Chapter 21: Aftermath

I woke up on a hard metal floor, different from the soft bed I expected. When I opened my eyes and looked around I saw I was in a Pipeline Cell and Caitlin and the rest of Team Flash were outside my cell staring at me with concern and hints of fear and interest. Concern on part of Caitlin, fear on part of Barry and Cisco, and interest on part of Wells.

"Urgh my head hurts, what happened with Iris? Why am i in a Pipeline Cell?" I questioned.

"You don't remember?" Barry asked.

"Remember what?" I questioned.

"A-andrew you killed them, you killed all of them." Caitlin replied.

Just then, the memories of last light flooded my brain.

"N-no I wouldn't, I...I couldn't. No, i did, i really k-killed them." I said aloud.

"Andrew you need to give us an explanation." Wells said stoicly.

"Why would I have killed them? It doesn't make any sense. Urgh it's so hot." I pondered aloud as I took off my jacket.

*gasp*

Caitlin gasped as she saw the black veins on my neck and my torso as my shirt had lifted when I was taking off my jacket.

"Andrew what are those black veins? And now that i see you up close you seem paler than normal it looks like you're sick." She questioned.

"Black veins? What black veins?" I asked

Barry ran off and came back with a mirror and slid it through the slot that was normally used to feed their prisoners.

I grabbed the mirror and saw the lightning like veins on my torso and creeping up towards my neck, the pale skin, and it hit me I turned around to think carefully at what it would mean, simultaneously releasing some electricity to see it was orange.

'Is this, the Karma System? But that shouldn't be a thing in this world.' I thought to myself.

I was wracking my brain for an explanation when I remembered something.

'When I made my wishes, I didn't specify having Cole McGrath's powers, I just wished that I'd have "the powers from the Infamous games" Games, plural, so I have all the abilities that were discussed in the Infamous games including the Karma system. It seems more in-depth than the game though.

When I decided to torture Eiling instead of just capturing him, I took my first step towards the evil side of Karma and since torture is a level even worse than just killing someone, I skipped two levels of evil karma' I finally figured it out. I am now at the Outlaw level of evil Karma' I thought to myself as I wandered how I was going to explain this to the team but I was saved by Wells who had been in quiet contemplation during the whole conversation.

"I have a theory as to why Andrew did what he did." Wells said as everyone looked at him.

"When we hooked Mr. Anderson up to the machine and he commented on pain in his head, I believe we may have overloaded his synapses and the loss of his normal mental faculties was the result." Wells explained.

Cisco blanched at that.

"Are you saying that my machine turned him into a killer?!?!" He questioned guiltily.

"I don't think it was just that, many different factors could have contributed to his change in personality. Maybe it was the machine, the stress and anxiety of the hostage situation, or even simply anger at Eiling for hurting one of his friends. I belive that in his altered mind he believed he was saving us from Eiling doing something like that in the future. The fact that he didn't immediately remember the incident adds merit to this theory. As for the paler skin and black veins, I don't have an explanation. Mr. Anderson, you care to explain that? You seemed to have realized something as you were looking at the lightning like veins on your body." Wells explained and asked.

I paused as I had actually found a way to explain the veins without explaining the Karma system as I was thinking about it during Wells' explanation of his theory.

"Well when I was k-killing Eiling, I absorbed his bio-electricity. That is all the electricity that the human body is full of and I believe the interaction between a foreign bio-electrical energy is clashing with my body, sort of like a virus. I'm sorry, that's the best explanation I can think of, it might also explain my change in personality. And it might also explain this." I explained as I showed them my lightning and how it was orange. I was pretty sure that one electrical villain they fight later was the same way because he had absorbed their Bio-electricity and had black veins all over his body.

"That's as good a theory as any and I think that for now, we can let you out of the Pipeline and we will keep an eye on you so something like this doesn't happen again. You also seem remorseful and according to Mr. Allen's recounting of the events of last night, your remorse was genuine. I do recommend that you speak with our resident doctor as she is the closest thing to a therapist you can get, as a normal therapist would immediately have you arrested if you explained the situation as they wouldn't know about Meta-Humans or the nuances of the situation." Wells explained as Cisco nodded and opened the Pipeline.

Caitlin immediately rushed over and gave me a hug.

"Don't worry Andrew, I don't think you are some psychopath and I am here when you are ready to talk." Caitlin said as she slowly released me from the hug.

Cisco came over and gave me a hug as well.

"I'm sorry my machine did this to you! I will make sure nothing like this happens ever again." Cisco said as he then put his arm around me and directed me to the med-bay so Caitlin could give me a check-up.

I knew she wouldn't find anything and I also now knew how to get my appearance to return to what it was. All I had to do was do what I was doing with saving people throughout the city and eventually I would return to my normal appearance as well as my electricity returning to its pale blue-white color.