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CHAPTER EIGHTY
olxxx. blind barry and cisco's secret is revealed
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"I STILL CAN'T see. How long is this gonna last?" Barry questioned, back at STAR Labs, Caitlin shining a red light into his eyes.
"You're suffering from solar retinopathy. Your retinas are severely damaged. You're lucky you're not permanently blind." Caitlin told the man, him rubbing his eyes.
"But with your rapid regeneration abilities, your sight should return soon." Jay told Barry, smiling in reassurance.
"6.25 hours by my estimation." Harry spoke up, before going on to scold Barry, "All this could have been avoided if you just stopped Light instead of chitchatting with her."
"She caught Barry off guard." Jay argued.
"Always an excuse with you, all right?" Harry retorted, "Hes the fastest man alive. How could she have possibly do that?"
"Because Light looks exactly like my ex-girlfriend, Linda Park." Barry told the group.
"That's why Zoom sent her- Because he knew you'd hesitate." Harry realized.
"What, is he stalking us now?" Chloe grumbled, crossing her arms.
"That's means Zoom had to have known somehow that Linda was your ex." Cisco spoke up.
"Which is why Barry has to act now, before Zoom sends another double from Barry's life." Harry ordered.
"All right, right now, I'm more worried about Linda. When I saw who she was under the mask, I said her name. What if Light didn't even realize that she had a doppelgänger here until I accidentally told her?" Barry questioned.
"The first thing that Atom Smasher did when he crossed the breach was to kill his doppelgänger." Cisco added.
"Yeah, but Lights not like Atom Smasher." Jay spoke up, repeating how she wasn't a killer.
"We don't know that for a fact." Chloe told him, shrugging.
"We should keep an eye on your Linda." Harry told the team.
"All right, I'll go." Barry got up but immediately bumped into Caitlin. "Oh!"
"Sorry." Barry just continued on walking as if he could see.
"Bro." Cisco spoke up. "Barry- You can't fucking see!" Chloe exclaimed. He turned to them, knocking into the door frame, "What? Ooh!"
"Okay! You can't do anything until your sight returns." Jay told Barry, helping him walk, "No, no, no, no, come on, here's the little rail here." He set Barry's hand on the rail, patting his shoulder, "I'll do it."
"I'll go with you!" With that Caitlin walked after Jay, Chloe giving a confused look as she saw Iris storm into the cortex.
"Hey, Barry!" She called, making the man turn in what he thought was her direction, "Hey."
"I came as soon as I heard--" She then stopped, looking to Harry, him standing confused with his hands on his hips, "You look just like him." She breathed.
"I'm guessing my counterpart did something to offend her as well?" Harry asked the team.
"Her fiancée died because of him." Cisco told the man.
"Oh." Harry let out. Harry walked away after Iris stared at him for a few more long seconds.
"Iris, I know it's weird seeing him." Barry told the woman.
"Yeah, it's just a lot to process lately." Iris got cut off by Chloe, "Tell me about it-" Iris just went on as Chloe plopped down into her desk chair not paying attention to the conversation in front of her as she fiddled with her necklace; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
Chloe sighed, lost in thought, wondering how Leonard was doing. She hated the fact that he was in prison, she hated even more that it was her brother who put him there. And Barry didn't even seem to care that he'd thrown the love of her life into Iron Heights - it wasn't like he knew about her nightmares but still - He could've at least told her what he was doing and let her say a proper goodbye.
She snapped out of her thoughts to hear a, "Cisco, hey!" It was Barry, Chloe furrowed her brows, looking from the man to Cisco, letting out a small laugh. He was nowhere near Cisco.
"To your left. Other left." Iris grinned.
"Cisco!" Barry just kept walking back and forth making the redhead laugh. He finally found Cisco and the two cane up with a plan for Barry to go on his date.
Chloe chuckled, "Have fun with that." She pointed to the screen that showed Barry's point of view from the sunglasses Cisco made.
"Where are you going?" Cisco questioned the woman.
"Dont know. I'm just gonna go for a drive. Clear my head." With Cisco's nod, Chloe set off on a mission to just feel at peace for a few hours.
