Tiger Stripes and Lightening Strikes

12: Red Alert

As team Flash met in the cortex, Barry couldn't help but bounce his foot rapidly. Their eyes were wide, jaw slackened. "You're saying that Stripes can talk?" Cisco's voice cracked in surprise. Barry nodded slowly, sucking on his teeth.

"More importantly," Harry interjected, casting Cisco a scolding glare. "The beast knows who you are?"

"But how?" Iris questioned. "You haven't given it any reason to assume your identity, have you?"

Barry shook his head, scratching at the back of his neck. "Not that I'm aware of," he sighed. "The only thing I can really think of was that he recognised me by scent."

"Tigers do have a very acute sense of smell," Caitlin agreed with him. "It makes logical sense that he figured out who you were after he encountered you as both the Flash and Barry Allen, only for you to have the same scent." Barry let out an agitated grumble. "Maybe we should consider installing some kind of diffuser into your suit that will confuse metas with keen senses of smell."

"I can get that done," Cisco nodded profusely.

"I think for now, the only thing we can do is follow the leads we have," Joe offered and Barry nodded firmly.

"We found Smythe's file room, but all of the writing was coded," Barry sighed. "I brought back all the files that were dated within the right time frame, although there were several years of missing files."

"Do you know where the missing files would be?" Caitlin arched a brow, and Barry shook his head.

"I can work on deciphering what we have," Cisco told them.

"Did your stake out at Diddy's house bring up anything?" Barry asked them, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Some of the burning hot pressure on his chest lifted.

"The only person who visited him was his younger brother, Mason," Caitlin told him. "It seems that they live together." Barry's brows pulled in, the thought of his own brother curdling the contents of his stomach. Partly, because he now knew how terrible Sebastian really was, and partly because he knew the boy was likely just finding out about his fathers gruesome fate.

*

It was the dead of the night, when Sebastian had been woken from his deep slumber by the shrill ring of his phone. He'd woken in the dark of his tiny bedroom. His mind had barely processed it was awake when he was told what had happened. When he was told his father was dead.

After that, he hadn't gone back to sleep. He hadn't even tried. He plodded through the day on autopilot, not think much about what he was doing or saying. It was as though he were existing half asleep and half awake at the same time. Nothing felt real. Time dribbled through his fingers. Every step he took was towards something. A goal he couldn't see. A goal he couldn't reach.

It was a surprise to him, when he entered work. He barely remembered leaving his apartment. He felt himself moving, speaking to customers and making coffee, but it was almost as though he were watching someone else do it. Sebastian's consciousness was dormant in a little bubble at the back of his mind. Dormant until that bubble was popped.

The culprit was a mild mannered woman with soft features and warm eyes. When she'd stepped up to the till, Sebastian had recognised her and from the look of shock in her own stare, she knew him too. The only issue was, he couldn't quite place where they'd met.