Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Take Two

We had decided against going against Snart again so soon, and were on the trail of another one of my old friends, Cisco Ramon; he liked to call himself Reverb, but it never stuck with me unless there was a need to call him that. Well, when I said we, I meant that I had sent Barry on a likely cold trail that could possibly turn something up, while I went after Cisco's last known hideout.

I had left Snart with my number before Barry took me from the bar that night and he had reached out, giving me contacts to the people he thought I could work with. Biggest benefit from his contact was that he didn't suspect me of working with Barry.

Cisco wasn't as pleasant with me as Snart was, that megalomaniac was a little hard to work with. But, like many people before and after him, he appreciated the accessibility that came from working with me. I carefully opened an old, rusting window, cringing when it squealed in protest. I stopped as soon as I got a large enough gap to slip through, carefully pushing myself through so I wouldn't need a tetanus shot.

The dark warehouse was empty, I had entered at the second level above the light fixtures and on the lighted floor below, I could see just the long haired Hispanic man I was looking for. He seemed distracted with his powers so I walked around to a large stack of crates and jumped over the railing, tensing up my muscles and distributing my weight so the impact of my landing wasn't loud. But, to my luck, the stack of crates wobbled beneath me, instantly catching his attention.

He blindly threw his hand at the stack the same moment I started running off of them. I had almost reached the ground when he turned, aimed a little higher, and sent me flying back into the crates, breaking through the side of one and laying still amongst the hay padding for whatever it contained. Cisco didn't say a word as he walked over, prodding my limp legs as my body hung halfway through the box.

When he reached out to turn me over, I snapped up and secured my fingers under the cuff of his glove, my foot snapping out and doing the same to the other hand as I removed the gloves, knowing full well I had only dampened his powers. My legs wrapped around his arm before he could react and I clung tightly to him as he began pulling me from the box, swinging myself up to grab his goggles and push off of him. I rolled to a low stance and held his glasses behind me, his eyes now on my face. "Relax," I laughed, my breathing lightly labored as I stood. "It's just me."

He didn't need his gloves or his goggles to use his power, they only enhanced them, but holding his gear hostage could still very well piss him off. "When is it ever a good thing to relax near you?" he countered, his expression cross. Tilting my head to the side with an innocent smile, I tossed him the goggles and walked forward.

"When you need me to help you," I supplied as he slid them back on.

"I don't need you," he scoffed, picking up his gloves from the ground.

"And that's why you've put up the help wanted posters. No one wants to work with you, but you know me. I can't walk away from a good pay off," I giggled, watching him a bit warily. Cisco was never completely sold on me, even before he had a reason to be, some part of him always distrusted me. "Come on, you know I've been useful before."

"You've also been in a prison cell for the past three years, Andromeda Cane." My smile faultered, fueling a curl to his lips. "I have multidimensional reach, are you really surprised I know your whole name?"

"No, you're not the first to learn it," I admitted cautiously. "There's a leak somewhere I need to plug up. I could use your help, and you can obviously use mine. What d'ya say, Francisco?" I clasped my hands behind my back, slowly pulling my phone out of my back pocket. Having no fingerprints, the thumb lock on it was a waste of tech and I temporarily disabled my passcode. I just had to hit that green send button without looking. I wasn't tech savy to begin with, I prefered the buttons to flat touch screens.

"As much as I hate to say it, you have been capable," he sighed after a long moment of deliberation. "But that was when you had your contacts. How many friends still work with you these days?"

My phone buzzed in a response I couldn't read, but I got a little smirk without needing to know what it said. "Just the one." Barry was late more often than not, it was a rarity he showed up early, and a few on nights like tonight, he was precisely on time.

Glass shattered the same moment a blue streak dropped down from over the crates and smashed into Cisco. It was only for a milisecond of a milisecond, but I could've sworn I saw Barry give me a scorn within that blue light. I ducked behind the crates and felt the pressure in the air change; it was instantly harder to move, harder to breathe. "I see prison's turned you into a rat, Andy," Cisco laughed as I slowly crumpled to the the floor. "No wonder no one works with you anymore."

"Well, I can see why people won't work with you," Barry retorted. I had hardly turned my head before his blur knocked Cisco off his feet and I could, for once, see the red of his suit as he ran over to me, easily scooping me up bridal style and taking me out of the building. "Are you okay?" he asked when the world held still and my feet were beneath me. His eyes quickly ran over me as I gasped in air, nodding my head as I took a few seconds to myself.

"Yeah," I breathed, getting used to breathing properly again and the feeling that Barry's running provided. "He's not just powerful, he's also a genius. Watch yourself, okay?" Barry nodded and looked me over once more as the small blue strips came over his shoulders and he was gone, leaving a trail of blue and sparks where he once stood.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and relaxed against the wall for a short moment, thankful for choosing flats as I made my way back the way I came into the building. They made scaling part of a building undetected fairly easier than combat boots. I could feel the pressure change as I slipped back in through the window, my ears popping as my body adjusted.

Pushing past the weight pushing me down, I looked over the railing and saw Barry's light all over the room like some crazy laser show at a rave as he weaved out of reach of Cisco's "vibes." We had discussed before hand that his tech were amplifiers, he had already taken one of Cisco's gloves.

After a few more second, Cisco seemed to catch onto a pattern and shot his hand out early, managing to hit Barry and send him flying back into the wall hard. Even from up here I could see the blow took a toll on him. Before Cisco could stalk forward, I fought against the intensifying pressure and threw myself over the railing again, falling faster than normal due to the increased gravity.

I crashed into Cisco, taking us both to the floor. I struggled with him for a minute, failing to remove his glove from his fist, so I turned my attention to the goggles, not caring if I pulled his hair as I went. He must've realized my intentions because he pushed his opened palm into my side, sending me off to the opposite wall of Barry. I didn't relinquish my hold on the goggles, the pressure in the room distinctly lessening but still hanging around.

I met Barry's eyes for a moment before he started zipping around Cisco again. He was down to one glove and his natural capabilities, so, using what little strength I could muster up, I squeezed my hands around the goggles, feeling the tech crumble and cut into my plams and fingers. At the very least, he wouldn't be getting these to work anytime soon.

Carefully relinquishing my tight hold on them, I started picking out the bigger pieces of glass and metal tearing into my skin. When the pressure in the room was gone, I looked up and found Barry standing over Cisco's laid out form. He almost came over to me but I shook my head. "Take care of him first," I sighed, pushing myself up with my forearms considering my hands were torn up. "He won't be happy when he wakes up."

Barry nodded and both men were gone in the quick flash of blue light. I groaned as I sat up and leaned against the wall, hissing at the pressure on my back. I had taken a decent beating today, though most of it was dulled by the mix of adrenaline and electricity, and I could feel the pain starting to set in. By the time Barry came back, my hands were plenty bloody but I was no where near ready for his lecture.

When his eyes widened at me, I waved him off. "Save it," I groaned. "Just get me outta here." Nodding with a determined expression, he carefully picked me up and ran us back to our base of operations.