Allen, make sure you say something about your secret identity. Scare him out of his wits or something. Look menacing. Although, I know that's hard for you." Parker teased.
Barry gave a fake laugh. "Very funny."
When her finger slid off the button, Caitlin asked, "What do you say we explain to Iris and Eddie what Lightning Psychosis is?"
"Lightning Psychosis?" Parker repeated.
"A cover for his weird attitude, since Eddie and Iris can't know about what he really does at S.T.A.R. Labs," Caitlin said cleverly.
Parker proudly gave her a small clap, overjoyed by the idea. She would have gone, but she already made other plans. That's what she told Caitlin.
Using one of the S.T.A.R. Labs vans, the two girls carpooled to their locations. Caitlin dropped Parker off at the CCPD and then proceeded to a late night meet up with Eddie and Iris.
Knowing she would be in Barry's Lab quite a bit, connecting his board to her own, Parker kept the key. She shouted a greeting at the night shift officers and followed regular path to his Lab.
Surprisingly, the manila folder full of evidence against Harrison Wells was untouched when she uncovered it.
She laid her evidence out on the floor and flipped the bulletin board around, revealing the clear dry-erase one. Grabbing a marker, she started writing on it.
Harrison Wells= Reverse-Flash or just suspicious creep?
Evidence Saying So}
+Told Barry to focus on the Reverse-Flash
+Continued with the Accelerator, although he was warned against it
+Found the Arrow's identity rather quickly
+When trapped with the Reverse-Flash, he wasn't killed
+Hartley Rathaway hint: "..in a Flash."/"I know his secret."
+Foot twitch
Evidence Against}
-Blood sample didn't match him
Time Travel= Possible
Evidence Saying So}
+Young Barry Allen saw two speedsters in his house: one with yellow lightning a.k.a. adult Barry
+Reverse-Flash telling Barry it was like they'd fought before (or something)
REGARDING THE NORA ALLEN MURDER:
Adult Barry and Reverse-Flash go back in time(HOW?) and make it to his old house(FOR WHAT REASON?) They fight, Nora Allen is killed, and Young Barry is dropped off a few blocks down the road, presumably by Adult Barry.
"Parker?"
Parker screeched, jumping inches in the air from the shock of Barry Allen finding her there.
"Holy shit!" she yelled, "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Barry retorted, taking a few steps forward.
He had caught the dry erase marker in her hand and wanted to see what she was writing.
Parker screeched once more, halting his movement. She stared at him with her eyes enlarged, racking her brain for some excuse. And then, like a pile of bricks, it hit her.
"Birthday plans. Your birthday is in a week. I have plans. The plans for your birthday," Parker visibly winced after the words came out of her mouth.
"Barry?" Another voice called.
Barry turned around to see who was entering, and using that time, Parker flipped the board, hiding her work.
She flung the dry erase marker behind her and coughed, covering the clink of it landing somewhere. If she was lucky, it would be out the window.
"Joe! What a nice surprise," Parker greeted.
Joe smiled and waved at her. He looked to his foster son, narrowing his eyes. It went without saying that he wasn't happy with being in their presence.
"Barry, why did you want to meet up so early?"
"Early?" Parker repeated, cutting Barry off.
"It's almost six in the morning.." Joe told her, a worried look appearing on his face. "Parker, have you been here all night?"
Parker pointed to the pile of empty Red Bulls in the garbage can. Since it was the only drink around, she had chugged them without keeping count.
"Enough about my long night. What's your deal, Allen?" Parker asked, bringing the attention to her suddenly jittery boyfriend.
Tapping his fingers against his chin, he sighed. "I think you two are right about Dr.Wells."
Parker mentally wondered where she had gone wrong in hiding her suspicion. Seeing her eyes divert from him and gloss with wonder, Barry pointed at her.
"I've learned how to read your face. Plus, sometimes when he's not looking, you mouth, 'You suck,' to him."
Parker made a small, "Ah.." and gave a knowing nod, allowing him to continue.
