Sherlock meets The Flash and Arrow

Chapter 3

Cisco

I clearly underestimated the tall guy.

He's holding his own against Barry, but only slightly, since every time he so much as touches Barry, he gets zapped. I prepare a sound blast, but I can't be sure I won't hit Barry, so that's only a last resort. I hold my breath as the tall guy nearly flips Barry, but the lightning gets the better of him. I wince as I imagine how it must hurt to have hundreds, maybe thousands, of watts of electricity coursing through you.

Barry changes tactics and runs circles around the tall man, who tries to grab him but gets zapped—again. Barry taps him on the shoulder, and all the energy he's been building up courses through the tall guy. He suddenly goes rigid, then collapses.

The shortish guy screams, "Sherlock!" That must be the tall guy's name.

Barry picks up the tall guy—Sherlock?—up and speeds him into his containment cell and then back over to me. "I really did not like doing that."

The shortish guy throws himself against the glass again, then once again yells, "Sherlock!"

Sherlock rolls over and groans. "John? What happened?"

The shortish guy—John?—answers, "You got electrocuted!"

Barry replies, "I just gave him a small shock—in self-defense!"

"A small shock? That was at least 700 volts, which is enough to cause a second-degree burn!"

I decide to step in now as John is getting really worked up. "First, that is small, for him," I gesture at Barry, careful to not reveal his name.

Sherlock is sitting cross-legged in his cell with his eyes closed. Without looking up, he finishes, "Second, his lightning doesn't burn people, it only targets their nervous system. It takes all the energy that would go into leaving any surface marks like burns and just sends it into the target's nerves, which the brain then perceives as considerably more pain than any second-degree burn could cause." I glance over at him, surprised. How did he know that?

"Why didn't you tell me the breachers were meta-humans?" Joe asks, clearly surprised that Sherlock knew that about Barry's lightning.

I quickly check their vibrational frequencies, but it surprises me. "They're not."

"What do you mean, 'They're not?' You just saw that guy hit Barry a dozen times!"

"Well, to be fair so did Oliver...but that was a while ago. I know their vibrational frequency doesn't match that of a meta. I'm not sure what they are."

"Have you tried asking them?" Of course, I haven't. Sometimes Joe can be our voice of reason. "Who are you?" I ask, "Did Zoom send you? Why did you open a br—"

Joe cuts me off, "One question at a time. Let's start with who they are."

Sherlock answers, "I was under the impression you already knew our names."

"Would you care to repeat them, please?" I push.

"Sherlock Holmes, at your service. To my right—your left—is my partner John, and to his right is George—"

"Greg," the limping one—Greg—corrects. He says it like he's said it a hundred times before.

Joe looks at me and raises his eyebrows in question, but the names don't mean anything to me.

"I believe you have us at a disadvantage, though," Sherlock prompts.

I look at Caitlin, Barry, and Joe. Caitlin and Joe both nod, but Barry shakes his head. He doesn't want them to know his name. I think for a second, and decide that my name isn't that important. Zoom already knows it. "I'm Cisco, he," I gesture at Joe, "is Joe, and she," I gesture at Caitlin, "is Caitlin."

John

Sherlock starts talking. It's almost like a sixth sense—I know what he's going to do by the tone of his voice before he even finishes saying his first word. He's making a deduction, "Joe—"

I cut him off, "Sherlock, now is really not the time to be showing off." He falls quiet.

Cisco, who seems to be the acting spokesperson asks, "Did Zoom send you?"

Greg asks, "Zoom?"

"A guy like him," Cisco gestures at the man in red, "but with blue lightning."

"No," Greg says.

Cisco pushes his advantage with Greg and asks, "Where are you from?"

This time, Sherlock cuts in and calls out, "Don't answer that."

Information seems to be a powerful commodity since they're asking so many questions. They must have a lot of enemies—this Zoom man among them. Obviously, Lightning Man has few qualms about hurting us, so these next few hours won't be fun. Cisco seems a little nicer, so I'm not surprised when he asks, "Are you sure you don't want to tell us?"

I know there's little way we could convince them that we're not their enemies. Besides, they might be. I just don't know, so I'm going to stick by Sherlock, "Yes."