Running Over Water

[22 - The End?]

Warning - this chapter may not make sense. That's the point.

Barry

I didn't want to, trust me, but I had to go down there to talk to Percy. That darn kid. I really thought he was a good person, but I wasn't able to see through his facade. I just didn't want to listen to my gut telling me something was off about him.

"Barry, you don't have to go if you don't want to," Caitlin reminds me, resting her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I simply shake her off.

"I have to. I need to. For my mom, my dad. We need answers and we can't get them unless we talk to him," my eyes flash angrily at the floor, thinking of the events that had happened in the past few hours. I never would've thought Percy was working with my adversary. At first, I didn't know what to think when he accused Dr. Wells, but then I saw the article of him destroying Coast City, and I knew it had to be him, right?

"We're all angry at him, not just you. That doesn't mean you have to go down there and talk to him, but you're not in exactly the shape to go and talk to him," Caitlin said, but I can't help but feel disgusted by her. Caitlin of all people would understand that I need to avenge my moms death and now she's saying that I wasn't in the shape to do so.

"You can't tell me what I can or can't do," I snap at her, and I leave my friends in the Cortex as I run down to the pipeline. And even though I'm running at super speed, I can feel Caitlin and Cisco's pity gaze on me as I rush away.

My mind couldn't help but wander off as I was running. What were we going to do about Annabeth? Is she also working with the Reverse Flash? Why didn't Dr. Wells tell us about that article earlier?

I sighed as I reached Percy's cell, and as I looked up, there he was. Never before would I think that I'd feel these emotions when I see Percy. Now when I think of him, the only thing I feel is anger.

He sat in the cell, twirling a pen between his index and middle finger. His eyes snap up when he sees me, and I can see his body tense up.

He had a stolid expression on his face, yet he dared look me in the eye as if everything that had happened in the past few hours never happened, it was as if he was trying to taunt me. "Why? Why'd you do it?"

Instead of answering confidentiality, he replied with a tremor in his voice, as if he was on the verge of tears. I know now, what kind of tricks and lies he can make you believe. "Dr. Wells is playing you."

I grind my teeth in annoyance. He's avoiding my question. "Answer the question."

"He's playing you, but you're too naive to even realize it. Listen, Barry, why would I be lying? The evidence piles up, and you know it."

"No, Percy, you're the one playing me. Drop the act. We all know who you truly are."

He stands up, a furrow in his brow. He looked genuinely offended. "Really? You know the real me? Oh, then, please, entertain me!"

I take a step back at his voice, startled by the way he was acting."You're working with the Reverse Flash, and you were placed here to spy on us."

Percy lets out a sigh and shakes his head solemnly.

"What are you talking-" but my own voice is concealed by another's, and I stop in my tracks. I turn around, angry about the disturbance. But I see Dr. Wells sitting at the entrance.

"Sorry to interrupt, Barry, but I'd like to talk to Percy alone if you don't mind.

"All right," I side-eye Percy one final time before  I speed away, not thinking much about the conversation Dr. Wells and Percy would have.