Dead Beautiful (A Harrison Wells Fanfic) *ON HOLD*

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8.
The One In Which I Find Out Dr. Wells' Dirty Little Secret (And Get Held Hostage By A Super-Evil Bat Scientist)

When Raymond and Lillith told me that Ashalis had summoned me to the Big House (which was what I called the place where I was trained) after the particle accelerator incident, I knew it was bad. I mean, Ashalis had never even once asked me to meet with them, they always preferred to talk to me through Ray. So, as you can imagine, I was pretty nervous as I made my way to the House.

Lillith gave my hand a tight squeeze before leading me into the room where Ashalis was waiting for me. I knew the stories, of course, but nothing prepared me for how creepy those guys really were.

There were five of them, and they were all sitting around the table where I had first met Lillith and Raymond. They were all shrouded in glowing white robes, their heads bowed down, so it was impossible to see their faces or to know whether they were men or women (according to Lillith, they were genderless). I was kind of glad that I couldn't see their faces, though - apparently, their faces were the origin of the phrase, "staring death in the face."

Raymond, who was standing beside the Ashalees, motioned for me to come forward. "Don't say anything unless I give you the go-ahead," he whispered fiercely into my ear. "Think of this as a courtroom, and me as your lawyer."

"I think I'd rather have Lillith as my lawyer, thanks."

"Shut up and go introduce yourself." He pushed me in front of the Ashalees.

I blinked. I wasn't sure how to start. I mean, what does one say in front of five omnipotent, immortal beings who are probably really, really angry with you? I cleared my throat nervously. "Um, my name is Nova Lee Stirling, and I'm the Abhorsen of Absec-342," I began weakly. "Hi?"

Behind me, I heard Raymond facepalm himself.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next time I went to visit Barry at STAR Labs was two weeks later. This time, however, I had to go alone, since Iris was busy with college stuff.

Caitlin, Cisco and Harrison were all gathered around Barry when I walked into The Cortex. It looked like Harrison was explaining something to the other two scientists.

"- can inject it directly into the spinal cord, and check for any signs of neuro-vascular movement." Noticing me from the corner of his eye, Harrison stopped and looked up. "Oh, hello Nov- I mean, Lee."

Nice save, I mouthed before giving the other two a little wave. "Hey guys." They smiled back at me. "Is Barry showing any signs of progress yet?"

"Not really," Caitlin replied, walking over to show me Barry's charts. It was cute that she thought I'd be able to understand any of it. "He's still not responding to any of the medication we're giving him, but strangely, the second-degree burns he got from the lightning bolt seem to be healing at an impossibly exponential rate. Honestly, I've never seen anything like this bef-"

A defeaning alarm went off in The Cortex, interrupting Caitlin and startling all of us. Cisco rushed over to the computer to check it out.

"What the hell is that?" I shouted over the blaring noise. Thankfully, Cisco shut it down before it could permanently deafen us.