shade
part one
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IT STILL HADN'T settled in Anna's head that a new speedster had come to the city — her city; the city that she had been protecting for two, almost three, years. Anna was making it possible for people to sleep well at night and walk the streets to get to work, and for a while, even Anna felt safe in Central City. Until the Woman in Red showed up.
For what seemed like forever, she had gotten used to there only being good speedsters — but that happened during the time period between Reverse-Flash and Zoom, too. Anna wasn't prepared to fight against another speedster, she was physically able to do it, that was certain, but she was nowhere near mentally or emotionally prepared to handle something that had flipped her life upside down and dragged her through hell two times over.
For days, Anna had kept the secret to herself and Shannon, Cisco and Barry, leaving everyone else completely in the dark from the arrival of a new speedster. She contemplated between telling the rest of her team, or just keep it to herself. Everyone was so happy again after she had ruined it, and now, if she told them, she would ruin their happiness yet again.
Movement on the bed knocked Anna out of her thoughts and brought her attention toward the left side of the bed where Barry now sat. She smiled softly and he smiled back, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. "You're awake," he said softly and scooted closer to her.
"I've been awake for a while," Anna replied, her smile slowly disappearing from her face as she pulled her eyes away from Barry. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled, hoping that would relieve some of the weight that sat on her chest but it seemed to only get worse. "Tossing and turning between if I should tell the team about the new speedster or not. I know I should, but I don't want to ruin the happiness that they have."
Barry scooted down and rested his head on the pillow, turning onto his side to face Anna. He rested his hands under his face and sighed deeply, staring into Anna's brown eyes with his green ones that made her fall in love all over again every time she looked into them. "We have to tell them," he said softly. "I know you don't want to, I don't want to, but they deserve to know. They've been with us for a really long time and we shouldn't keep this from them. They have to be prepared for it."
"Do we have to tell them yet?" Anna asked and stifled a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood. "I don't want them to come at me with pitchforks and torches if I ruin their day again."
Barry nodded his head and rested a hand on the side of Anna's face, stroking his thumb over her cheek lightly and sending tiny bolts of electricity through her skin. "They need to know today. We've kept it from them long enough." Anna's smile dropped yet again and she nodded her head slowly. "Cisco and Shannon are going crazy keeping this to themselves. Especially from Caitlin. Everyone deserves to know about what's coming."
Anna reached out and rested her hand on Barry's chest, feeling his steady heartbeat against her palm. "Don't die on me, okay? I can't do this without you, Barry," she whispered and scooted herself closer to him, resting her head against his chest. "I need you."
Barry wrapped his arms around Anna tightly and rested one hand on the back of her head, his fingers running through her hair. "Don't die on me, either," he said and kissed the top of her head, leaving his lips against her hair. "I need you, too."
.: ｡
SHORTLY AFTER THEIR talk, Anna and Barry called the team to the Cortex to tell them what Anna had seen days ago. Neither of them were prepared to give the speech to their friends about the dangers that lurked just over their shoulder, but they had to tell them. It didn't take much for Barry to convince Anna to spill everything to the team, but it was taking a hell of a long time for them to come up with words to say.
The Cortex was completely silent as Anna and Barry paced back and forth the room, moving opposite directions and passing each other briefly without looking up for even a second to meet each other's eyes. Anna mouthed out the words she was going to say to her friends, running over her imaginary script in her head over and over again to make sure it was perfect and wouldn't make her friends mad. Barry mouthed words to and moved his hands slightly as if he was already speaking to his friends. He often paused to a split second, mumbled a couple of words, shaking his head, and then began pacing again. Neither of them spoke to each other and neither of them judged the other's actions.
Anna stopped pacing as clusters of footsteps entered the Cortex. She tapped Barry's arm and he stopped too, both of them turning to face the doorway where their team stood silently, watching the two speedsters. "Hey, guys," Anna said softly and smiled, her stomach beginning to twist and turn with nervousness. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled, picking at her nails. Her eyes met HR's first and she suddenly felt guilty for dragging him into such a mess after him only joining the team a couple of days ago. "There's something we have to tell you."
"You're having a baby?" Iris asked curiously, a smile lighting up her face as her eyes glowed with excitement. "About time!"
"No. Uh, no, we're not having a baby," Barry replied and cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck. He glanced over at Anna and rested a hand on her back, dragging his fingers over the back of her shirt so gently she barely felt it on her skin. "It's much more serious than that."
Anna folded her arms over her chest and looked up at Barry, waiting to see if he would be the first one to speak. She didn't want to be the one to reveal the new speedster to the team, she didn't know how to. No matter how many times she ran through her "speech" in her head, it would never be good enough to break the horrible news to her team.
