EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME TWO
━━ ❛ 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 ❜

chapter no. 040!

     JULIAN ALBERT WASN'T AS BAD AS BARRY HAD MADE HIM OUT TO BE. In fact, he was quite the sweetheart and charmer, but maybe the redhead only thought that because she was a sucker for British accents.

     The date had gone well so far.

     The two had spent most of it getting to know each other and talking about random things. It was quite relaxing and refreshing for Piper. She was always surrounded by the craziness of her life and her friend's jobs. Meta-humans, villains, saving the city, playing hero, and protecting those she cared about. Ever since 2010, Piper had never felt like a normal person again, until tonight.

     Talking and being around Julian was refreshing, and he treated her as if she were a normal person. He knew nothing about her past, her mistakes, or her life, which made everything better. She had a clean slate with somebody who saw her as Piper Lita. Not Piper "the Hero of Caruthers City" or "Expedite, the Fastest Woman Alive" Lita.

     Julian simply saw her as a cytologist that worked at S.T.A.R. Labs.

     Nothing more, nothing less.

     "So, why haven't I ever seen you at S.T.A.R. Labs before?" Julian inquired, taking a sip of his water.

     Going off the first thing that popped into her mind, Piper answered. "In May, a very close family friend of mine passed away. After I attended the funeral, I wasn't exactly in the best mindset. I don't have a lot of family so experiencing any sort of loss is a big thing for me, and I decided to take a couple of months off work until I was fully ready to come back and be able to focus solely on my job and those around me."

     Nodding, a frown tugged at the corners of his lips. "I'm sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose a loved one too, so I'm always here if you want to talk about it." Julian spoke gently, placing his glass back on the table.

     "Thank you," Piper murmured, giving him a soft smile.

     "I know tonight has been riddled with a lot of questions, but I have one more," the blonde paused, his brows slightly raised. Piper nodded, signaling for him to continue. "What's the situation with Allen? He eluded to the fact that there is something going on between the two of you by stating your relationship is "complicated." I'm just curious."

     Blinking, the redhead cleared her throat, glancing away for a second. "Our history is quite extensive, and we've been through a lot together. My feelings for him had always been more than friends, even though sometimes I couldn't admit or realize it. I didn't know that he felt the same way until right before I left for the funeral, which was perfect timing. Ever since I got back, things have been different, and Barry wants us to be more than friends, but I'm not ready. I have some personal issues that I have to deal with, and being in a relationship with someone while your mind is on something else and not them isn't fair. He deserves all the love and care in the world, and I'm not in a position where I can give that right now."

     Julian nodded slightly, a few creases cracking along his forehead as her words settled in.

     "I understand that, and I know that you only did this so Allen could investigate the case as well," he added, giving her a look, and she sighed.

     "I did, but I want you to know that this has been the first time, in a very long time, that I've felt some sort of peace and normalcy. So, thank you." Piper breathed, watching as the man across from her smiled widely.

     It was silent for a second before Julian opened his mouth. "I—" His words were cut off as his phone began to ring. Sighing, he reached into his back pocket and pulled it out, swiping to answer. "Hello? I'm sorry, what?" His eyes flickered quickly to the redhead before darting away. "Yes, yes, of course. I'll be there soon." Sliding his phone into his back pocket, the blonde stood up.

     "I hate to do this, but the monster we've been investigating is attacking downtown. I have to go." Julian apologized, watching as the woman stood up as well.

     "I'm coming with you," she replied, grabbing her purse.

     "What? No. Piper, go home."

     "I'm not arguing with you, Julian. I'm coming."

────

     "OKAY, SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?" Iris asked, spinning around from looking at the monitors on the wall. Her eyes jumped from face to face and watched as everyone drew a blank, Cisco scratching his head in thought.

     "Great fucking question," Erin commented, turning to the long-haired boy on her left. "Got any ideas, guys? You're the smart ones."

     Harry rolled his eyes, huffing. "We fashioned a carbon fiber rope, which Allen has now, but we never actually discussed how the rope would be used," the scientist admitted, glancing at Caitlin, who was walking over to the line of computers.

     "Wasn't Piper the one who came up with the idea for the rope? Let's get her here, she'll know what to do." Detective West proposed, raising a questioning brow as Cisco shook his head.

     "She's on that date with Julian, and there's no possible way for her to get here fast enough to help. Barry can't go and get her," the long-haired boy pointed out, crossing his arms.

     "Guys," Barry's voice rang through the comms system around the room, drawing all undivided attention back to him.

     It only took two seconds for an idea to finally hit him, and Cisco gasped. "Barry, we're gonna do Empire. Just take it down like it was an AT-AT."

     "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Caitlin voiced, shrugging as Harry and Cisco looked at her, slightly surprised. "Even I've seen Empire."

