impossible | barry allen

116

"All right, guys, say hello to our bus meta of the week, one who is unfortunately our last, Edwin Gauss." I introduce, gesturing to what was on the screen, "As we know, there's not much on him. No college history, no known addresses. Just a couple of backpacking photos on an old message board."

We were all at the cortex that day, after Harry had come up with a way to stop Devoe with some sort of tuning fork that had abilities like Izzy Bowen's, so we could catch Devoe off guard. A pocket dimension has opened, us all thinking it was Devoe, but surprisingly, it was our last bus meta.

I was dressed in a navy blue satin blouse, which was tucked into skinny black dress pants, my badge and holster attached to my belt, my hair straight, black heeled ankle boots on my feet.

"Old? Flip phones are old." Cisco corrects me, "This site is from the age of dial up. Try prehistoric."

"No digital fingerprint." Joe spoke, "Everything this guy owns is strapped to his back. He was off-grid before he was even a meta."

"That, and his powers are the reason we couldn't find him." I cross my arms, looking at everyone.

"And why there were 12 heat signatures on the bus, including the driver." Caitlin continues for me.

"Cisco, the way he appeared and disappeared-" Barry began.

Cisco cuts him off, "Pocket dimension."

"What? Like the Devoe kind?" Ralph questions.

"No, like the Edwin Gauss kind." Cisco pulls something up onto the screen, "You see, pocket dimensions, like the one you see here, are unique to their users. Just like Devoe can only enter or exit his, Gauss too is limited to his own pocket dimension."

"So why does Devoe need him?" Iris asks out of curiosity.

"Well, Devoe uses his chair to create pocket dimensions." I press my palms together, "If he has Edwin Gauss's powers, he won't need it anymore."

"Then we need to catch Gauss first." Joe nods.

"And we will." Harry walks in, holding his thinking cap, "Little late. Just tweaking the cap. Now, listen, locating this meta is not a task that we have to accomplish. Why is that, Harry? I'll tell you why. It's because we already have."

Harry sets the cap down and types away, pulling something up on the screen for us to see, "Yeah, this is the map that we constructed: Of all the pocket dimension activity throughout Central City."

"Right, but that's when we thought all the pocket dimensions belonged to Devoe." Caitlin spoke up, "Now we don't know whether they belong to him or to Gauss."

"And figuring out those distinctions, I'm sorry, but that's too big even for your britches, Harry." Cisco says.

"My britches are plenty big, okay? I fill my britches. Watch this, okay?" Harry types, "By simply tracking the two lanes of identifiers, cross-referencing the, uh, fluctuation migration patterns and the temporal displacement in the energy app, and I give you Edwin Gauss's pocket dimension activity."

Our eyes fall onto the screen, only a few red points on the map now, Harry softly speaking, "Ahhh, Harry. Harry is amazing."

"Yeah, okay, let's just split up and search each one for Edwin Gauss." I point, "Barry, you go with Ralph and Caitlin, Iris, tag along with Joe and Cisco, Harry-"

"I'll go with you." Harry nods.

I shook my head, "You hold down fort."

"Okay, I'll tweak the cap." Harry nods, grabbing his cap, leaving the room.