CHLOE GOT A call from Cisco a couple hours later, Jay and Caitlin had taken a hit curtesy of Light and a man who worked at CCPD was dead. Walking into the cortex, she saw her team already all there, "You guys okay?" She questioned the two.
"Yeah, were okay, Chlo." Caitlin smiled at the redhead, as Jay went back to talking to Barry, "Doctor Lights never killed before. I thought maybe we could reason with her."
"You cannot reason with someone under Zoom's influence, and now a man is dead, because of you, Garrick." Harry all but yelled, "This whole thing is because of you." He then pointed to Barry, "He doubts himself because of you, but believe me, Barry can do what you could not. Barry can stop Zoom."
Jay got out of his seat, raising his voice at the man, "I spent two years hunting Zoom."
"Wrong! Zoom hunted you!" Harry pointed at the man in front of him, "You spent the last two years of your life running, running, running from Zoom."
"Zoom would have killed me just like he will kill Barry if you lead him down this path!" Jay yelled at Harry, pointing a finger at the man.
"No, because he is not like you. Barry run towards danger, not from it, because Barry's not a coward."
Jay sent a punch to the mans face, knocking him down, the two of them grunting. But Harry simply stood back up and punched Jay a couple of times, once in the face, once in the stomach, before Jay got the upper hand and did the same to Harry. Jay was about to throw another punch when Barry separated the two.
"Enough!" Barry yelled, making Harry put his fist down, walking away as Jay sighed. Chloe just watched as Barry followed Harry out.
THE TWO MEN were now back in the cortex, Lights mask sitting in front of them.
"How did you get this?" Harry demanded, walking over to the mask.
"Iris shot it off Doctor Light when she attacked Linda." Barry told the man.
"You know how to use the mask to find Light?" Jay questioned.
"Yes, I do. All we have to do is give it to him." Harry looked to Cisco, making Chloe glare. "And why would you give it to, Cisco?" She asked, stepping over to by her long haired friend.
"Because he has powers."
Chloe scoffed, "No he doesn't." She lied, glaring at the man, Cisco didn't want to tell the team; she wasn't going to let someone she barley knew spill his secret.
Cisco shook his head, "What are you talking about?"
Harry moved his jacket sleeve, showing a watch, "I developed this watch to detect Meta-humans." He moved it to Barry, opening the watch, it beeped and flashed red.
Cisco had a worried look on his face as Chloe crossed her arms. He moved to Caitlin, the watch not doing anything.
"You never got an alert on your phone. You never reprogrammed the STAR Labs satellite-" Chloe cut him off, eyes narrowed, "Dude, shut the hell up, you don't know what you're talking about." He simply sent her a look before moving Chloe out of the way, the woman sending him another glare as he turned to the rest of the team, "And this is why."
He moved his watch and when it landed on Cisco, it was red and beeping. "He's a Meta-human."
Cisco closed his eyes, fidgeting with his hands, as Harry moved the watch.
"Asshole." Chloe grumbled, stuffing her hands into her jacket, her eyes flashed blue slightly as she glared at Harry.
"Cisco, have you know about this, and you didn't say anything to us?" Barry questioned, walking forward.
"He doesn't need to tell anyone anything if he doesn't want to." Chloe told him, sticking up for her friend.
"Wait, Chloe- You knew?" Barry questioned.
The woman didn't answer for Cisco started talking, sending a glare to Harry as he walked away, "Yeah, I was gonna tell you. Thanks a lot, Harry." He sarcastically spoke. "I swear I was, but I didn't." He soon started pacing a bit, "I was just- I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Barry asked, confused.
"Dr. Wells said the dark matter gave me this, this gift. He said that one day I'd thank him for it." He paused, "What if I become like him?"
"Cisco, I don't think any of us would become evil if we all of a sudden got powers, even if they were from Dr. Wells." Caitlin told him, the man turning back to the team.
"Yeah--" He shrugged, "Maybe you're right. I should have said something."
Chloe sighed, "Actually, it's really none of our business, I shouldn't have pressed you that one time. You don't have to share anything you're uncomfortable with sharing."
