"You lied to us!" Caitlin yelled at Barry as I walked in, stopping at the door. Barry looked at me, a confused yet panicked look on his face.
"How could you tel us you've been experiencing dizzy spells!?" Caitlin continued as my mouth gaped slightly. I looked at Barry, crossing my arms.
"You've been telling me you're fine, Barry! Why were you hiding that?" I said as Caitlin nodded.
"God knows what's going on inside your body. Your cells are in a constant state of flux. You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure, or a transient ischemic attack." Caitlin said as Barry gave her a weird look, not understanding the big words.
"Mini-stroke. Probably not." I piped in as Barry mouthed a thank you to me.
"You, of all people should know, that in science we share. We do not keep secrets." Caitlin said before storming off.
"Wow. I haven't seen someone make her this'd cry since Ronnie." Cisco said as me and Barry looked at him.
"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé?" Barry said as Cisco nodded.
I zoned out as Dr. Wells started talking. Cisco and Barry gave me a weird look as I started rocking back and forth, suddenly feeling light headed.
I didn't pass out, thankfully, but zoned back in once I felt a hand on my elbow. "You alright, Cora?" Barry asked as I looked at him, nodding.
"Yeah. Yeah. Just got a little dizzy there for a moment. I'm fine." I answered as he raised a brow. "Barry. I'm not a speedster like you. I wasn't affected by the particle accelerator. I wasn't even in a Central City. I was just outside of it though, but I do not think I was close enough to be affected." I assumed as he slowly nodded, walking into the room that had the treadmill.
"A little padding. Just in case." Dr. Wells said as me and Barry raised our brows at the tower of star labs boxes.
"You sure about this, Cisco?" Me and Barry asked as Cisco held back a smirk.
"Most home treadmills have a maximum speed of about 12 MPH. Trust me, it can handle your speed." Cisco said as Barry shrugged, stepping up onto the treadmill.
I watched as Barry started running, lighting dancing around his body. At first, I had found it fascinating, but whenever I blinked, I found myself back at that night, barely able to breathe as the man in the yellow suit held me by the throat.
I stood in fear, but my face didn't show any as Cisco and Wells continued.
"Heart rate, blood pressure, nerve conduction all normal." Cisco said quietly.
"For Barry." Caitlin added. "Brainwave function within standard limits."
"Hey. Told you the treadmill could take it." Cisco said as my hands squeezed my arms tightly.
Everyone had drowned out, and I watched out of body as Barry passed out, getting thrown into the boxes.
Everyone had helped him up, taking him to the medical bed while I continued to stay frozen in place.
Because all I could see were those red eyes. The ones that have been haunting my dreams since I came to this city.
I could feel their confused and worried eyes on me. But I stood rigid, my hands slowly reaching up to my throat with a mind of their own.
What the hell is happening to me?!
"Cora?" Barry asked as he had woken up quickly, the squeaking of the medical bed echoing in the cortex as Barry slid off of it, stepping towards me slowly.
I felt my hands slither up to my throat before they grasped it tightly, cutting off my airways. I started coughing, gasping for breath as Caitlin yelled, dropping something as Barry spun me around, tears stinging my eyes as he tried to pry my hands off my throat.
I felt my eyes roll back as my knees buckled, everything going dark as I passed out.
I only woke up a few minutes later, gasping for air as I found Barry's hand in mine.
"Cora? Are you okay?" He asked, a worried look filtering his just as worried voice. I looked around, so confused as to what had happened.
"I- when you ran.. it just brought me back to that night a week ago... I couldn't move. And then.. my hands just started to move on their own..." I said as I reached up to my next, which hurt to touch.
"Something took over your body?" Barry said with a confused look as I thought for a moment.
"I-I don't know. Maybe?"
"Well. I just finished my calculations for Barry. You need to consume an amount equal to roughly 850 tacos." Cisco said as I rose a brow. Barry put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a worried look, and I returned one that showed I was alright.
"What if it's cheese and guac?" I turned my attention to Cisco, whose eyes widened.
"Thats... that's a whole other set of equations." Cisco whispered as me and Barry laughed.
"For Mexican, I recommend Tito's on Bruckner Avenue." Everyone turned their head to see Joe West standing in the doorway. "Best burritos in the city."
"Detective West," Dr. Wells said with what looked like a fake smile on his face. "what brings you
to S.T.A.R. Labs?" He asked as Joe looked at Barry, who turned to me.
"When I couldn't find you at your lab, I started doing a little research. Turns out, there's been reports of a red streak around the city. Stopping muggers.
Rescuing people from burning buildings." Joe said as my eyes widened.
"You... didn't tell him we were working at S.T.A.R labs?" I said to Barry, who slowly shook his head. My hand was unusually warm, and I looked down to see Barry's hand now on mine. He noticed at the same time, both of our hands swiping away from one another.
"You two already have a job in law enforcement!" Joe scowled.
"Mhm!" Caitlin said as everyone looked at her. She turned to Joe. "Don't look at me, I'm on your side!" She protested.
"Joe I can explain-" Barry was cut off by a shake of the head from Joe.
"Detective. We all want what's best for Barry." Wells said as I silenced my scoff.
I'm onto you, Harrison. I thought to myself as I glared at him behind a poker face.
