Fastest Man Alive
Voices
“What are you doing?" he heard a woman say as his vision was slowly coming into focus.
“He likes this song" he heard another voice say, this time this was the voice of a male.
He did know where he was or what was happening but he knew he was no longer in his apartment or at the CCPD, and that automatically made him nervous. He heard the voice of the male again and this time he was singing, he couldn’t quite make out the song but he knew the voice sounded like Lady gaga. Before he knew it he's body had an instant reaction to wake up, causing him to take in a few deep breaths trying to regain his normal breathing. The first thing he noticed was the male he heard singing, who instantly turned around when he jumped.
“oh my god" he says startled.
Who are these people? Where am I? What happened to me?
Barry was instantly pulled out of his thoughts when the woman ran over to him shining a light in his face. “Pulse 120. Pupils equally reactive to light. Look at me, look at me" she says snapping her fingers a few times to get his attention.
The male walked over placing his hand on Barry's shoulder, pulling him back down onto the bed. “Hey hey, relax. Everything's ok, man, you're at Star Labs".
“Star Labs? Who who are you?" Barry asked feeling a need to know his name, her name anybody’s name. He needed to know something because at the moment it was taking everything in him to not have a panic attack.
Ok, wait? Why haven’t I had one already?
“I’m Cisco Ramon, She's Caitlin Doctor Snow" Cisco says pointing to Caitlin. Trying to keep a smile on his face the whole time, Barry looked so lost and panicked, the last thing Cisco wanted to do was hold a panicked crying man. I mean don’t get him wrong he would but this was his favorite shirt.
The woman instantly pulled out a cup throwing it in Barry’s face. “I need you to urinate in this" she says.
Cisco grabs the cup. “Not this second".
“What what is happening? What is going on?" Barry asked moving away from the pair frustrated at the lack of answers.
“You were struck by lightning dude" Cisco answers following Barry.
Barry turns around catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror. “Lightning gave me abs?".
“Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration" Caitlin explains feeling on Barry’s body.
Cisco grabs Barry's hand and leads him to a nearby chair, motioning for him to sit. “Come here, have a seat. You were in a coma”.
“For how long?” Barry asks.
“Nine months” he hears quickly recognizing the voice and in a state of shock as the man he has idolized for years and sitting before him.
“Welcome back Mr. Allen”.
Barry didn’t mean to rush out of the lab so fast but he needed to get out of there, he needed to see his family and friends, a familiar face. Barry walked into Jitters and spotted Iris right away. Soon as she spotted him and ran into his arms, never wanting to let him go.
“Oh my God! You're awake! - Why didn't Star Labs call us?” Iris asked checking Barry over.
“I just woke up” Barry answered.
“Should you even be on your feet?” she asked Iris says pulling out a chair and pushing Barry down to have a seat. Iris placed the palm of her hand on Barry’s forehead and went to check his pulse but Barry instantly pulled away, standing back up.
“I’m ok Iris” he laughed.
“I watched you die, Barry. You kept dying and your heart kept stopping” Iris says almost as if reliving the memories.
Barry grabbed Iris’s hand and placed it on his beating heart and smiled. “Still beating”.
Iris smiled with relief “Yes and fast".
All of a sudden it was like the world moving in slow motion, Barry looked at Iris and noticed she was almost not moving at all. He saw the woman behind her instantly noticing her tray tipping over. Before Barry had a chance to react, every time went back to normal and all he heard was the glass crashing on the ground.
Iris jumped but turned around to see what it was.
“My dad is going to be so happy to see you, let me grab my stuff ok". Iris walked away, leaving Barry by himself to gathers his thoughts and figure out what the hell just happened.
"You scared the hell out of us kid" Joe says hugging Barry as tight as he can. He didn’t ever think that the two of them where going to have moments like this again. Part of Joe didn’t want to let go, but it didn’t want to embarrass him either.
" That was quite the nap you took there baby face, and you still look like a 12" and officer stated giving Barry a pat on the back before walking away.
“You look ok, are you really?" Joe asked giving Barry the once over just to make sure.
“Detective West, we've got a 550 in progress at Gold Bank, 2 dead. Storms really picking up on the Southside, grab your rain gear" she states before walking away and grabbing his jacket.