Cisco shook his head, "That was my fault. I'm sorry." Chloe wanted to say it wasn't but she didn't have the time too. Barry opened his mouth to reply as well but Harry beat him to it, "Well, you can be sorry later, because right now, we have to use your powers to find Doctor Light."
"Cisco, your abilities, how do they work?" Jay questioned the man.
Cisco sighed as he explained, "Uh, I get these feelings sometimes, these vibes, visions of the breachers when they come to this Earth. I just- I'm not sure what triggers it. Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes it's when I'm touching something of theirs."
"Touch the mask." Harry ordered, "You want to find Doctor Light, do it." Barry just shrugged nodding to Cisco.
The man exhaled, before he touched the mask, he closed his eyes, exhaling again. After a few seconds he opened his eyes, confused, before he closed them again, and hummed.
He then moved his hand away, and touched the mask again.
"I don't think it's working." Cisco spoke to them, moving his hand away fully.
"Try again." Harry told him, Cisco didn't do anything so Harry raised his voice, "Try again!"
"Whoa." Barry let out as Cisco moved his hand back onto the mask, exhaling. He then moved his hand away, "In sorry, it's not-"
"Again!"
"I can't control it." Cisco told him.
"Because you're afraid." Harry picked up the mask.
"I'm telling you I don't know how it works! I can't just make it happen!"
Harry raised the mask, "I'm telling you, yes, you can!" Cisco gasped as Harry thrust the mask to his chest, Chloe knew it was working. Harry removed the mask.
"So, what did you see?" Chloe questioned.
"South Plaza train station, platform 15." Cisco told them.
"What are you waiting for?" Harry asked Barry, and with that the man was speeding off.
"Oh, guys, the platforms crowded." Barry told them, "Are you sure she's here?"
"She should be wearing a black trench coat." Cisco told the man.
"Black trench coat. Found her." He then yelled, "Everybody get out of here! Go, go, hurry!" After a few minutes, Barry spoke again, "Guys, should of talked about this before I left, but how should I stop her?"
"Keep trying different angles, Barry. Find her blind spot." Jay told him.
"I can't get close enough. What should I do?"
"I don't know." Jay said.
"I gotta tell ya, that's not exactly the answer I was looking for."
"You need to confuse her." Harry told Barry, "Give her more than one target, so she does not know who to fire at."
"All right, how do I do that?"
"By running so fast you create multiple afterimages of yourself, you create a speed mirage."
"A wha- Speed mir- I've never run that fast."
"Well from what I've been told, you've traveled through time. You'll be more than fast enough."
"Okay."
"Barry?" Caitlin questioned after a while.
"I can't do it."
Jay was surprising the first to speak up, "Yes, you can, Barry. Hey, Dr. Wells is right. You are fast, faster than I ever was and better than I ever will be. Don't let fear and doubt hold you back like it did to me. You're The Flash, Barry. Show Light what that means." And with that Barry defeated Doctor Light.
"DOCTOR LIGHT IS safely locked in the pipeline." Caitlin told the team, walking back into the cortex.
"Nicely done." Cisco told the woman, Chloe nodding in agreement, humming. Caitlin and Cisco fist bumped.
"Wells, thank you for helping Barry put away Doctor Light." Iris told the man, walking over to him.
"So what now?" Joe questioned.
Barry exhaled, "We do what Dr. Wells said. We use her to lure Zoom here, end this once and for all."
"You can't be serious." Jay spoke up, confused.
"More breachers are gonna come. More innocent people may die. I can't let this happen anymore." Barry argued.
"You're making a mistake. Okay, Zoom is a nightmare you can't wake up from." Jay told the man, trying to get Barry to think about what he was doing.
"I've already had my worst nightmare." That sentence made Chloe chuckled a bit darkly, shaking her head, "You don't know that for certain, Barry." Barry sent her a glare, before going back to speaking, "His name was Reverse Flash, and I spent a long time being afraid of him. I'm not gonna be afraid anymore."
Chloe shook her head, thinking, Ugh, why does Barry have to act so cocky.
"Okay, Barry." Jay walked over to Barry, "You may be faster than me, but you're not ready to fight Zoom by yourself."
