"Are you ready?" Dawn asks me. I really don't want to steal anything for Snart but I have to. If I can help to save someones life then I'll do anything.
"Yep," I lie. I revise the map of Mercury labs in my head for the millionth time. Okay, twenty-first floor, make a right, and enter the chem lab. I close my eyes and exhale. As soon as my eyes open I run as fast as I can, picking up speed as I go. Although the wind is whipping in my ears, all I hear is silence. Then the words Dawn said to me yesterday pops into my brain.
I get to the entrance of Mercury Labs and race past the the door and into the building. As soon as I am in the chem lab I quickly scour the room for the medicine that Snart described to me. Small, clear, yellow label. I find it fast and get out as soon as possible.
Once back at STAR Labs I give the cure to Caitlin and she injects it into Lisa's thigh. I walk back into the cortex, pulling my mask off. I sit next to Dawn on the desk she is sitting on. She is smiling, her eyes full of pride.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask.
"Because I'm proud of you. You did the wrong thing but look," she points through the glass wall and into the room where a grateful looking Leonard Snart is talking to his sister. I smile.
"The beautiful island," I respond.
"No way, not yet. There are still many waves to come. This is just the eye of the hurricane."
I take in what she is saying and realize she is right. There is still a killer speedster out there somewhere.
"Hey remember that night when we all went out to get burgers?" I say recalling the events that unfolded that evening.
"Of course, it was the best day of my life." Her response is unsettling.
"That was the day you were beaten and locked in a basement," I say like she is crazy.
"That was also the day I realized someone cared about me," she responds. My memory flashes back to that night. That night where she decided to call me instead of the police. That night when she cried in my arms. That night when she thanked me for caring about her. Before I have time to give my little sister a hug she wraps her arms around me and buries her head into my red suit. Wow. She never hugs anyone unless they hug first. In fact I have only seen her touch me and Jesse; sometimes she highfives Cisco or Caitlin but other than that she usually cowers into herself.
"Barry, I need you to promise me something," Dawn says with a serious tone.
"What is it?" I ask determined to do what ever she wants.
"I see some of the decisions you make in order to save other people. Some of them are very dangerous. I need you to promise me that you will be more careful." I have a hard time figuring out what she means. I haven't done anything reckless that endangered myself lately.
"What are you talking about, Dawn?"
"I don't know, it's just I have this bad feeling. You said that you wouldn't know what to do if I died, but that's not true. You had a life before you met me, I didn't," she chokes on a sob but continues talking. "If you left me I wouldn't be able to function."
I pull her face up to meet mine. I look into her rarely tear-filled eyes. "Stop," I say sternly. I can't listen to her talk like this. Mostly because I know that what she is saying is true. "You have nothing to worry about. I'm going to be fine."
She nods but burrows her head back into my shoulder. Then a question rose in my brain.
"Dawn?" I ask with an almost warning in my voice.
"Hmm?"
"How did you know that I said I couldn't live without you?" She looks up at me with worry in her eyes. I only said that when she was in her coma.
"I could hear you." She says under her breath.
My breathing shudders.
"I could also feel you holding my hands, I could feel your tears trickle down my arms," she says, her voice shaking. The pain in her words is almost tangible. She hiccups but tears still don't come out of her eyes. The opposite happens to me though. I can't help the tears that fall from my face.
"I'm so sorry," I say. I cradle her head and stroke her hair as if she is the one crying.
«»«»«»«»«»«»«»
A week later Lisa is better enough to leave STAR Labs. Cisco is leading her out of the room when Snart walks over to me.
"Thank you, Barry," he says a little awkwardly like he has never said thank you to anyone before. I nod my head as if to say your welcome. He pulls me aside so we are facing our backs to Dawn. "Let me offer you some advise about being a big brother," he says unexpectedly.
"You want to do everything for that little girl over there, but you need to realize that somethings are out of your control."
"Says the guy who made me break into a highly secure facility to get a cure for his sister," I say sarcastically.
"I'm just saying, there will come a day where The Flash can't even fix the damage."
I take in what he is saying then nod again. I thank him for his advise even though I don't really agree with him. He leaves with his sister.
I sit down to look over the city on the monitors; Everything seems quiet for the moment. Then a low rumble echos in my ears and the ground starts to shake. Is this an earthquake? Before I even have time to duck and cover the shaking stops. Cisco walks back into the room with Caitlin and Dawn.
"Was that an earthquake?" Dawn says with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, I think. But don't worry, it was too small for anyone to be hurt," I reassure.
Cisco looks at me frankly. "That depends on the epicenter. We could have just felt the end of it." He walks over to the monitor where I am sitting and looks at a seismographic map of the town. "Look, the epicenter was at 6.1."
I race out of the building to where the earthquake originated- right in the middle of town. Destruction lays all around me; buildings are flattened, streets are cracked. The sound of screams fill the air and I see faces of agony around me. In the middle of the wreckage I see a small woman with dark hair standing, untouched. She turns toward me.
"Hey there, cutie," she says in a semi-menacing tone. "I was wondering if you would show up." She grins.
"Did you do this?" I yell.
She laughs. "Yeah." I run at her like I would do in any fight and knock her out.
"Piece of cake," I say to her even though she can't hear me. I bring her back to the pipeline then go back to help the people in the city. There are people every where, screaming and crying. I race in and out of buildings, carrying people to hospitals. Sounds of sirens sob in the distance. The emancipation of people from the ruble goes into the night.
I hear a faint cry of help from underneath a demolished apartment building. I run over to the sound and see a girl about the same age as Dawn.
"Help, I'm stuck," she says and points to her foot. It's covered in blood and tucked under a large piece of rock. I try and lift the rock but it's too heavy.
"Guys, how do I get this rock off?" I say over comms. I hear Cisco's voice in my ear telling me if I can't lift it then I need to break it. I move my hands as fast as I can then dig them into the rock like a jackhammer and it breaks into small pieces, releasing the girls foot.
"It's okay," I say to the girl as I hand her to a paramedic. "You're going to be fine."
«»«»«»«»«»«»«»
When I get back to STAR Labs I am exhausted and scarred by all of the horrors I had seen today. I take a seat in the cortex and rest my head on my hands. I feel Joe come up to me and rest a hand on my shoulder.
"You did good Barry. You saved a lot of people."
I look up at him, thinking about that girl who reminded me of Dawn. "How could someone hurt so many people?" I ask. My voice sounds of one of a child.
"I don't know," he responds. "I guess some people are just too far gone. You can't control that." I am reminded of Leonard Snart's words when Joe says that. I make a mental note to my self to see Dawn before the end of the night. I hear a small alarm go off on one of the pipelines monitors and run over to see what is going on. The cell where the earthquake girl was being held was open. How did she-
Before I had time to finish my thought I hear two screams for the other room.
One's Jesse's.
One's Dawn's.