“Do you need my help?" Barry offers.
“No, you need to rest. There will be plenty to do when you get back" Joe says looking back. “Let’s go partner".
“Barry?” he hears and instantly he recognizes the voice causing him to suddenly be flooded with countless number of emotions.
“Hi Eddie” Barry says smiling at him, opening his arms for a hug.
Eddie didn’t hesitate to run into the embrace, holding Barry as tight as he could. God he didn’t want to let him go, he can still remember all the nights he cried thinking any day he would get the call from Joe saying his best friend died.
Eddie pulled away and punched Barry’s shoulder. “Ouch!”
“Don’t ever do that again!” he said pulling him back into the embrace.
Barry laughs. “Promise, next time it storms I’ll avoid the outdoors and any place with windows”.
“EDDIE!” Joe calls again from the door. “Let’s go, you can see him later”.
Eddie pulls away from Barry, shifting nervously and fixing his suit. “I have to go but can you meet me later at Jitters?” he asked.
“Yea…yea of course” Barry smiled, he was blushing. Good get it together Allen.
“ Ok…bye Iris” he says walking away.
“Bye” she waves, then crosses her arms. “I see some things never change”.
Barry didn’t even realize he was still staring at Eddie walking away until Iris smacked him on his arm to get his attention. “What..”
“I said I see some things never change” she said smirking at him.
“What do you mean” he asks tilting his head.
“Eddie” she says pointing in the direction he just left. “and your unrequited love for him”.
“Iris I was in a coma for nine months, to you guys 9 months came and went, to me I feel asleep yesterday and woke up today. Nothing to me has changed…even my cowardness” he says bowing his head. You would think getting struck by lightning and almost dying would be his wake up call to finally let Eddie know how he feels. But still he didn’t have the courage to do it.
“Barry your not a coward, its understandable you don’t want to tell him because your scared you might lose him. But you will never know until you say something, and I know Eddie he would never want to lose you so you have nothing to worry about” Iris states. “With everything that’s happened to you, I think now is the perfect time”.
Barry shrugs and turns around to see a memorial for Joe’s old partner. “The night of the explosion, Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre. Mardon and his brother died trying to escape their plane crash” Iris explained.
Iris was called away for a quick second and that’s when it happened again. Seeming as if the whole world had been put in slow motion, Barry looked around the room noticing everyone and everything slowing down. But the one thing that caught his attention was the purp reaching for his gun. Barry moved to run and grab the gun and before he even had time to think he was standing back in his same spot as if nothing happened. He looked up and noticed the cops trying to calm the man and moving him to a cell.
“You ok?” Iris asked breaking Barry out of his state of shock.
“I….I'm fine” he confirmed. “I just need some air, I'll call you tonight.”
With that Barry ran as fast as he could out of the police department to a back alley, as soon as Barry stopped he immediately grabbed his now vibrating hand. “What’s happening to me”?
Barry had no idea, what he should do about his current situation, the first thing that came to his mind was heading back to star labs. Dr. Wells and his crew had taken care of him, saved his life, they would know exactly what to do. After explaining the story to Wells he was surprised to find that Wells wasn’t freaked out about this discovery or that he didn’t throw him out of star labs. Wells was extremely calm as if he had seen this kind of thing before.
“You don't really believe he can run that fast, do you?” Caitlin asked Wells. This was all new to her and she had to admit it sounded a bit crazy, and like a waste of time.
“Well, I believe anything is possible, and in a few minutes, maybe you will too” Harrison confirmed.
“How does it fit?” Cisco asked taking in Barry’s figure as he walked out of the trailer. Cisco had to admit Barry was very much a catch and ridiculously handsome with an awesome personality. He was very much Cisco’s type. Which mean't he didn't have a chance, Cisco always found himself attracted to the ones he knew you could never have.
“It's a little snug” Barry said trying to get comfortable in it.
“At least you'll be moving so fast, no one will see you” Cisco said pulling Barry out of the trailer, and wrapping his arm around Barry’s as he walked. Caitlin shook her head at the gesture, sometimes Cisco could be a little overly affectionate and not even notice.
“See, you thought the world was slowing down, it wasn't. You were moving so fast, it only looked like everyone else was standing still” Cisco explained.
