EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME TWO
━━ ❛ 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒉𝒔 ❜
chapter no. 047!
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Erin Osborn shouted, slamming the door behind her as she marched into the kitchen furiously.
Piper looked up from the table, brows raised as she closed the comic book in her hands and finished chewing on her granola bar. "Uh, hey Erin," she greeted awkwardly.
"Don't "uh hey, Erin," me," the short-haired woman snapped. "How could you?!"
Furrowing her brows, the redhead stood up from the table. "What're you talking about?" She questioned, throwing away the granola wrapper as her heartbeat accelerated.
"It took me forever to figure it out, but I finally did," Erin stated triumphantly, stepping forward.
"Figure what out? Erin, what are you—"
"Dammit, Piper!" The volume of Erin's voice overshadowed the sound of the front door and Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin walking in, searching for the two women. Joe had sent them to look for the pair since Erin had been gone for over an hour. "You've been lying to everyone for over a month. Just fucking admit it, okay? The charades up! You're caught!"
Piper shut her mouth, and all color drained from her cheeks. It felt as if time had stopped, and she could barely breathe. A low buzz began to hum in her ears as she felt a cloak of darkness drapped over her shoulders.
She watched in mild alarm from where the latter stood as the woman's eyes faded into familiar dark, hollow pits. The pits that she'd grown more accustomed to seeing every day. The pits helped lead her to the conclusion that Piper wasn't Piper. Instead, the pits belonged to the brewing alter-ego inside the woman.
A devilish smirk spread across her lips, and she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "I wondered when someone would get smart enough to figure it out. Truthfully, it took much longer than we expected." Piper admitted, leaning against the kitchen countertop.
"We?" Erin echoed, raising a brow. Her theory of Piper working with Savitar was slowly becoming a reality.
"You were smart enough to make it this far. Surely, you can spell out the rest of the sentence for yourself," Piper teased, a sick and twisted smile creeping up onto her cheeks.
The short-haired woman breathed in shakily, knowing that this was it. This was all the confirmation she needed.
Caitlin glanced at Barry and Cisco with wide eyes, barely recognizing Piper's voice due to how low and deep it was. The three stood behind the wall that separated the kitchen and living room, listening in on the conversation at hand and confused beyond a doubt.
All they knew for sure was that Erin had figured something out and caught the redhead in an extensive lie.
"That's why you've been avoiding Barry... you knew that if you were around him, you wouldn't be able to play the role he assigned you," Erin breathed, wanting more confirmation.
The man in question furrowed his brows, briefly making eye contact with Cisco, who appeared to be coming to some sort of conclusion. The scarce pieces of the puzzle were quickly coming together, and he refused to believe that it could be true.
"Actually, no. That's not the reason, but a good guess. The effort was cute," Piper commented, flicking a strand of hair out of her face.
"Then why?! God, he's the only person you have ever fallen head over heels in love with, Piper! Why would you do this to him? To your relationship? Not to mention, how could you do this to us?! To me? To the team? We're your family. Your friends. How could you do this?!" Erin shouted, her eyes watering as she only grew angrier.
Not able to hide from the shadows anymore, Barry walked into the kitchen, slamming his keys on the counter. "How could she do what?" he questioned hotly, Caitlin and Cisco following behind him.
Erin turned her head, meeting her friends' confused and hurt expressions. Seeing how heartbroken they appeared already without even knowing what was going on only infuriated her more.
This was Piper's fault. She did this.
The woman held the power of breaking their hearts over all of them. She knew how much everyone cared for each other and for her. She knew and was knowingly using it to her advantage, but for how long? That was the real question.
How long had she been stringing them along? Since the day she came back? Or last week?
The range of answers was endless. There was no way they'd ever be able to know for sure.
"She's working with Savitar," Erin spat.
The water bottle in Cisco's hand fell to the floor, and he backed away, shaking his head. All the pieces fit perfectly. All this time, he was right.
Caitlin quickly shook her head. "No, no, no, no. She wouldn't. Not after everything he put her through... her city... and Central City. Piper wouldn't... she couldn't. Right, Piper?" She breathed, looking at her friend desperately.
Rather than meeting Caitlin's gaze, Piper rested her eyes on the brown-haired man who was deathly silent, his facial expression impossible to decipher.
It was as if he forgot to breathe as the words "She's working with Savitar" echoed in his mind, sending waves of unwanted chills down his spine at the thought of her being near him. Let alone willingly working with him.
As much as Barry wanted to be surprised by this news, he wasn't, for he felt the knife in his back before he saw it. It nearly made sense, in a twisted and nearly unbelievable way.
Her behavior gave it away, now that he looked back in hindsight. The way she talked to him, and she would hold her tongue when it came to certain things, how she treated not only him but the others. However, the one thing that should've told him the agonizing truth was her eyes.
The eyes that were once filled with so much purpose and passion glowed in a jubilant fashion, making the rest of her face light up whenever they made eye contact. The eyes that looked at him as if he was the only person in the world. The eyes filled with reckless and endless love would fade into an abyss of a flaming fire if anyone hurt those she cared about. The eyes reminded him of melted chocolate mixed with a swirl of light brown caramel that mimicked nature's color after a rain shower.
