Vera Pyra (The Flash) (Book One)

Chapter 19__All Star Team Up

I was in my loft during the day, playing guitar, singing 'Everybody's Fool' by Evanescence. "Perfect by nature / Icons of self-indulgence / Just what we all need / More lies about a world that / Never was and never will be / Have you no shame? / Don't you see me? / You know you've got everybody fooled / Look, here she comes now / Bow down and stare in wonder / Oh, how we love you / No flaws when you're pretending / But now I know she / Never was and never will be / You don't know how you've betrayed me / And somehow you've got everybody fooled / Without the mask / Where will you hide? / Can't find yourself / Lost in your lie / I know the truth now / I know who you are / And I don't love you anymore / It never was and never will be / You don't know how you've betrayed me / And somehow you've got everybody fooled / Never was and never will be / You're not real and you can't save me / Somehow now you're everybody's fool."

I played the song until the end, knowing full well that he was here. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Barry walked in. "Is it just me, or do you seem to be getting better?"

I put the guitar aside, turning in my seat to face Barry. "Am not. Shut up." Barry smiled a small smile. "You only come in like this when something's wrong."

"Well, yeah," Barry answered. "You said that we at STAR Labs could walk in whenever we wanted, but I don't like to do that too often. Not because I wanna stay away, but because of the whole privacy thing. And--"

"Barry, you're starting to sound like Felicity again," I told him.

Barry nodded. "I know. It's a common problem."

"What's going on?" I asked.

Barry sighed, walking closer. "A woman was killed in her car last night. Lindsey Kang. Engineering professor at Hudson University. Just got tenure. Her whole body is covered in these puncture wounds. Bite marks, maybe. Whatever it was, she must have gone into anaphylaxis."

I stood. "Whoa."

Barry nodded. "Yeah. The blood sample should tell us everything we need to know. I would run tests back at my lab, but STAR Labs can do it faster. But it's kind of weird being there right now, alone, with them."

"Barry, I know we have to play it cool with Wells, but when it comes to this, I am worse than you," I told him. "We saw that the other day."

"Yeah, I know," Barry told me. "But being there alone with them..."

"You mean, being there next to Wells, with Caitlin and Cisco," I told him.

"Sorry," Barry told me. "Is there a suggestion lying in there somewhere?"

"I think we should tell Cisco and Caitlin," I told him. "They could help us."

Barry sighed. "The more people who know, the more chance Wells is gonna find out we're onto him. We told you because it would've been wrong to keep something this big from you, and we know how guarded and secretive you can be." I raised my eyebrows slightly. "You know what I mean. But, I mean, what if one of them slips up or panics? Or what if..."

"What?" I asked.

"What if they're not on our side?" Barry asked.

I shook my head. "No, absolutely not. They're not involved in whatever he's planning."

"I mean, Wells is their boss, their mentor," Barry told me. "They've been with him for a long time. Plenty of people make the wrong choice for loyalty."

"Is this you talking, Barry?" I asked. "Because I can hear your Joe voice coming out."

Barry managed a small smile. "It's a little bit of both of us talking right now."