“Doctor Wells will be monitoring your energy output, and Caitlin your vitals.”
“What do you do?” Barry asked so far all he had seen Cisco do was assist Caitlin and Wells, and he is pretty sure he isn’t a personal assistant.
“I…..” Cisco says waving the gadget he had been holding in Barry’s face. “Make the toys, dude”
“Check it. This, is a two-way headset with a camera I modified. Typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms. Which would be awesome.”
Cisco removed the hat Barry was wearing to do some modifications before getting started. Caitlin immediately taking his place, checking Barry’s vitals.
“What?” she asked noticing Barry starring.
“Nothing” Barry says. “I just noticed you don't smile too much.”
Caitlin sighed deeply before speaking. “My once promising career in bio-engineering is over. My boss is in a wheelchair for life. The explosion that put you in a coma, also killed my brother, so this blank expression kind of feels like the way to go”.
Barry nodded and decided he would avoid any others questions for the time being.
“Mister Allen, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint” he warned.
“Yeah” Barry got into position and took a deep breath before taking off faster than he has ever gone before feeling the same rush he did when he was in the alley way.
“Whoo-hoo!” Barry said as he jumped hurdles trying to run as fast as he could.
“He just passed 200 knots per hour” Cisco confirmed.
“That's not possible” Caitlin said in disbelief earning a smirk from Wells.
All of a sudden the rush of adrenaline stopped and Barry was seeing his childhood all over again, and became completely distracted. He didn’t even see the barrels until he was crashing into them and water was everywhere. Next all Barry felt was a searing pain in his wrist. First day with these abilities and he already broke his wrist.
Barry was currently holding his now healed wrist listening to Caitlin explain how it healed in less than 3 hours time. This was all a lot for Barry, being able to run faster than the speed of light and also having healing abilities it was all too much for him right now. Cisco’s voice broke him from his thoughts.
“You really need to learn how to stop” he says smiling at Barry and pulling up a stool to sit in front of him.
“What happened to you out there today?” Cisco asked concerned.
Barry blinked a few times adjusting his focus and peeking around the room noticing he and Cisco were the only two in the room. He must have been in a deep daydream because he didn’t even remember seeing Caitlin or Dr. Wells leave.
Barry sat there for a minute not sure if he really wanted to tell Cisco about his parents and childhood I mean he barely knew him. But after what has happened today there was no need to really keep it a secret anymore, and for some reason Barry felt like he could trust Cisco. He was very easy to open up too. Barry explained what happened to his mother and how his father was blamed for her murder. He always knew he father was innocent, and he tried several times to explain that to the police. But the police assumed because he was a kid he was imagining things, he even heard a few officers say he was trying to cover for his dad because he was scared. But Barry knew better, he knew what he saw. The man that killed his mother was just like him and he was out there. Barry was going to find him no matter what he had to do, he was going to free his dad.
Cisco raised his brows, taking a deep breath. “Wow that’s deep”.
“I know, sounds crazy “Barry says running his hand over his face.
Cisco shakes his head. “No, no it doesn’t. Barry you where there and you know what you saw. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise”.
Barry blushes. “Thanks Cisco, no one has ever believed me”.
Barry's blush doesn’t go unnoticed by Cisco, and he doesn't want to address the butterflies he gets from seeing it. “Some don’t believe in the impossible”.
Barry chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Yea, apparently that’s everyone except us, Dr. Wells and Caitlin”.
“Well maybe when we figure this all out we can look more into that” Cisco says giving Barry a small smile before standing up and heading out of the room.
Barry left the lab as soon as he was fully healed and headed to Jitters. Eddie asked him to meet him there and of course like a little love sick puppy Barry came running. Barry and Eddie have known each other since they were little kids and grew to become best friends.
“Hey Eddie" Barry said spotting him outside the door. “What are you doing outside?"
“I wasn’t really in the mood for coffee, I just needed to see you" Eddie said giving Barry hug. “I really missed you".
Barry blushed. “I’m glad I was missed, Caitlin and Cisco told me you came to see me every day".
“I.....I just needed to make sure you were ok" Eddie said beginning to walk, Barry following. “I missed my best friend and it was my way of still being able to spend time with you".