"The last time you two stood in the front of the room with something to say, we all ended up hating you, Anna," Wally said and rested his hands on his hips as he looked back and forth between the two speedsters. Anna frowned slightly and looked back at the team, her eyes settling on Wally. His eyes then settled on Anna, their eyes meeting instantly. "Don't make us hate you again."
"Not cool, Wally," Iris said and elbowed her brother in the ribs, causing him to groan.
Barry cleared his throat and took a small step forward, clasping his hands together in front of himself. "The other day while Anna was out with Shannon, they both felt like they were being watched. Of course, as any of us would, she went to check it out while Shannon stayed inside the apartment. Anna caught a glimpse of red on the rooftop so she went up there to see what it was. Shortly after, she called me and said someone was there and was watching her and Shannon," he began and glanced over his shoulder at Anna, giving her a slight nod to take the lead.
Anna nodded in return and stepped forward next to Barry, clearing her throat. She tucked her hair behind her ears and looked around at the team, feeling like she was being watched by hundreds of eyes. "Right after I got off the phone with Barry, something ran by me. Something fast," she began and looked down at the floor for a moment, wondering exactly how she was going to tell them about the speedster she had briefly fought against. She lifted her head again and looked back at the team, taking in their confused expressions. "When I turned around, there was a woman standing right in front of me. She had glowing red eyes and a red suit. Her face was vibrating so quickly that I couldn't even catch a glimpse of what she looked like. We fought for a bit, but she got away before I could even see who she was. But it was a woman."
"A new speedster?" Joe asked and furrowed his eyebrows at the two heroes standing in the middle of the room. "Do we have a name?"
"Should I write a paper to warn the city? If there is a new speedster, we should let people know so they can be prepared," Iris said and pulled her phone out of her pocket, her thumbs hovering over the screen like she was waiting for the green light to begin writing.
"No. No, there's no name. And no, Iris, don't write a paper. Not yet," Barry replied and shook his head. He sighed deeply, like he was frustrated, and folded his arms over his chest. "We don't know much about the Woman in Red, but when she makes herself known again, we'll get more out of her."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Caitlin asked and furrowed her brows at the two speedsters, glancing back and forth between them. "If we know nothing about this speedster, how can we prepare for her? How can we prepare to fight against something most of us haven't even seen?"
Anna's facial expression suddenly dropped, a thought coming into her head as she looked up at Barry. She silently pieced together all the information in her head about Alchemy, Magenta, Rival and the Woman in Red. "Oh, God," she whispered and looked back at the team with wide eyes. "There's another one. There's another speedster."
"Well, yeah, we're discussing her right now, Anna," Shannon said and furrowed her eyebrows at her best friend. "Is that just now clicking?"
Anna shook her head and turned to Barry, taking a deep breath. She exhaled and opened her mouth to speak, piecing together more information in her head before giving out her speech. She sealed her lips again and blinked rapidly, her brain running on overdrive as she thought back to the conversation she had with Rival. "Do you remember Frankie saying something about Alchemy? That a man named Alchemy called out to her and made her who she was?" Barry nodded slowly, furrowing his brows slightly. "And do you remember Rival? I'm betting Doctor Alchemy paid a visit to Joel Davis one night. And before he died, Rival said he was working for someone and that we wouldn't know who they were until they wanted us to," she explained and suddenly felt like she had been punched in the chest. She turned back to her friends and sighed deeply. "He said "all hail the Speed Gods." Plural. There's another one. There's another speedster we haven't seen yet."
The Cortex fell deathly silent and it seemed like everyone held their breath. Everyone looked around at each other were looks of horror on their faces but other than that, no one moved a muscle.
Anna looked around slowly, feeling the colour drain from her face. She looked back up at Barry, their eyes locking as the light drained from his eyes, no doubt mimicking her. She stepped forward and rested her forehead against Barry's chest, letting out a breath that made her chest even tighter than it was before. She had forgotten all about what Rival had said to her before he killed himself, but now that it had finally come back like a slap across the face, she couldn't get the thought out of her head. Not only did Swift and the Flash have to deal with Alchemy going after innocent people to make them metahumans, but they had the Woman in Red to handle and another speedster who they hadn't even seen yet. Anna and Barry had been dragged through hell and back over and over again and it seemed like it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
.: ｡
AS SOON AS Anna got the call from Barry that another husk had shown up, she ran straight to his lab. After things had died down with the husks, she hoped Alchemy had retired but now, with the Woman in Red on the board, it looked like Alchemy was back.