Now, her eyes were a bottomless pit of solitary darkness that left him cold and paralyzed. They resembled the shell of the person she used to be, the Piper she told him that she wasn't anymore and would never be again.
He should've known.
The scarlet speedster had been fooled so many times yet continued to be because he couldn't stop lending out his heart to those he sympathized with. He couldn't stop caring about people, and that was his flaw. He couldn't resist believing a beautifully dressed lie that made his heart swell with endearment and his knees weak at the softest touch or kiss. The truths that failed to get to the light were now getting their turn in the spotlight, and their brightness scorched his skin.
"You're awfully quiet, Allen," the redhead mused, raising a suggestive brow.
Barry blinked, feeling the weight of his heart pulling downward. All he could see when he looked at her was the woman he was in love with, the woman he could spend every millisecond with and never get bored or annoyed with, the woman he fell further for every day. He couldn't see the person she'd become. His heart and eyes refused to. He refused to believe that he was losing another person in his life.
"Why?" Barry managed to choke out. "Why, Piper? Why would you— How could you?"
Piper clicked her tongue again, shaking her head pitifully. "You ask too many questions, handsome. You don't need to know everything."
Breathing in shakily, the brown-haired man forced himself to look away. The sound of her voice and her choice of words mimicked those of Efficacy's, which was unnerving. His stomach was growling with grief, and he felt as if he was going to be sick.
"No. This isn't you talking. This is Savitar. He did this. He's messing with you, Pipes." He was quick to shake his head, stepping towards her.
As soon as the familiar nickname was uttered, Piper felt a fire ignite inside her. "Don't call me that," she snapped, pushing away from the countertop.
"He's gotten back into your head! That's the only explanation for why you're acting like this, you have to know that!" Barry shouted. The volume of his voice caused both Caitlin and Erin to flinch.
The woman they all treasured was slowly becoming a distant memory as they could no longer remember the last time Piper had seemed like herself. The last time she'd made an inappropriate comment directed towards the scarlet speedster, or couldn't speak properly because she felt awkward, or when her cheeks had burned red with embarrassment and anxiety. Hell, they couldn't remember the last time she laughed.
Piper Lita was a shadow lingering in the depths of their minds.
"This isn't you!" Cisco protested, joining the brown-haired man's side.
It was unnerving how identical Piper was to her counterpart on Earth-Two. Neither of them liked it, and it only made them wonder how much damage she had done so far. How much chaos she'd already ensured that they weren't aware of yet.
A sick and twisted smile crept onto her face, and she chuckled. "Oh, Cisco, I've never felt more like myself in my entire life." Piper mused, twirling a strand of curly red hair around her index finger and watching as he shook his head at her words.
"How long?" Barry asked hotly, taking another step forward. There were fewer than a few feet between the two, which only made the two other women feel more uneasy.
"How long what?" Piper parroted, watching as her tone made the speedster more conflicted.
Erin rolled her eyes. "How long have you been working with Savitar? How long have you been lying to us?"
Caitlin watched carefully from where she stood next to a bookshelf in the kitchen, keeping her mouth shut.
All eyes swiveled to Piper, waiting for her answer. Her eyebrows raised slightly as she couldn't help but smirk. Every part of her couldn't resist the kick of satisfaction she got from seeing them all squirm with anxiety and fear. She knew how she behaved was unnerving, and she loved it. She held some sort of power and knowledge over each of them, and just knowing that made her feel more powerful than ever before. She no longer felt powerless against the world.
"Why so quiet, Cait? Cat caught your tongue?" Piper cooed, intentionally ignoring Erin's questions.
Caitlin bit the inside of her cheek as she took in a shaky breath, still in denial of what was happening.
"Hey! I asked you a question," Erin snapped, pushing Barry to the side. Only a good few inches separated the two friends as the two glowered at one another. "How could you do this?" she whispered, her caramel eyes searching Piper's hollow, dark brown ones.
A small smirk tugged at the redhead's lips in amusement at the expression etched across Erin's face, and she tried her best to stifle the chuckle that was threatening to break loose. "God," Piper breathed, letting out a soft laugh as she shook her head. "You're so cute when you're trying to be intimidating."
"What the hell is wrong with you? I don't even recognize the woman in front of me right now," Erin whispered, her eyes tearing up.
Piper shrugged. "That's the whole point, Osborn. You're not supposed to." Then, the woman's words got the better of Erin, and she snapped. Before anyone had any time to do anything, Erin pulled back her arm and punched Piper across the face.
Cisco gasped, and everyone watched as her body dropped to the floor. She lay unconscious, eyes closed.
Caitlin quickly rushed out, dropping to her knees and cupping Piper's cheeks, brushing strands of hair away from her face.
"Erin, what the hell did you do that for?!" Barry exclaimed, turning the woman in question around to face him.
Erin rolled her eyes. "I was tired of hearing her voice," she grumbled.
The kitchen was filled with a tense silence until the brunette broke it. "Her pulse is racing," Caitlin finally spoke, spinning her head around, "and her skin is ice cold to the touch. We need to get her back to S.T.A.R. Labs." Barry's face blanched, and he nodded at her words, the reality of the situation finally hitting him in full force.
"When we get back, you're running tests on her," Cisco replied roughly, his eyes glossed over with a thin layer of tears. "There's no way in hell that's my best friend who was just talking to us. Something's wrong."