Chapter Text
Things were getting back to normal, which was good – Eddie was out of the hospital, though on light duty. As it was, she was not as late as she normally was, heading up to her lab when Captain Singh called out to her form his office:
“Allen! Where's the DNA evidence on the Hotchkiss case?”
“I'm getting it now, Captain!” She called back over her shoulder. In that momentary distraction, she barreled right into Hunter, who was reaching for a cup off coffee offered by Iris. “Ooop!”
Hey, Carrie,” Hunter chuckled, catching the off-balanced CSI easily.
“Slow down, Care-bear!” Joe chuckled. Of the men in her life, Hunter was on the very short list of men approved of for the possibility of Carrie dating. One of others was Cisco; he liked the engineer.
“Sorry,” she muttered in embarrassment before glancing at Iris. “You're going to spoil us by bringing us coffee all the time, sis.”
“I don't mind. It gives me a chance to come over and see everyone.”
“Ooh is that chocolate croissant for me?” Eddie asked, reaching in fo the tempting pastry.
Iris slapped his hand. “No. Its all mine.”
“You'd deny a wounded man a sweet treat?” Carrie giggled. “So mean.”
“The meanest,” Eddie agreed with a fake-wounded look at his girl friend.
“...fine, I'll share,” she huffed; the grin that was at the corner of her lips suggested she had been planning to anyway.
The radio crackled to life as the dispatcher announced: “All available units please respond. There's a 211 in progress at Central City National Bank! Be advised, suspect appears to have increased strength and might be on some kind of stimulant.”
“Or worse,” Joe muttered, frowning as he grabbed his jacket. “That's less than a mile form here. How fast can we get there, Eddie?”
She had blurred away before catching his response, heading up to her lab to change into the spare suit she kept there and was racing down the road. One the way she paused to help a dog walker who had lost control of the small pack of dogs she was walking, keeping them from escaping too far and being accidentally hit by a car.
Carrie had found she rescued a surprising number of dogs since gaining her super-speed.
However, what she found at the bank was not something one would see everyday – a bald man with a handlebar mustache...that stood over nine feat tall with bulging muscles. He was garbed in a black one piece workout outfit with a purple top-hat on the front of it. He was carting a very large barbell in one hand.
...he looked like something off a circus poster....
As she had gaped at him, he regarded her. “Nice costume.”
“...thanks?” she replied, barely remembering to modulate her voice. “Nice mustache. Not many men today can pull off the full handlebar.”
“And who are you?” he rumbled at her.
“A concerned citizen,” she was saying as he was swinging at her; Carrie zipped around him, standing behind him as he shattered the front steps with the barbell.
“What?! Where'd you go?!” He was looking around in confusion.
“Right here!” She sped forward, somersaulting into the air to slam both feet into the back of his head.
He barely staggered, spinning around with remarkable speed – for a non-speedster – and grabbed her by the side. Under that massive hand she felt a rib break and when she was slammed into a nearby pillar felt another crack.
She hit the ground hard, landing bad on her ankle; gasping futilely for breath, she could only watch, as he slammed a fist into the pillar she had struck. The marble pillar cracked, toppling towards her. “See you later, freak.”
Frantically she rolled out of the way and it slammed into the concrete where she had been seconds before. Through the dust she could hear Hunter shouting: “Central City PD!”
Joe's voice rang out: “Spread out!”
her chest ached and her ankle was probably broken. But she couldn't let them find her...
She sped away despite the pain it caused, only pausing after ducking in an alleyway to make sure the man didn't return to attack Joe and the others. Reassured they were safe, she ran as fast as he ankle would let her back to STAR Labs.