Short on Time

Chapter 52

The papers my students wrote on who their favorite artist was finally graded and in my bag when my cell phone started to ring. The ringtone was the one Barry picked out for himself, "what's up babe?"

"No hello?" Barry joked.

"Hello Mr. Allen, how can I help you?" I responded.

"Okay, no hello is fine," Barry said.

"So what's going on?" I asked.

"Well we found another husk and Julian has to put up with me more," Barry said.

"Oh?"

"I got put full time on helping with the meta's. Also, are you still up for the movie at the park?" Barry asked.

"Wouldn't miss it," I told him.

"And..."

"And what?"

"Are you free?" Barry asked.

"For what?" I repeated.

"The guy we just found was killed by a shadow," Barry told me.

"Since when does Peter Pan live in Central City?" I asked.

"That's what Julian said," Barry muttered.

"What do you need my help with?" I asked.

"You're smart, can I come and pick you up?" Barry asked.

"Sure," I said as I grabbed my purse and walked outside.

"Be there in a Flash," Barry said.

"You are so cheesy," I said when he stood in front of me.

"But you like me being cheesy," Barry said kissing me.

I shrugged, "it is adorable."

"Adorable?" Barry asked as he ran to STAR labs. "Shouldn't I be handsome or something like that?"

"Nope, adorable," I said.

"Guys, I need you in the Cortex," Barry said as he gave me a look. 

"So what's up?" Cisco asked.

"Peter Pan is in town," I said.

"Killed by a shadow?" Caitlin asked when Barry explained it.

"That's a new one," Cisco said.

"Maybe that's what killed Edward Clariss," Caitlin said.

"Clariss was a meta-human," I added.

"This victim doesn't appear to be," Barry said.

"Do we know if this shadow meta is from the particle accelerator explosion or from Dr. Alchemy?" Caitlin asked.

"Not yet, no," Barry said. "We actually haven't found any evidence to process."

"If only we had a way, Francisco, to see what happened," HR said.

"Where was the crime scene located?" Cisco asked. 

"In Chubbuck, uh, Palmer and Racine, around 11:00 last night," Barry said and Cisco brought up a feed.

"That's gonna give me night terrors," Cisco said.

"Shade," HR said.

"What?"

"We had a meta-hominid on my planet who could do virtually the same thing, called himself Shade," HR explained.

"What did he do, throw his side-eye at his enemies?" Cisco asked.

"No, I know, it's a terrible nickname, right? But what Shade could do was vibrate at such a high frequency he created the illusion that he was a shadow," HR said.