Chapter Text
The library was mostly quiet, the only sounds were soft footsteps, the sounds of pens on paper and keys of laptops being tapped.
Francesca sat trying to read her notes, annoyed that she couldn’t seem to be taking anything in. Her exam was tomorrow and, thanks to studying for every other subject she had, she had little time left to study for her organic chemistry exam.
Rubbing her eyes, she remembered the email that everyone had received at the beginning of the week. The header exclaiming, The Incumbo, a study aid that will help you focus.
“This device works with all ear buds and headphones,” Francesca murmured under her breath as she read the email, “Our unique tones help you focus on whatever you need to learn, and you will retain all the information.”
Looking around the room she saw a few people were using the device, a small black box that looked like a music player with ‘Incumbo’ on it although in different coloured block letters.
Checking the email again, Francesca saw that they were being sold at the shop at the cafeteria just next to the library so it wouldn’t take up too much time to get one, plus she could get something to eat as she was getting hungry.
Throwing everything into her bag Francesca headed out the library, she grabbed a sandwich, soda, and some snacks in the shop itself before going to the small table that were selling the study aids.
“Hi,” the girl sitting at the table smiled at her, her name badge said Janis.
Francesca nodded, “How much for one of these things?”
“They’re five dollars,” Janis told her, “But they are in a beta test just now, so I need to know which subject you’re using it to study for?”
A little bemused, Francesca shrugged, “Organic chemistry.”
Janis checked the list in front of her before she reached into one of the boxes behind her pulling out the small black box with green writing on it.
“This one works for science,” Janis told her, “I know it seems weird but what I was told is that different subjects work different parts of the mind,” she shrugged, “As well as the money, we need an email address so the team can email you a survey for feedback.”
Shrugging Francesca quickly wrote down her name, giving her CCU student email address before fishing $5 out of her bag and handing it over.
Janis smiled, “Just plug your headphones in and hit play then start working. There is an instruction manual in the bag if you need it.”
“That’s it?”
At her surprise, Janis laughed, “I know, it seems too easy. You’ll receive an email tonight if you can fill in the survey by the end of the week that would be great. They like to do weekly stats.”
Taking her new Incumbo, Francesca headed back to the library. Finding a free table beside the window on the third floor, she unpacked her notes once more, but this time plugged her earphones into the small black box and hit play.
She was confused that there was no noise even after checking the sound level. Scanning the manual, she found a note that said not to worry about the lack of noise at the beginning.
Shrugging, Francesca began to work.
Suddenly someone tapped on the desk, looking up she saw one of the librarians smiling down at her.
“Sorry,” she said, “But we’re about to close for the night.”
Checking the time Francesca was stunned that she’d been here for three hours, “Thanks.”
As the woman left to rouse the others studying, Francesca pulled together her things amazed that she’d managed to focus for so long.
Well tomorrow’s exam would show how good it worked.
Francesca shook her head in amazement as she left the exam room with Kevin and Lily.
“What did you think?” Kevin demanded.
Lily groaned, “I don’t know. Part of me thinks I might have done okay but then I was stuck on question 10 and…”
“Lalalalalalala,” Kevin stuck his fingers in his ears, “Don’t talk about the questions. You know the rule.”
Francesca laughed; she was still stunned by the fact that the exam had been extremely easy. Every question she looked at she knew the answer almost instantly. The Incumbo had actually worked.
“I would love to celebrate the end of exams,” Lily sighed, “And drive Kevin crazy, but I have to work. See you guys later.”
They waved Lily away and continued walking towards the closest coffee shop, chatting over the exam they’d just had. About an hour later, Kevin left to pick up his brother from school, so Francesca pulled out phone and found the survey she’d been sent the night before about the Incumbo.
The survey was simple, with only five questions.
With a shrug she sent it, surprised when an email arrived a few minutes later with a download for the Incumbo to upgrade it.
“To assist in enhanced learning during your lectures,” she read, “Use the Incumbo while you sleep.”
Musing Francesca decided to try it, she did find on occasion her attention wandering during lectures. If it helped that would be great, if it didn’t then she’d lost nothing.
Cisco Ramon leaned against the console on the speed lab and grimaced as he tried to get a word in but the woman on the other side of the phone was still talking. Her worries spilling out to him as Cisco listened.
“Aunt Marie,” he said quickly when she paused finally, “I’ll talk to Joe…Detective West and see if he knows anything. I promise.”
He nodded as she thanked him before she hung up and Cisco let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong?” Barry asked, a frown of concern on his face.
Cisco shook his head, “My cousin Francesca is missing.”
“Missing?”
“According to Aunt Marie,” Cisco sat on the steps of the lab. “Francesca hasn’t been seen in three days. She was meant to come home last night for family dinner but didn’t show. Aunt Marie has called her constantly since then and when she got a hold of her roommate, she said the last time she saw Francesca was Tuesday morning.”
“Has she contacted the police? Barry asked.
Cisco nodded, “They said they’re looking into it but because she knows I’ve worked with the CCPD in the past wanted me to use my contacts to find out what’s going on.”
“Okay,” Barry said, “I’ll call Joe and find out what’s going on.”
Cisco smiled at his friend, “Thanks.”
“She’s the what?!!!!” Cisco demanded, staring at Joe in amazement.