"If you wanted what's best for him you would talk him out of it instead of letting him risk his life!" Joe said, an angered look on his face as Barry looked down.
"You saw a man control the weather. What are the police going to do about that?" Dr. Wells said as I held back a nod.
"Since the accelerator explosion, we suspect there may more like him." I said, starting to stand up. I wobbled, causing Barry to shoot up, leaning forward to steady me. I shook my head, silently telling him I could stand on my own.
"And you're going to do what? Catch them?" Joe said as I looked at him, shrugging. "Are you insane!?" He continued, turning to Barry. "You think that because you were struck by lightning and you can run fast makes you invincible? You're not, Barry! You're just a kid."
"He's 24-" I said as Joe shot me a look, telling me to shut up with that look. I made a large frown, nodding my head. "Continue."
"I'm not your kid, Joe. And you're not my father. Because my father is sitting in Iron Heights, wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him. And you're wrong about this. Now, I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building, or stop armed thieves, I'm gonna do it, and you can't stop me." Barry said, raising his voice slightly as Joe just stared at him.
"You think you're so smart. All of you. But you don't know what you don't know. And I hope that you're clever enough to figure it out before somebody gets killed." Joe said as he walked out.
Barry grumbled something under his breath, covering his face with his hands as I cupped my hands together. "Well... I think we all need a break. Barry, why don't you join me?" I said as he looked at me, confused.
I walked over to him, linking our arms together as I could only sense the sudden blush that crossed his cheeks.
He looked back to everyone, who shrugged, while Cisco wiggled his brows with a large grin, biting into a string of licorice.
I dragged Barry out of star labs, walking with him to Jitters.
"Cora! Barry! So good to see you guys!" Iris said as she set a cup of coffee down in front of a man before she walked over to us.
She gave Barry a side hug, not bothering to give me one. I didn't mind it, we only knew one another for a week. But it still kinda hurt.
"What are you two doing here?" She asked, raising a brow as she smirked at Barry, who quickly shot her a look.
"Just here to blow off some steam, I suppose. I'll just have a vanilla latte." I said with a smile as Iris frowned, seeming disappointed in something.
"I'll uh... just have a coffee. Black." Barry said as I smiled.
"Like my soul." I joked as the two friends looked at me weirdly. "What? It's a joke." They both made an 'o' with their lips, forcing a small chuckle before Barry and I walked away, letting Iris do her job as we walked up the stairs to sit at a small table.
"Do you think Joe will understand why I won't stop being.. The Flash?" Barry whispered as I smirked, raising a brow.
"The Flash? I like it. Definitely better than The Streak. " I said as Barry gave me a "yeah" look.
"Besides Barr, I'm sure in time Joe will understand. Because those police offers won't stand a chance against the metas. They could be burnt like a crispy Dino nugget, or possible squished into a fleshy ball." I said as Barry grimaced.
"Why'd you have to say Dino Nugget? I love those!" He pouted as I sighed.
"Sorry. But the truth is Barry, Joe won't always agree with your choices. And that will become a problem. And not even the fastest man alive can run from his problems." I said, shocking myself at how well out I had made that.
Damn I'm good with short speeches. Pat on the back to me!
"You're right, Cora. He won't. And I guess that's okay. Because he isn't actually my real dad, and I'm definitely old enough to do things on my own."
"Barry. I saw you asking Cisco to help you with the computer yesterday." I said with a frown as his eyes widened.
"I couldn't get it to turn on!"
"The power button is on the corner of the screen!" I said as Iris walked up to us, a confused look on her face.
"What are you guys talking about?" She asked. I wanted to make a snide remark, but I liked Iris, and didn't want to get on her bad side. (FYI I myself do NOT like Iris. But I'm going to try and make her nice in this)
"Nothing. Just Barry being Barry." I said as she chuckled, shrugging as I sipped on my latte.
"Well, hope you two enjoy your little coffee date." Iris said with a wink as Barry choked on his coffee while I choked on my latte, which in turn burnt my throat.
"It's not a-!" But she was already gone.
I wiped my mouth, trying my best to ignore the burning sensation in the back of my throat.
By the time Barry and I had finished are terribly long talk about literally everything, Iris yelled from downstairs.
"You guys have been here for hours! I'm closing!" She said as Barry and I's eyes (hehe) widened. We stood up, giving one another a nervous laugh as we headed downstairs.
Iris was silent as she locked up behind us. "Well. You two have fun!" Iris said before running off. My mouth dropped open as Barry blushed hard.
"And of course, my house is miles from here." I frowned as Barry smirked, lifting me up bridal style, running me home.
"Barry!" I yelped as he set me down, my hair everywhere in my face as I scowled at him. "I told you to stop doing that!"
"You would have asked for a lift." He said with a smile as I rolled my eyes.
"Well yes, but a little warning next time!" I said as I unlocked my apartment door, flicking his shoulder.
"Well. If it makes you fell any better, I had fun with you today." Barry said as I rolled my eyes playfully, smiling.
"Me too, Barry." I smiled as he rocked on his heels.
"Goodnight Cora."
"Goodnight Barry."
And with that, he was gone...
In a Flash. I said to myself with a snicker, shutting and locking my apartment door.