"We were right about which part?" Joe asked.
"All of it," Barry admitted. "Do you think he wanted me to become the Flash?"
Joe sighed, taking a seat at Barry's desk. He read Parker's board and in his head, applied his own knowledge and memories to give Barry a solid answer.
"Everything he's done from the night you got struck has been to keep you safe," Joe began.
"And to make me go faster," Barry remembered. "Once, he said he needed more speed from me. Why?"
Parker cleared her throat. "Maybe he needs you for something. For what exactly, I can't tell you."
"We need answers. Let's just go get him," Barry eagerly told them.
At the same time, both Parker and Joe loudly disagreed, giving him looks of disappointment.
Joe continued, "As much as you want to, we can't."
"You've had your suspicion since you first met him! You thought he might be the Reverse-Flash," Barry tried.
"Except the blood from your old house didn't match him," Parker doubted.
"He has to know what happened that night. Whatever he knows, and whatever he wants from you, it has to do with whatever really happened fifteen years ago."
"He's been patiently waiting," Parker added. "That's what we need to do."
Barry's head snapped to the open window when a scream rang through it. He took long, purposeful strides to the window and peered through.
From her position by the board, Parker saw smoke a few blocks away.
"Babe, you might wanna go," Parker encouraged.
Barry nodded and bolted away from the CCPD.
Joe and Parker left to meet him at S.T.A.R. Labs.
When they arrived, a video was playing. A man with a black mask covering his eyes was spinning around slowly with the camera pointed at him, spitting out every word carefully and smiling sinfully.
"Talking in third person is never a good sign," Cisco pointed out.
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "You're just mad because he named himself."
"No, he didn't," Joe said. "About twenty years ago, Central City was hit by a series of terrorist attacks. One man killed ten civilians and two cops. That guy called himself the Trickster."
They all paused while Cisco typed in the name. He found an article and brought it up, immediately wincing at the screen.
Parker leaned over the monitor to see a couple pictures-- the funniest being the old Trickster in a rather eccentric costume.
"Someone was rocking the tights," Cisco laughed.
Grinning, Parker read the only important part of the caption out loud. "His name is James Jesse."
"And where is he now?" Dr.Wells wondered.
"Serving several life sentences at Iron Heights. He's just about the most dangerous thing Central City had ever seen," Joe explained.
Barry, who had stayed silent through the entire talk and stared everywhere except at the people in the room, decided that was his time to jump into the conversation.
"Until the Particle Accelerator blew up," he said.
Parker abruptly choked on her water. Barry turned his head to check on her, and she widened her eyes in a warning.
If Barry couldn't keep his act together, the entire suspicion would get out and possibly ruin their lives.
Whether Dr.Wells was the Reverse-Flash or not, he was still dangerous and unpredictable.
The last thing that needed to happen was him finding out his workers were being slowly introduced to his sketchy persona.
"Um..?" Dr.Wells said, his tone questioning.
"Barry and I will check out James Jesse--" Joe quickly recovered, laying his hand roughly on Barry's shoulder and giving him a nudge towards the door. "--and see if he can give us something that will help."
"I'll analyze the video and see if I can identify the man behind the mask," Cisco offered.
Parker swung around the desks and plopped into the chair beside Cisco, flipping her computer on.
While he worked on identification, she pulled up articles about the old Trickster and compared between his previous tricks and the copycat's monologue, searching for anything similar.
With Joe and Barry gone, Dr.Wells tapped her shoulder. "Is something wrong with Barry?"
Having already mentally formed an answer, Parker didn't look away from her screen when she answered.
"He's just mad I hogged all of the blankets last night. And also because I refused to buy smooth peanut butter, when crunchy is clearly better."
Both happened to be true stories, however, they did not originate the night before.
>>>>>
A couple hours later, the copycat Trickster decided to send out another message.
"This was posted a few hours ago. Whoever this trickster is, he's certainly not shy," Dr.Wells noted.
