Not A Hero - Cisco Ramon ✔

15. Man in yellow

--

It's Christmas!

Well, it's almost Christmas

"Merry Christmas! Just a small token of my gratitude for everything you guys have done for me." Barry says after he walked into the cortex. He gives us each a present. "I think I speak on behalf of my colleagues when I say you've been a gift for us, Barry." Dr. Wells tells him.

"What's that?" I ask when he grabs something else from his bag. "This is compliments of Iris. Grandma Esther's famous eggnog." He says smiling. "That's what I'm talking about." Cisco says to him and walks away to put his present down.

"Maybe later for me. Wouldn't wanna drink and drive." Dr Wells says before wheeling away. "Did I say something wrong?" Barry asks. "No." Caitlin says. Cisco walks back to us. "No, man. He, uh... This used to be is favourite time of the year, but the accident happened before Christmas, so it ruined the holidays." Cisco explains to us.

"I'm gonna go get him a present. Maybe that will cheer him up." Caitlin says and grabs her stuff. "Thank you, very much." She says to Barry and smiles. "So, what are you doing for Christmas, Cisco?" Barry asks him. "I don't know yet, I don't really have anything. We're not exactly a close family" Cisco tells us. "You, Kat?" I shrug. "I don't know, I've never really celebrated it." I tell them. "My family isn't really close either."

--

"Kat. Hey! Kat!" I sight and see Melanie running towards me. "I'm sorry, I really have to go." I tell her. "No. You've been avoiding us for weeks, what's going on?" She asks me. Stephan didn't tell her?

"No, he didn't." Crap, I said that out loud. "Didn't tell me what, exactly?" "We uh... we had a little fight." I tell her and put my wallet back in my bag. "I wanted to ask you, what are you doing for Christmas? We're having a party." She says.

"Sorry, I already made plans." She follows me out of the shop we were in. "With who?" "Cisco." I tell her. "Why are you acting so weird? What were you and Stephan fighting about?" She keeps asking. "It's... private. Look, Melanie, I really have to go." "To where? S.T.A.R. Labs? You've been there a lot lately." She says.

"That's because she works with us now." A new voice says, Dr. Wells. He wheels to us. "Hello, Deputy Reed." He greets her. "You work with them? I thought you were a writer." I sight. "I needed some extra money and they asked me to help them." I cringe at how bad I am at lying. I hate lying.

"If you'll excuse us, Deputy Reed, we'll have to go back to S.T.A.R Labs." Dr. Wells tells her. She nods and finally walks away. "Thank you, Dr. Wells." And I follow him to S.T.A.R. Labs.

--

"The witness described seeing a yellow blur. Just like the one that killed Barry's mother." Joe tells us. "Then we need to get cracking and stop this speed psycho." Cisco says before putting a candy cane in his mouth.

"That... I wasn't trying to give him a name." "The crime scene at Mercury Labs was on a floor with highly secured vault. And the witness said he was looking for something." Barry tells us. "Whatever it was, he wanted it badly enough to kill for it." Dr. Wells says. "Doctor, what do you know about Mercury Labs?" Joe asks him.

"Mercury was one of S.T.A.R. Labs' major competitions until out little setback and then it catapulted to the forefront, led by..." He types on his computer and we see a picture of a woman. "Dr. Christina McGee, brilliant but egocentric physicist."

"It says here that Dr. McGee has secured half of billion dollars in private funding to develop, and I quote 'Prototypes for the technology of the future.'" Cisco says to us. "Tina is messing with tachyons." Joe and I look at each other. "Superluminal particles." Dr. Wells explains.

"Of course." I say but still don't understand what he said. "So, what could someone do with one of those..." Joe starts. "Tachyons." "Thank you." "Well, I don't know. Become invincible. If you could devise a matrix stable enough to harness their power, you could... travel faster than light." "He's gonna try again." Barry speaks up.

"So, we need to get what Mercury has and use it as a lure." "Exactly right. Cisco, Caitlin, Kat, start engineering a trap." Dr. Wells says. "Kat?" I ask him. "Well, you work here now, I won't pay you for doing nothing." He smirks at me. I laugh and follow Caitlin and Cisco.

"I have to go and ask someone something first, can you two starts without me?" Caitlin asks us. "Yeah, sure." I smile at her. She nods and walks away. "So, I have no idea what to do, so you have to help me." I tell Cisco. "I will, so, when did you decide to work here?" He asks me while he grabs some stuff.

"Well someone was asking why I spent so much time here this morning. Dr. Wells heard that and told her that I work here." I explain. "Well, we could use some help." He smiles at me.

--

"Hey Caitlin, check this out." I say walking in the room she's sitting. I see het sitting on the ground. She stays silent. "Hey, are you okay?" I ask her. She sights and looks up. "Ronnie's alive. I saw him, Kat. I think he was following me..." I sit next to her.

"Caitlin. Ronnie died." "Ronnie's alive, and he's out there, alone and scared." She tells me. And I need your and Cisco's help to find him." She says. "Okay, I'll help you. But, how are you so sure he's alive? Are you sure you're not imagining things? I did that when one of my best friends, Tommy, died." She shakes her head.

"I was buying a gift for Dr. Wells when I felt someone following me. I turned around and a guy walked away. I followed him... I saw his face, Kat. It was Ronnie. His head and hand turned into fire. I've read about it on Iris' blog, she calls him The Burning Man." "Cisco is definitely better at nicknames."