neighbors | barry allen//the flash

seven | shadows

While the stack of paperwork Barry had to do hadn't grown, it was a rather thick stack to begin with, so Barry was still grumbling about all the work he had to do. It had, however, been transferred from his desk at the police station to his desk at home, because, unfortunately, he had gotten behind. 

Truthfully, though, Barry was mostly grumbling about how some of the bank robbers had gotten away a few nights ago. Caitlyn and Cisco had quickly assumed the two problems that night were related. While it was very unusual to have two larger crimes like armed robberies occurring at the exact same time, Barry didn't really think they were connected. Maybe he just hoped they weren't, because if they were, that meant he was dealing with a really big problem.

The bank robbers that managed to escape really didn't get away with much. Well, a few tens of thousands of dollars was a lot, but not relative to most bank robberies, especially with the organization that group seemed to have. They took hostages, which made them seem pretty serious. But upon checking their records, Barry found that the men he caught holding the hostages were pretty harmless. They had plenty of previous arrests, but all for petty crime. Nothing seemed to add up. Why would those guys get involved with something so serious? 

Maybe the real reason Barry was bothered by this case was because it involved Clara. Over the past few days, Barry observed that she was visibly shaken by the whole incident. While he knew it was normal after experiencing something like that, he didn't like seeing her upset. However, he hated to admit this was the reason for his motivation, because he hated being ruled by his emotions. This was an unfinished case, a unsolved mystery, and he needed to solve it. That is what he was in the middle of convincing himself when his phone lit up with Cisco's face on the screen. 

"Anything new?" Barry answered. 

"Whoa, someone's grumpy," Cisco said. Barry hadn't disguised his frustration very well. "Someone broke into the police department." Barry checked the clock on his wall; it was a few minutes past seven.

"Uh, alright I'll be there in a few," Barry replied, and ran out of his apartment to STAR Labs. He flashed into his suit and stopped right in front of the computers in the Cortex. "Anything I need to be aware of?" 

"They're probably after evidence or records or something of that nature," Caitlyn informed him. "I would check there first." 

"Thanks." Barry was on his way. He ran up to the floor where the records were kept, and saw the door ajar and light on in one of the rooms. He dashed in to discover a man wearing all black, including a ski mask, digging through boxes of files. 

"I don't think you're supposed to be here," Barry sighed, and the man looked up.

"No, you're the one that doesn't belong," the man responded calmly, his voice chilling. "Goodnight." In that instant, all the light from the room seemed to sink into the man, leaving Barry in complete darkness. Barry blinked in surprise, trying to wave his hand in front of his face, to see if he could actually make out anything. Even the light from the hallway was gone, and the room had no windows to let in any other light, but Barry wasn't so sure that would have helped anyways. Barry wanted to run, but he couldn't even see where he should go. 

"Barry, what's wrong?" Caitlyn's voice came through his earpiece. 

"The guy that was here, he literally just absorbed all the light. I can't see." Barry reported. "I can't see anything. Right now would be a great time for night vision glasses, Cisco." 

He felt his already rapid heartbeat quicken even more. He felt vulnerable in the dark. Not seeing his opponent meant he couldn't attack and take him down, and it probably left him exposed. Barry wasn't sure of this meta's capabilities, so he wasn't sure if it could see in the darkness it created. It probably could, though, because it would be too easy if it didn't.