Barry casually turned his head and in a snarky tone, said, "Well some criminals don't like to hide in the dark."
"Honey," Parker spat, immediately after he closed his mouth. "Please think twice about what you're saying. I think we should keep our bad attitudes between ourselves, please and thank you."
Wanting to cover their argument and also the stare-off that followed, Joe looked at Cisco. "Can you trace where the video was filmed from?"
"We tried already. This dude is using some crazy Felicity-caliber scrambler that I've never seen. The origin of the upload is coming from hundreds of different places at once. 'til he uploads another video, I can't do anything," Cisco sighed.
"This psychopath has the ability to destroy the city," Barry said impatiently. He started to sway side to side, anxious.
"Or not," Parker disagreed, and every eye turned to her. "All villains have a plan. Either it's a straight forward one, or a decoy. I mean, he is the Trickster."
Everyone stayed quiet to mull over her thoughts. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for someone to agree with her. That didn't happen, or at least, not that she knew of.
"Mr.Allen, a word?" Dr.Wells asked.
Barry met Parker's eyes when Dr.Wells drove into a different room.
Before Barry could fully move past, Parker slid her chair back, making his shoes squeak against the floor as he abruptly stopped.
"Do not fuck this up," Parker threatened. "I swear to God, I will--"
"--do many bad things to me, I know," Barry grumbled, walking around her. He disappeared into the room with Dr.Wells and shut the door.
>>>>>>
"Iris wants to meet up with me as the Flash," Barry said when he walked out of his talk with Wells.
"Didn't she tell you no more rooftop meetings?" Parker asked. "It must be important if she needs you."
Barry's eyebrows furrowed. He was surprised-- Parker never agreed to the rooftop meetings. For some reason, she was tolerating his actions.
Feeling his eyes linger on her, Parker narrowed her eyes and met his. Her eyes flickered to the doorway, a silent pass to leave.
A few hours later, while Parker was laying on the floor and trying to nap until something good happen, the computer beeped.
Grudgingly, she pushed herself from the floor and peaked over the desk.
Parker scooted across the floor, pressing her finger on the microphone.
"Heads up, Allen," Parker announced. "New video from the Trickster."
"--the bomb is somewhere between 52nd and Avenue B.." The Trickster said, followed by an evil cackle.
Caitlin checked the news; Cisco tried the satellite; Parker looked through traffic cameras near the location; Barry ran through the grid around the location.
"Guys, I can't find it!" Barry yelled.
"Nothing on CCTV or any traffic cameras.." Caitlin chimed.
"I retasked our satellite to look for bomb signatures, but nothing's coming up," Cisco huffed. "A bomb that big would have to give off some kind of sign."
Parker's fingers on the keyboard slowly came to a stop. She narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Then, it's not real. It's proven by science that bombs give off thermal or chemical signature, and if it's not there--"
"--then it's some kind of trick," Dr.Wells finished.
There was a pause on Barry's side. "I'm going to keep looking."
"What the fuck?" Parker blurted out.
She pressed a few keys on the computer beside her, bringing up the camera installed in Barry's suit. When he stopped running, he stopped in front of a large crate.
"Do not open that crate, you have no idea--"
Barry ignored her warning. She screeched as she saw his hands reach forward and open the box. Nothing happened at first, then he leaned forward and everyone saw the words scribbled on the bottom of the crate: Tricked ya!!
"I think I should get to say 'I told you so,'" Parker harshly snapped.
Her focus moved to her own computer when an alarm went off. There were many alarms related to crime that were programmed to go off, but all had a different sound. Bells chimed, meaning a panic button was pressed in some building.
"Iron Heights Prison," Cisco announced.
Dr.Wells snapped his fingers. "James Jesse. He's tricked us all."
"They took a hostage!" Barry yelled, over the sound of wind from his running.
"Okay, who?" Parker asked. Her fingers tapped the keyboard lightly, ready to send security cameras on a search.
"My dad."