Flash of Curiosity (Book Two)

Chapter 38: The Landslide Brought Me Down

After Barry handed over some finished lab work to a couple of detectives that they needed for a robbery case, the speedster rushed over to Big Belly Burger to grab him and his friends dinner which they currently all ate together in the Cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs. It was over their meal that Barry brought Andi up to speed with what happened over the time she was gone. Everything with Wells such as their failed attempt to trap him. The discovery that he kept tabs on all of them with cameras. How Barry he to fight Onyx a couple times and most recent of all—what she did at CCPD.

That was also when Barry decided to bring up Eddie. "Do you have any idea where Wells could be keeping him?" he asked her gingerly. "Any sense of where he's hiding out?"

If she felt any pressure to have the answer to his questions, she didn't show it. Andi wiped her hands with a napkin as she said, "I don't know." She glanced at her friends as they watched and listened to what she had to say. "I was. . .asleep. . .dormant in the time Onyx was in control. It was like being frozen all over again. Unconscious. Unaware. Except I could feel things here and there. I can see some things. It was like watching things play out, but through someone else's eyes. Anyways, I only know what she let me know. Like how I killed Hannibal Bates."

Barry sat up right in his chair, wheeling himself. closer to Andi.

Andi smiled at her boyfriend. "I know. I know what you're gonna say. That it wasn't not my fault."

"Because it wasn't," he immediately reaffirmed.

"But it was. It was my hands that did it. . ." The once superhero stared at her palms in her lap, ashamed to look anyone in the eyes as she said the next part. "I never killed anyone before. I've done so many things with my powers. . .but never have I murdered someone in cold blood."

Barry grabbed her hands in his, giving them a comforting squeeze. Andi blinked back tears. "I also remember taking Eddie that night. . .the look on Iris's face when she saw me." No one had anything to add, so she went on. "I tried to stop her. . .but she had all the power. All the control."

Andi looked up at each of her friends that have stood by her side through everything as she told them, "I will help you find Eddie and Wells or Thawne—whatever we're calling him—for as long as I'm in control." Then she met Barry's eyes again. "We have to stop him."

They all nodded, unaware how serious she meant by her words at the time.

"Did he tell you or Onyx anything about what he plans to do?" Cisco asked before taking another bite of his french fries.

Andi sighed and shook her head, disappointed. But she quickly turned her frown into a witty grin and said, "You might have better luck asking the other me."

To which Barry fiercely stated, "There is no other you. She isn't you." Then he suddenly pushed himself out of his chair and treaded inside Andi's new bedroom for the time being.

Andi cautiously watched him sulk down on the chair as she felt rather unnerved by his pity towards her. Pity which boiled down to anger at any mention of Onyx. She knew it had a lot to do with how he felt about not being able to bring her back so for long. That she must have said some things to him that weren't kind. Because she is not kind.

"I think I'm gonna head in for the night," Cisco spoke up first to break the tension, picking up his trash as he pushed himself up from his chair.

"Yeah, me too," Caitlin said after, also picking up her trash. "Might as well get settled in."

Caitlin and Cisco had decided earlier when Barry was still away at work to stay overnight at the laboratory in case of any emergencies involving Andi's well-being. In case anything changes. In case the serum wares off.