     The sound of people yelling could be heard throughout the Cortex, and Iris sighed, rubbing her forehead. Noticing her girlfriend's stressed stance, Erin walked away from the three scientists and to her, wrapping her arms around her from behind. Placing a soft kiss on her cheek, Erin nuzzled her head into the crook of Iris's neck, feeling her relax under her touch.

     "All right, here we go. I always wanted to be a Jedi." Barry whispered, his voice barely echoing around the room.

     Cisco uncrossed his arms and quickly brought up the security feed for downtown Central City, only to find that it was shut down. "We don't have a visual. All the cameras are down," he announced, looking up from the computer. Joe huffed, pulling out his phone and sending a text to Piper, hoping the woman would find a way to help or get to S.T.A.R. Labs.

     "Guys? The rope went right through it. It's a hologram." Barry shouted, his voice becoming muffled through the earpiece.

     Looking to Caitlin, Erin furrowed her brows, the two of them sharing a perplexed look.

     "That explains everything," the long-haired boy whispered, "the ten-block radius, the transformers. It takes that much power to render."

     Iris's eyes widened, and she stepped out of her girlfriend's arms, looking at her father. "Wait, CCPD sent snipers there," she interrupted.

     "If it's not real—" Caitlin began.

     "—Then the bullets will pass right through it." Erin finished, her gaze also trailing to the CCPD Detective, who had a worried-stricken look covering his face.

     "Guys, it's gone. Where is it?" The scarlet speedster yelled, panic laced in his tone.

     The sound of keyboard keys clicking rapidly filled up the room as the air became heavy with stress. "Hold on. Give me a sec, Bar." Cisco called, brushing a fallen strand of hair out of his face.

     "Okay, we don't have a second!"

     Groaning, Caitlin walked over to the computers, lightly pushing Harry out of the way. The scientist gave her a befuddled look as she sat down in a chair, pulling up a map of Central City. "I'm triangulating the signal being sent to the monster so we can disrupt it," the brunette stated, not bothering to look over to the boy next to her. "Found it. It's at second and Fulton."

     The team sat in silence as they listened to Barry yell at the cops to stop firing, announcing that it was a hologram. As they stood there and waited, Joe gasped. Something he should have caught a while ago was now just making itself known to him.

     "Wait, most of the CCPD is there, which means that Julian more than likely got called in to go downtown since he's on the case. Which also means that Piper could be there right now," Joe blurted, his words causing every head to swivel towards him.

     "Cisco! Find Piper's location, now!" Barry shouted through the comms, the sound of sirens wailing in the background.

     Cisco blanched as his fingers quickly fired away, the computer beeping once it pinged the redhead's location. "Hamilton building, twenty-fifth floor. It's showing that Julian is there with her, and that's also the location where there's more power going there than anywhere else in the building combined. They're with whoever is controlling the monster."

     All the way downtown, inside the Hamilton building, there were three shadows dancing across the walls. The first shadow was sitting at a desk, and the other two were coming up behind it.

     "I said put your hands up! This is CCPD! Freeze! Stop what you're doing!" Julian shouted, his gun aimed towards the first shadow. Out of breath from running after the blonde, Piper ran her hands through her hair, continuing after the latter, only a mere thirty feet behind. "I said put your hands up!"

     The shadow sat eerily still, the darkness hugging around its backside due to the lack of light. A subtle glow from the scarce monitors surrounding it reflected a swamp green glare at the CSI.

     Reaching his side, the redhead darted her eyes in-between the two, her mind oddly blank as to what to do.

     Eyeing the frozen shadow, she narrowed her chocolate-brown eyes, taking in the size of the unknown figure. Whoever they were, they weren't tall, nor were they tiny. From what she could make of the silhouette, the outline of the person resembled one of a kid. Perhaps a teenager.

     Before she could say a word to Julian about the suspect being a child, the shadow shot up from the chair, turning to run away, and the CSI fired his gun.

     Time seemed to slow down as Piper's gaze followed the bullet, a switch flickering in her eyes as a surge of chilling rage spread across her back. For what felt like the slowest second in the world, she felt a strong and vengeful force take over. Her vision faded to solid black, and everything around her felt cold and foreign, yet familiar, at the same time.

     It's working.

     Lowering her head, the redhead blinked multiple times, trying to snap out of whatever trance she was falling into. In contrast to the dozens of episodes and panic attacks she'd had over the past few months, none of them brought upon an eerily calming feeling to her chest as this trance did.

     There was no twinge of panic, sadness, frustration, pain, remorse, guilt, shame, or embarrassment in her heart. Instead, all she could feel was anger, but not the kind that made one's nerves rattle violently against their rib cage or that made every part of them recoil and burn to the point where the pain became igniting—no. It was the anger that made someone inhumanly calm.