“In the past month we’ve had reports of sixteen students, all from CCU, disappearing,” Joe continued, “Every one of them are like your cousin. They have high grades and known to be reliable for their families or jobs. They haven’t packed any clothes as far as we can tell and look as though they just left that morning for class.”
Barry frowned, “Have their rooms been searched?”
Joe nodded, “But we’re waiting for their emails and internet history but typically the techs are backed up with other cases.”
“I can do that,” Cisco offered.
Barry nodded, “And if you want, I’ll look through everything collected from all the rooms. See if I can find something that’s been missed.”
Joe smiled, “That’s great. I’ll let Singh know and hopefully we can get a lead on these kids.”
Barry scanned the lists in front of him telling him everything that had been in all the rooms. He quickly eliminated clothing before checking through all the books they had. Which was useless as they were all studying different things so there were very few books in common.
He heard Cisco swearing and looked up to see his friend with the same frustrated look he’d had since he’d started working on the computer.
“Still nothing?” Barry sympathised.
Cisco nodded, “All internet histories have been wiped and they only show emails from the university. Nothing else which is a huge flag since I know my aunt emails Francesca recipes.”
“So, whoever has done this has been emailing them,” Barry mused, “But doesn’t know how to clear away only their own emails? That’s odd.”
Cisco shook his head, “A lot of this is just weird. The one thing is whoever did this thought they had scrubbed their existence, but I know a few tricks to restore the information. It just might take a few hours.”
“If you work on that I’m going to go through all their class schedules and the statements to see if any of them crossover,” Barry groaned at the thought, even with his speed, it was going to be a boring afternoon.
“Yes!!!!!!”
Barry jumped as Cisco’s cry pulled him out of his thoughts, “What?”
Cisco pointed at him triumphantly, “Incumbo.”
“In what bo?” Barry asked confused.
“Every one of our missing students purchased a study aid device called an Incumbo,” Cisco explained, “They’ve completed surveys about how it helped and received upgrades via email links.”
“Which have since been wiped,” Barry said, “That isn’t suspicious at all.”
Cisco nodded, “According to the original email Francesca received, they’re being sold just next to the library at CCU. Feel like picking one up?”
“We can pass for students,” Barry told him.
“Definitely,” Cisco agreed.
Laughter made them turn to where Iris and Caitlin were standing watching them.
“What?” Cisco demanded.
“You’re not as young as you think you are,” Iris said the amused smile on her lips.
Caitlin chuckled at the two guy’s hurt looks, “I think you can get away with mature students.”
“But you might want to use the dummy email addresses if whoever is behind these disappearances knows who you are,” Iris reminded them.
“We were going to do that,” Cisco frowned at her.
Iris and Caitlin chuckled as Cisco and Barry walked out.
“Had you thought of that?” Barry murmured once they were away from where they could be overheard.
Cisco shook his head.
“Never tell them.”
CCU’s main campus was busy as the students milled around. Barry and Cisco had stopped off at their apartments to get backpacks, so they blended in, but no one gave them a second look as they strolled through the quad.
“Library is this way,” Barry said, leading the way.
Cisco followed looking around thoughtfully.
“Do you remember when you were in college?” Barry asked.
Cisco chuckled, “First time I lived away from my parents. It was amazing. Though I did have a roommate who did all night gaming marathons. It got old fast.”
“The fact I could stay up as late as I wanted without Joe checking in on what I was up to was amazing,” Barry laughed, “It feels like forever ago now.”
Cisco nodded, “It’s not like much has happened since then.”
They both laughed as they found the library and headed to the small shop just beside it.
“There,” Cisco murmured softly, as they stood scanning the drink options.
Barry grimaced at the amateur look of the fold up table, multiple cardboard boxes, and handwritten sign, “Seems odd.”
“Let’s grab some snacks, then see if we can buy one each,” Cisco told him, “I want to take one apart and keep one intact for any upgrades we get sent.”
They followed the plan, paying for their snacks before walking over to the table where a young woman with the name badge Janis sat.
“Hi,” Janis smiled at them.
Cisco nodded, “How much are these…things?”
“They’re five dollars each,” Janis said, “They are in a beta test just now, so I need to know which subject you’re using it to study for.”
Barry and Cisco swapped a confused look at the question.
“I know it seems weird but what I was told is that different subjects work different parts of the mind,” Janis explained.
“I’m studying engineering,” Cisco said.
Barry quickly added, “Journalism.”
Janis checked the list in front of her before she reached into one of the boxes behind her pulling out the small black box with green writing on it, “This one is yours,” she placed it in front of Cisco before turning to the other side and pulled out an identical box except this had red writing on it, “And this for you. They’re five dollars each,” she continued, “We need an email address so the team can email you a survey for feedback. Just plug your headphones in and hit play then start working. There is an instruction manual in the bag if you need it.”
“That’s all?” Cisco asked
Janis laughed, “That’s all. You’ll receive an email tonight if you can fill in the survey by the end of the week that would be great. They like to do weekly stats.”
Barry and Cisco handed over five dollars each before filling a registration card, being careful to complete with the dummy email addresses that they had for these types of situations.
With that, they put the Incumbos in their bags and left.
It seemed almost too easy.