"That's just it, Jay." Barry started, "I'm not gonna fight him by myself. I've got all of them to help me." He turned to Dr. Wells, "I've got Dr. Wells." He turned back to Jay, "I've got you."
Jay looked down, shaking his head, "No, I can't in good conscience help you when I know it'll only lead to you losing your speed, or even worse, your death." Barry looked down at that.
"Optimism must be an Earth-1 thing." Cisco started, making Chloe chuckled, before shrugging, "He's kind of right, though."
The team didn't say anything to her words, Jay just turned to Harry, "You all need to ask yourself why this man, for years, wouldn't admit that he was responsible for the Particle Accelerator exploding underground." Jay turned back to the team, "He may not be Harrison Wells from your Earth, but he has just as many secrets as the one you knew."
Barry just nodded sadly. And with that Jay began his way out of the room, Caitlin trying to stop him, "Jay, please don't go."
"I'm so sorry, Caitlin." With that last sentence, Jay left the cortex.
Chloe ran a hand through her hair, sighing. She really wished she could rant to Leonard right about now.
THE NEXT MORNING, Chloe sat by Caitlin at Jitters, Cisco going to order their coffees. The redhead was fiddling with the necklace Leonard had gotten her last christmas, lost in thought. It hadn't even been that long since he had been imprisoned and Chloe was starting to miss him more and more each day that passed.
"Hey, you okay?" Caitlin questioned looking at the female, who was lost in thought.
Chloe snapped her head over to her, "Huh?" She quickly realized the question and made a hand motion, "Yeah, no, I'm okay. Just haven't been sleeping well." Chloe sent a pointed glare to Barry, him getting a confused look. But Chloe just looked back to Caitlin and smiled slightly, "But other than that, yeah, I'm fine." She lied, she wasn't fine, she missed her boyfriend, she missed him a lot.
But Caitlin and Barry both bought it, nodding. Though Barry asked the brunette, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just- I was getting used to Jay being part of the team." Caitlin told him, Chloe nodded, she may have had a strange feeling around the man, but she was starting to form a tolerance for him.
"Well, look, Jay is a hero. They always seem to show up just when you need 'em." Barry told the woman, Chloe saw Cisco coming over with their coffees.
"Yo, peep that." He told them, setting down the coffees and holding up a piece of paper.
"Nice, you got that girls number." Chloe grinned at her fiend.
"Wow!" Barry let out, grabbing his coffee as Chloe reached for hers.
"That's how it's done, young Padawan."
"Nice." Barry told the man.
"Going on a date next week." Cisco told them.
"Things are looking up for Cisco Ramon." Barry grinned, Chloe couldn't help but think, And things seem to be looking down for Chloe Allen.
"I guess so. Still stuck with these powers, though. Just don't know how to feel about 'em." Cisco told them quietly.
Barry laid a hand on the mans shoulder, "Hey, look, you don't gotta go through it alone."
"We're here for you, Cisco." Chloe smiled softly, Cisco letting out a small smile at the two Allen's.
"And now, you need a cool name." Caitlin added.
"Oh snap! You're totally right." Cisco sighed, "I gotta think about this one. Well you know me. It's gotta he perfect." Barry hummed, "Something that really sings, you know? Something like-"
"Vibe?" Chloe questioned.
"Vibe." Caitlin and Barry repeated.
"Vibe." Cisco grinned.
"Looks like we found a name!" Chloe happily replied, the group clicking their coffees together, smiles all around.
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AUTHORS NOTE | word count : 2982
AH HA
AH HA
N E X T C H A P T E R-
Y'ALL EITHER GONNA HATE OR LOVE ME IDFK-
So ya know the chapter i said i was proud of that i call "chapter blank"? yeah finally gonna post it as chapter eighty-one.
ALSO WE'RE AT EIGHY CHAPTERS LDBALDHSKA-
IM SO FUCKING-
P R O U D ?
THIS BOOK HAS COME SO FAR THO-
THANK YOU ALL FOR 9K+ READS AND 800+ VOTES!
JDLADHALA-
Favorite Part?
2021 edit; are you really best friends if you don't pick out each other's superhero names???
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