Within Seconds: Sylas & Allen

Breathe

Parker hadn't strayed far from the Cortex. She was in the break room for a while, fixing herself a bowl of buttered noodles. When she finished, she withdrew a letter from her jean pocket.

She had gotten one line into her brother's letter-- Dear my favorite hoe, -- when Cisco's voice rang out through the speakers. "Barry Allen is the Flash!"

Parker jerked the stick on her wheelchair wildly, pushing that poor chair as fast as it would go. She hadn't waited until she was in the Cortex to start screaming, "You motherfucker! That speaker goes to the entire building! Somebody could have heard yo--"

"Told you that would get her here," Cisco said to Barry.

Parker stared at Cisco. "Of all the ways you could have summoned me, and you chose that?"

"We needed you fast," Cisco said. "Doctor Light escaped."

Parker looked at Barry. "Did you let her out?"

"No," Barry said, rolling his eyes.

"Doctor Light managed to hack into the lights of her cell. The whole building runs on fiber optics that operate on pulses of light, so she turned off the dampeners and used her powers," Cisco explained.

"I told you how dangerous she was," Wells said. He was trying to stay calm. "You should have listened to me and sedated her."

"I thought I had convinced her that helping us was the only way to free herself from Zoom," Barry defended.

"It's not surprising you thought wrong," Parker muttered.

Barry turned his lips into a sarcastic frown. "Teaming up on me with Dr. Wells. Thanks, Park, really."

"Instead of assigning blame, let's figure out what we're going to do next," Joe said.

"Do you think she's going to try to take out Linda again?" Caitlin asked.

"I had Iris bring Linda to the house, just in case. She's keeping an eye on her," Barry said. "How are we doing with the speed dampener?"

"I think we isolated the composite," Caitlin said.

"And we're modifying the dart the Arrow used to take down Wells," Cisco added.

"Do we know if this thing really works?" Joe asked.

"Until we try it, no. So, can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?" Wells asked hurriedly.

"Or how about I say what everybody's thinking?" Joe asked, his eyes narrowed at Wells.

"Be my guest," Parker said eagerly, hoping he'd trash talk Barry.

"Maybe it's a good thing that Doctor Light is gone. Maybe it's the universe stopping us from doing something really stupid," Joe said.

Parker pouted. She had expected more than what she got.

"No," Barry answered immediately. "Keep going. I'm going to figure out another way to find Zoom."

"It's gonna be just as stupid as the other plan," Parker predicted.

"Parker, sh--"

"Oh, buddy, not anymore!" she snapped. "You lost your privilege to tell me to shut up."

"After what?" Barry demanded.

"After you found out."

Cisco shook his head wildly. "Guys, stop."

Chuckling, Barry said, "You're ridiculous."

"I am not ridiculous," Parker said.

"You're still angry at me for being protective?" Barry asked. "Me keeping an eye on you will keep you alive!"