"I told Eddie I'd finish watching the Avengers with him. But now he's missing." I said as my hands trembled. Barry put his hand on my shoulder as he tried to comfort me as walked into the bank.
I gave him a sad smile as Captain Singh walked up to us. "Where is Thawne?" He asked as I froze in place, looking at Barry.
"Um. . . He took some time off. Family issues." I said as Singh furrowed his brows before waving his hand, not wanting to deal with it at the moment.
"You got anything on these gold store robbies?" Singh asked. "Perps hit up two more in the last week, and we still got nothing." He continued as I groaned quietly.
"We're working on it." I answered.
"Just waiting on some final results from the lab." Barry finished for me as I nodded. Singh put his hands on his hips.
"All right, well, pick up the pace. And see if somebody can contact The Flash. Maybe he can help speed things up." Singh said as Barry and I smirked, causing the Captain to roll his eyes. "You know what I mean."
Barry and I walked over to Joe, who looked nervous. "Anything?" He asked as I looked down in disappointment, shaking my head.
"Haven't heard from Wells or Eddie in almost a week." I said, my voice quiet and cracking.
"Keep looking." Joe ordered as Barry and I nodded.
☀︎︎
Iris needed to talk to Barry alone in the lab, so I ended up walking to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Cisco and Caitlin stood around in silence.
Barry walked in after a while, Cisco working on several cameras Wells had hidden around central city where we all visited frequently.
"You planning on keeping all those cameras Wells used to spy on us?" Barry asked as Cisco scoffed.
"That's kinda creepy, Costco." I said as Cisco turned to frown at me.
"Costco?" He said as I nodded.
"My phone is always autocorrecting your name to Costco, might as well use it once in a while in the real world." I answered as Cisco rolled his eyes.
"Anyways, rule number one of mechanical engineering, dude. Never waste good tech." Cisco said as I snapped my fingers.
"And that's on recycling." I said with a grin as Barry frowned at me. Clearly he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Central City Gold Reserve's under attack." I said as Barry once again frowned.
"That's the case Singh wants us to work on." He said as I nodded, waving my hand frantically to tell him to pick up the pace and go.
"Be care-" Barry was already gone before I could finish my sentence. "Ful."
"You picked the wrong day for this pal." I heard Barry say before there was a high-frequency noise.
And unlike Cisco and Caitlin who were unaffected by the noise, it felt like ever nerve in my body was exploding as I yelled in pain, falling off my chair.
"Cora!" Caitlin yelped as I felt tears sting my eyes, curling into a ball as I pressed my hands to my ears. My heart was racing as my mind showed me visions of memories that weren't mine.
All I could feel was fear.
"Turn it off! Turn off the comms!" I screamed as Cisco slammed the button, shutting the comms off.
Instantly I felt relief, my chest heaving up and down as I gasped for the air that I had been holding in. There was a rush of wind, Barry now in the middle of the Cortex.
He looked to be in pain, but the second he saw Cisco and Caitlin knelt down next to me, his pain nearly vanished as he raced over.
"Cora! What-What happened?!" Barry asked as Caitlin helped me up. I stumbled forward, grabbing the edge of the monitors table.
"The-The high frequency that you heard through the comms. It must have messed with something in your enhanced hearing." Cisco suggested as Caitlin ushered Barry and I to the medical bed.
"I didn't think I'd be in so much pain in my life." I said as I looked Straight ahead, allowing Caitlin to flash a light in my eyes.
"Both of your eyes movement is normal. No signs of neurological damage." Caitlin said as Barry's gloves hand held mine.
"Do you think the thief might have been a meta-human who put the whammie on you or somethin?" Cisco asked as Barry shook his head.
"It shouldn't have affected Cora if it was a meta." Barry said as I nodded slowly. "When Rainbow Raider got in my head, all I felt was anger. But this was not that. This was just overwhelming fear."
"So I'm not the only one that was terrified out of my own ass." I scoffed as Barry squeezed my hand gently. We stood up, walking into the side room.
"Looks like when you two went down, the thief got disoriented too." Cisco said as I frowned.
"Maybe we all got whammied?" Barry questioned as I shrugged.
"Then you know how it feels." Everyones head snapped over to Iris. My mouth dropped open as I looked at Barry, who was still in his Flash suit.
"Hi Barry. . . Or should I say. . . Flash?" She said with a scoff as I frowned.
I don't think I'll like her anymore. Feel like she'll try and take over. And I'm not letting that happen. I thought as I crossed my arms awkwardly, leaning towards Cisco.
"This is one of the times I don't want to be Barry Allen." I whispered as Cisco nodded, handing me a red vine, which I quickly took.
Barry and Iris walked into the training room. "I wonder what he's gonna say." Caitlin said as I glared at her.
"We are not listening to Barry and Iris fight. I. . . I need some air." I said before walking out of the Cortex. I could already hear Barry's voice as Cisco and Caitlin eavesdropped.
I rolled my eyes at them, crossing my arms as my heels clicked in the empty halls of the laboratory. After a few minutes, I heard Barry run up behind me, grabbing my shoulder.
"Barry. How could you let Iris find out?" I asked as Barry gave me a sad look. "SHe's putting herself in danger she doesn't even understand. I know you care about her. But you can't let her be here." I said as Barry dropped his head, nodding.
"I know. I know okay? I didn't even mean for her to find out. I didn't think she'd put the pieces together because I literally shocked her! I don't want her to know I'm the Flash. It's too dangerous." Barry said as I pulled him into a hug.
"We will figure out how to keep her out of this. But I have a feeling she's way to god damn stubborn to want to stay out of this." I said as Barry chuckled.
His hand reached up under my chin, lifting my head up as he brought me into a kiss, a smile on my face.
We quickly broke apart at the sound of Iris's heels clicking together then halting. "Oh. Didn't realize you two were a. . . Thing." Iris said, and I swore there was a bit of hurt in her voice.
"Y-Yeah. We have been for about a week or two." Barry said as I pressed my lips into a thin line, smiling as I nodded.
"Iris. Can I- can I talk to you?" I asked as she rolled her eyes, nodding as Barry and I separated, walking away to leave Iris and I alone.
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked as I placed my hands in my pockets.
"Look. I know you are probably going to try and place yourself in the middle of this situation, but you need to know you can't do that. There are things going on that you have. . . No clue about and-"
"I know dr. Wells killed Barry's mom. And Mason bridge and Simon Stagg. I know about it all, Cora." Iris interrupted as I frowned, my blood starting to boil.
"Iris. Listen. You are not going to place yourself in here just because you know Barry is the Flash now. You may be his friend, but it gives you no right to throw yourself in this situation just because he's a superhero and Eddie is your missing boyfriend." I snapped. Why was I getting so angry?
"I have every right to put myself here."
"No you don't!" I yelled, trying to calm down but knew I couldn't. Something inside me was boiling more than I thought possible, and it only fueled my anger more. "You are putting yourself in danger. You are a reporter. You aren't a scientist. So stay out of the way, and don't get yourself killed." I told Iris, but her focus was on my hands, a look of terror in her eyes.
I furrowed my brows, looking down at my hands to see they were glowing a red color. My eyes widened as I quickly shook the light away, my attention back to Iris.
"Stay out of this. Or you will get killed by something that will overpower you in a matter of seconds." I said before walking past her, leaving Iris in a state of shock.
I won't tell anyone about this. I'm already getting tested on about my mind reading. I can't have them test on my because my hands light up like a Christmas Tree.
And if I tell Barry he'll just baby me.
And I am no baby.