Eddie chuckled. “Got to admit, it sucked not having someone to vent too about Joe, or talk about guys with".
“You talked about Guys” Barry stated. “I listened".
“You had at least one of your own story" Eddie threw in, smacking his arm.
Barry's smiled faded instantly, and shifted uncomfortably. “So are you dating anybody?"?
Eddie stopped and looked at Barry with a smirk, Barry shrugged. “Just asking" he said smiling nervously.
“No Barry, there is no Guy" Eddie confirmed. “I’ve been single for almost a year, kind of hard to date when the most important person in your life falls in a coma, and you don’t know whether he is going to live or die”.
Barry couldn’t help the excitement that fled his body, not like he would ever have a chance. Mostly because of the fact he would probably never gather up the courage to ask Eddie out. But a guy can secretly hope. All of a sudden Barry heard police sirens headed their way, looking to see where they were coming from Barry noticed one of the cars where out of control and headed straight in their direction. Using his speed he quickly grabbed Eddie, moving him to a safer place.
Without thinking Barry ran after the car, smashing through the window landing in the passenger seat. Barry froze and started with wide eye's at the man in the front seat, Clyde noticed that distraction and went to reach for his gun. Barry grabbed this wheel turning it as hard as possible causing the Car to flip over. In no time Martin climbed out causing a cloud of fog to surround him. Giving him the opportunity to run away.
Barry stood up gathering himself and about to take off after Mardon when a car crashed into Mardon car. Barry ran as fast as he could for safety, standing up quickly to catch Mardon who had already managed to get away.
This was just not Barry's day, first finding out he had been in a coma for 9 months, then learning he has super powers, followed by a argument with Joe. To say Barry was stressed is a understatement. And barging into star labs seemed like a suitable thing to do considering all that has went wrong since he woke up from his coma.
“I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE EFFECTED BY THE PARTICAL ACCELERTOR WAS I?” Barry yelled.
Wells, Caitlin and Cisco all exchanged glances. “We don't know for sure” Wells answered.
“You said the city was safe, that there was no residual danger. But that's not true, so what really happened that night?” Barry asked.
“Well... The accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes, and then... It all went wrong. The dimensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world. Antimatter, dark energy, x-elements...”
“Those are all theoretical” Barry said instantly cutting Wells off.
“And how theoretical are you? We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City. Though we have no way of knowing exactly what or... Who was exposed, we've been searching for other meta-humans like yourself” Well says.
"Meta-humans"?
“That's what we're calling them” Caitlin says jumping in.
“I saw one today. He's a bank robber, and he can control the weather” Barry all but yelled.
Cisco smiled. “This just keeps getting cooler”.
“This is not cool” Barry snapped causing Cisco to flinch and quickly drop his smile. “All right? A man died. Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did. From the storm cloud. He's still out there. We have to stop him before he hurts anyone else”.
Wells cuts him off immediately “No No No Barry! That's a job for the police”.
“I work for the police” Barry states.
“As a forensic assistant!” God this had to be the most stubborn young man he ever meant!
“You're responsible for this. For him” Barry rudely states.
“What's important is you! Not me. I lost everything. I lost my company. I lost my reputation. I lost my freedom. And then you broke your arm, and it healed in three hours. Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world... Genetic therapies, vaccines, medicines, treasures buried deep within your cells and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero! You're not a hero. You are just a young man who was struck by lightning” on that note Wells leaves the room. He spent way more time then we would have liked talking to Barry about this and he needed to leave before he said something he would really regret.
“ I’ll go check on him” Caitlin says following Dr. Wells.
There was an awkward pause in the room, Barry literally was left speechless. What was he suppose to do? He couldn’t just leave this alone. He knew Mardon could kill a lot of people if he waited, and he knew nobody but he could do it. Barry started pacing the room and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck when he noticed Cisco was still in the room.
Barry pointed in Wells direction. “Don’t you want to make sure Wells is ok?”.
“I’m sure Caitlin is taking care of him, you looked like you could use a friend” Cisco blushed and quickly looked away from Barry. “Not saying where friends, cause you know we’ve literally only know each other a day, not saying we couldn’t friends either, I’m just saying you look like you need someone to talk too. Not saying you don’t have people to talk too…..I’ll shut up now”.