     She's here.

     A part of her soul felt as if it had accepted some sort of truth as her vision gradually came back, leaving her confused and defenseless. The unsettling calm anger was still present, but it didn't feel as powerful as it had milliseconds ago. The change between chocolate and hollow brown came to a sudden halt, the two mixing and adding a brown resembling nature's color to her eyes.

     It was at that moment that time resumed, and the bullet shot forward, inches away from colliding with the kid before streaks of lightning flooded the dark room. The bullet was snatched out of thin air, and the kid was yanked forward by Central City's finest.

     Blinking, the realization that Savitar had just been inside her head again hit her. Piper brought her hand to her mouth to keep from gasping as she backed away from Julian. The silver and blue monster had just forced himself into her consciousness without her fully knowing it.

     What did he find in my mind? What did he do?

     Feeling a flood of guilt flowed into her veins, her eyes landed on the scarlet speedster for a fraction of a second before quickly darting away.

     "You're just a kid," the blonde uttered, his arms dropping as he put away his gun. The Flash turned around with the suspect in his hands; it was a dark brown-haired kid with an enraged expression across his face.

     "Yeah, a kid you almost killed!" the boy shouted angrily, thrashing about in the speedster's arms as he brought him towards the CSI. "You're gonna pay for that one, buddy. You're gonna—"

     Piper shakily glanced over to Julian, noticing how sickly pale his face had become. He felt guilty, just like she did. The only difference was that he almost shot a kid and she was having the past few months coming back to bite her in the ass.

     "Yeah, I don't think so, man; I think you're the one that's gonna be paying for all the damage you did to this city... for a very long time," Flash commented, his voice echoing as he handed the kid over to Julian. The speedster glanced over to the redhead, frowning slightly as he noticed her avoiding his stare. Pushing aside the slight twinge in his chest, he walked around the three, ready to leave.

     "Hey, Flash," the blonde called, turning his head. Barry froze and slowly turned around, his eyes darting, again, between Piper and Julian. "Thank you."

     Nodding, the scarlet speedster gave him a forced smile. "You're welcome."

────

     "THIS IS FOR CREATING A PART OF ME THAT'S SO DARK IT'LL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY." The words that escaped her tongue five months ago were back with a sting. Terror filled her heart, and her hands shook at the raving ball of electricity vibrating in her chest. Her hands were icy cold to the touch, yet she wasn't freezing. All she could feel was panic and horror as she stared at the wall in front of her.

     Ever since Julian fired his gun at the kid, the redhead had felt off.

     Something wasn't right with her; she knew it had to do with Savitar. He did something when he'd gotten into her head earlier.

     For weeks, she'd known that some force of darkness had been heading her way. Every day, she could feel it. Every day was becoming harder than the next; the hours seemed to drag on longer, and the forced smiles continued the rippling effect of pieces of her soul being torn off. Every day, there was a part of her, which was gradually taking over, that wanted to lash out in anger and frustration.

     However, it wasn't until today that she felt that part of her had fully emerged. Like Savitar said, "She's here."

     She didn't feel like Piper Lita, even though she hadn't felt like herself in months, but it was even more obvious to her now. Whatever Savitar did to her, it worked.

     The door to the pitch-black room creaked open, yellow rays of light from the hallway streaming through. Keeping her head resting on the pillow and her eyes on the wall in front of her, she remained still.

     After Julian had arrested the kid, Piper didn't hesitate to return to the apartment. She knew that Barry and everyone else would meet at S.T.A.R. Labs, and she didn't want to see anyone. All she wanted was to be alone, left to her thoughts so she could figure out what had happened to her.

     "Piper?" A soft yet nervous voice asked, pushing the door open even more. The brown-haired man crept forward some, frowning as the woman remained unresponsive. Her back was turned to him underneath the covers of the bed. "Are you awake?" He asked, sighing as he got the same response.

     First, she wouldn't look at him at the Hamilton building. Then, she didn't meet him back at S.T.A.R. Labs, and she went to bed without talking to him. The past week he knew, along with everyone else, that she hadn't been the same since the attack involving Dr. Alchemy and the Rival, but Barry thought they'd made progress.

     That she had made progress.

     She was being more affectionate with him, less jumpy, and more verbal with the team. Now, however, it felt that every time she took three steps forward, she took five back.

     It wasn't fair.

     Turning around, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

     Huffing, Piper turned over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, pushing down the rising lump in her throat.

     God, why am I about to break down?

     Quickly, she covered her face with her hands, rubbing her eyes and trying to erase the salty tears that were beginning to slide down the side of her cheeks. She was getting sick and tired of the tears, yet that seemed to be the only emotional response her body had been able to produce lately. Tears of pain.