Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Involvement

Waiting on the team to arrive, Barry decided to entertain himself and spin Parker's chair carefully. She tucked her feet into the chair. Barry generated faster circles, laughing wildly, as she continuously giggled. 

"Hello," greeted Dr. Wells. 

Barry reached forward and jerked the chair to a stop. He pouted when Parker latched her hands onto his shoulder, head hung low. 

"What were you two doing?" asked Cisco. 

"I was just spinning her in the chair," said Barry. 

"Not a good idea, huh?" asked Caitlin.

"Nah," said Parker painfully.

Cisco took the folder from the computer desk. He scoffed, "A VA file number is all the info you have on the bomber?" 

"CCPD's been ordered off the case," announced Barry. 

Caitlin's brow scrunched. "Who has the power to do that?"

"The army. Yeah, some general, his name was Eiling, I think," recalled Barry. 

"General Wade Eiling," confirmed Dr. Wells. 

Barry and Parker shared a look. She asked, "You know him?"

"Yeah, I know him," said Dr. Wells shamefully. "About ten years ago, General Wade Eiling contracted S.T.A.R. Labs to develop advanced gene therapy for soldiers. I was interested for potential medical benefits for civilians; Eiling wanted to develop mind reading capabilities for interrogation purposes. I stopped the study when I saw his techniques up close, but our split was less than amicable..."

"He took all the evidence I collected on the bombing. Everything but the folder," said Barry. 

"Well, lucky for us, the VA finally joined the new millennium and digitized their records," said Cisco. He sat next to Parker and clicked away on the keyboard. "A lot of redacted info, but our girls name is Bette Sans Souchi."

Parker craned her neck to see the screen. "Oh, she was an EOD specialist for the army. That explains quite a bit..."

"EOD?" asked Caitlin. 

"Bombs," clarified Parker and Cisco. 

"Is there an address?" inquired Barry. 

"One person in case of emergency: Cameron Scott. Englewood," informed Cisco. 

Parker watched in the reflection of the computer as Barry disappeared from behind her. The suit was gone, and so was he. 

××××

Parker's eyes dug into her kneecaps. She rubbed her face back and forth, green and purple streaks flying across the darkness in her closed sight. She thought of everything she could to try to distract herself from the situation at hand.

"There must be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he isn't answering," said Caitlin quietly to Cisco. She pressed the speaker again. "Barry!"

Shirtless and panting heavily, the man himself slid into the Cortex. 

Parker slapped her hands over her eyes, not wanting to see his shirtless torso. Well, she did, but in a special way. She preferred if Cisco and Caitlin weren't there, too. 

"Don't ask," she heard Barry mutter. "Park, I'm decent."

"I'm going to ask. Where's my suit?" asked Cisco emphatically. 

"Our suit," corrected Parker. 

"It's gone."

Cisco stared blankly at him. "What do you mean, 'it's gone?' What did you do with my suit?"