Barry chuckled. “It's ok Cisco, I could use a friend”.
Cisco chuckled with Barry. “ Ok, Follow me” he said grabbing his jacket and leading Barry to the roof.
Barry looked around confused and starred at Cisco. “ What are we doing up here? Is this the part where you kill me”.
Cisco laughed. “ No, I use to come up here all the time after the particle accelerator exploded. I lost someone I really cared about, someone who was really important to me and it seemed like everyday just got worse and worse. So I started to come up here, I would spend hours just looking at the world….boring I know but believe me it helped every day I felt like a little piece of me healed”.
Barry walked to the edge and leaned on the side looking down, this building was a lot taller than he thought but he sighed none the less. “Who was the person you lost”.
Cisco frowned. “My best friend, Caitlin’s brother Ronnie. We were really close”.
“I’m sorry to hear that” Barry says.
Cisco looks at Barry and shrugs. “Anyway, I thought maybe this might be a good place for you to clear your head. I'm happy to lean over my space but after the first month I'm going to have to start charging rent”.
Barry smiled and starting slowly pacing the area taking in the scenery, he had to admit it was a great place to clear his head and with everything going on he needed to take a minute to breathe and gather his thoughts.
“All my life” Barry started. “I've wanted to just do more... Be more. And now I am. And the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up. What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just some guy who was struck by lightning?”
Cisco shrugged and walked closer to Barry. “Personally, I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, I think it chose you”
“Yea but why me?”
“Maybe, you’re meant to be something more than just some guy analyzing data all day, maybe you were meant to be a hero”.
Barry shock his head and sighed with a defeated tone. “I'm just not sure I can be”.
Cisco placed his hand on Barry’s shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. “You can be better. You can inspire, watching over your city like a guardian angel... Making a difference... Saving people...”
Cisco smiled and waved his hands as if announcing to the world. "In a flash. Take your own advice. Wear a mask" he laughed.
Barry laughed with him, blushing a little at how cute that was. Cisco smile instantly dropped from his face and turned into a innocent smirk. " and I think I have something that might help".
Cisco grabbed Barry's hand, and pulled him into the building quickly stopping as soon as found what he was looking for.
"Whats going on?" Caitlin asked joining the two.
Cisco uncovered is latest creation, eyes full of pride at how amazing it turned out. "Something I've been playing with. Designed to replace the turnouts firefighters traditionally wear. I thought if S.T.A.R. Labs could do something nice for the community, maybe people wouldn't be so angry at Dr. Wells anymore".
"How is it going to help me?" Barry shrugged.
"It's made of a reinforced tri-polymer. It's heat and abrasive resistant, so it should withstand your moving at high-velocity speeds. And the aerodynamic design should help you maintain control. Plus, it has built-in sensors so we can track your vitals and stay in contact with you from here" Cisco says still admiring his handy work.
Which Barry noticed and smiled at. "Thanks. Now how do we find Mardon?".
Caitlin grabbed the nearest ipad. "I re tasked S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City. We just got a ping. Atmospheric pressure dropped 20 millibars in a matter of seconds. I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city".
Barry nodded and took a deep breath, looking at the suit. He turned back to face Caitlin and Cisco trying to put on his bravest face because let's be honest 9 months ago this would have been the scariest thing Barry Allen would have ever done. "Ok, Let's do this".
Barry's POV
To say the mission went as planned would be a understatement, it was more than I could have bargained for but when it was all said and done Mardon was dead. Not exactly how any of us to wanted to stop him but its what had to be done, probably the hardest thing I've ever done. But it was for the better. Even brought Joe and I closer to hear him apologize for how he didn't believe me all these years gave me hope that maybe we can finally work towards bringing my dad home.
You need to stop worrying about me slugger
For the first time, I feel like I finally can. The truth is, ever since the night mom died, I've been stuck in one place, missed out on a lot of things. But I'm different now. I've made some new friends. They're helping me find my way... To finally move forward. You remember when you wanted me to change my name so I wouldn't have to deal with people knowing you're my dad? I'm glad they know. I'm so proud to be your son.
I love you, son.
I love you too, dad.