Anna walked into the lab, fixing her hair and clothes after her long run on a windy day to her to CCPD. "Hey, Barry," she called out and waved her fingers at her boyfriend as she walked up to him. "Julian," she greeted without glancing at the blond man standing on the other side of the room.
"Allen, what have I told you about bringing her here?" Julian asked and raised his brows at his lab partner before shooting a glare at Anna. "She's not allowed in here."
"It's good to see you too, Julian," Anna grumbled and rolled her eyes. She leaned up against Barry's desk and folded her arms over her chest, eyeing the husk on the table. "What's that? Number six?"
"Yeah. It's been a while since we got one," Barry replied and looked up at Anna, sliding his chair closer to her. He slid his arm around her hips, resting it on the table behind her. "Something tells me they won't be stopping anytime soon."
"Mr. Allen," a woman greeted from behind the couple, causing them both to look over their shoulders. Cecile Horton walked into the room, holding a folder in her hand. "Mr. Albert."
"Morning," Julian greeted and nodded his head as he turned to face the woman.
Cecile looked over at the husk on the table, a frown tugging at her lips. "New one?" She asked and then looked back at Barry, watching him as he stood up slowly.
"Uh, yeah, number six," Barry replied and cleared his throat. "Found it last night."
"Well, this should come as a welcome surprise," Cecile said and handed a folder over to Barry, smiling slightly. "You've been reassigned to metahuman crime scene investigation full-time."
"Full-time?" Julian asked and raised his brows at Cecile, appearing shocked at her words.
"We're pouring all the resources we can into figuring out this husk problem, especially considering the last one turned out to be that evil speedster, The Rival," Cecile said and sighed deeply, shaking her head slightly. She then rested her hands on her hips, looking back and forth between Barry and Julian. "Any questions, concerns, you direct them to Judge Hankerson, yeah?"
"Alright. Thank you," Barry said and nodded at the woman as she turned around. He looked over at Anna, waving the folder around as he smiled proudly. "Looks like I'm back on the fun stuff."
Anna reached up and rested a hand on Barry's cheek, smiling back. "I'm so proud of you," she said softly and pushed herself up onto the tips of her toes to kiss the tip of his nose. "You're amazing."
Barry smiled, his cheeks flushing at his girlfriend's words. His eyes seemed to sparkle as his smile grew wider. "So are you," he said softly and dipped his head down, kissing her lips gently. His eyes then moved to Cecile and Anna's eyes followed. Both of them watched Joe and Cecile speak back and forth to each other, bright smiles plastered on their faces.
"What's going on there?" Anna asked, her voice hushed, and tilted her head up to look at Barry. "You said they were talking, but I didn't think they were talking."
Barry furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at Anna, tilting his head slightly. "What?" He asked, his voice laced with confusion. "Talking means talking, Anna. There's no such thing as talking and talking," he said, mocking her tone when he spoke the last word in the sentence. "It's just talking."
Anna rolled her eyes and looked back at Joe, watching as Cecile walked away from him. She rushed over to him quickly and grabbed his arm. "What was that all about?" She asked with a wide smile.
"What are you talking about?" Joe asked and cleared his throat, trying to hide away the smile on his lips. "We were just talking."
"Talking or talking?" Anna asked and raised her eyebrows at the man. "For research purposes."
Barry placed a hand over Anna's face and laughed as she tried to push his hand away but failed. "Ignore her," he said and then pinched her nose lightly. "Did you finally ask her to movie night with us? How did you ask? Did you ask her just now?"
"As much as I'd like to gossip with you both like a teenager right now, there's something else we need to talk about," Joe said, his tone becoming more serious. He looked over Barry's shoulder and then took a few steps back, pulling the two speedsters back with him.
Anna released Joe's arm and moved back to stand by Barry's side, folding her arms over her chest. "What?" She asked in unison with Barry.
"Wally," he replied and nodded his head, his eyes suddenly washing over his fear. "He's been having dreams."
"Dreams?" Barry asked and furrowed his brows.
"Saving people, becoming a speedster," Joe answered and looked back and forth between Anna and Barry, his eyes settling on the girl for a moment. "What's with the face?"
Anna's eyes dropped to the floor, her chest tightening as she replayed the fight she and Wally had with Rival over in her head. She lifted her head and met Joe's eyes, hoping her fear wasn't obvious. "Well, it's just... Wally was a speedster in Zeropoint," she began, her voice hushed. "I never did find out his speedster name, actually."
"He's in trouble, isn't he?" Joe asked.
Anna nodded slowly and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She looked up at Barry for a split second and then looked back at Joe, feeling guilty for something she had no control over. It wasn't her fault that Wally was being targeted by Alchemy, but for some reason, she felt like she should be taking the blame.