I don't own The Flash. All rights go to their respective owners.
Prologue
Central City
"To understand what I'm about to tell you. You need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. You see that red blur? That's me!" Barry Allen thinks cheerfully to himself as he races down one street, then the next. Than the other street at lighting speed.
Actual lightening speed.
Because. He's Barry Allen.
He is the fastest man alive.
As he runs, Barry thinks to himself of how simple his story really is. Even before he became the fastest man alive he spent most of his life running, usually in his childhood years when he was constantly chased down by bullies left right and centre.
Sometimes, he'd be lucky and he'd escape them. Some days.
Well, some days he wasn't as fortunate and he would be caught and the bullies would, quite frankly beat the crap out of him.
Allen Residence
"Tell me what happened, Barry?" Nora Allen asks her young son as she clean his facial wounds carefully.
"Those guys were picking on these kids, just because they thought they weren't cool." Barry admits in a quiet voice, looking down once before up at his mom.
"It wasn't right." He whispers.
"I know." Nora nods in a complete understanding, despite his wounds, proud of her son for trying to stick up for the other kids, even if by doing so he'd made himself a target.
"I guess I wasn't fast enough." Barry shrugs his shoulders.
"No. No. You have such a good heart Barry and it's better by far to have a good heart then fast legs." Nora points out gently as the sound of the door opening can be heard from behind the two of them, Barry looking up instantly.
"Hello? I'm home!" Calls the cheerful voice of Henry Allen as he approaches his wife and son with a beaming smile upon his face, faltering ever so slightly when he sees the cuts and bruises upon his young sons face.
"He got into a fight." Nora sighs.
"Oh yeah?" Henry winces as he approaches.
"And he won!" Nora says with a smile at Barry.
He frowns. He didn't win. He couldn't stop those kids from beating him when he tried to protect the other kids.
"Ahh. Way to go slugger!" Henry beams at his son before bending down to face him.
"No more fighting." He says in a moderately stern tone before kissing his wife, Barry happily watching his parents as they smile warmly at him.
Later…
It was nighttime, his mom had read him a bedtime story, she'd tucked him in and switched out the light.
A sound had caused him to awaken abruptly, sitting up his eyes immediately lock on the sight of his fish tank. The fish tank that's water is slowly floating upwards to the ceiling…
With a frightened look in his eyes, his races down the stairs at the noise.
The noise that just keeps getting louder and louder, followed by the screams of his mom…
"Mom!" Barry cries as he enters the living room to see a red and yellow blur racing around his mother in a circle.
"MOM!" Barry screams as she continues to cry out for help.
"Mom!" He cries again as his father races into the room.
"Nora!" Henry yells toward his wife, engulfed by the circle of red and yellow blur.
Turning to his son, Henry grabs both of his arms.
"RUN, BARRY, RUN!" He begs as Barry takes only one step backwards.
Suddenly, a flash of yellow light engulfs him and he finds himself standing on the street…
The street outside.
"Mom!" Barry cries, spinning around hurriedly to view his current location.
"Dad!" He yells before doing the only thing he can think off.
He runs.
Central City
He's late.
Racing down the street, Barry knows he's late.
Late again.
"Sorry!" He calls as he pushes past people.
Why him. He thinks.
Why does this always happen!
Meanwhile…
"Second robbery this week!" Detective Fred Chyre complains.
"The tiller ID'd Clyde Mardon as the shooter." The other detective. Detective Joe West informs him.
"What? Ohh geez. The Mardon brothers are back?" He sighs with a shake of his head.
"What have we got?" Captain Singh questions as the two detectives approach him.
"Perps took the bank, shot out the cameras and as a chaser, killed the security guard over there." Joe informs him as he hands the Captain the two mug shots of the Mardon brothers.
"I got units kicking in doors of known Mardon brother associates." He adds as the Captain nods before spinning around.
"CSI been over it? I know Albert's on vacation that leaves… Where's Allen?" The Captain snaps as, across the street Barry Allen continues to run down the road, apologising hurriedly to all the people he's all but mowing down on his way to get to the crime scene.
"Sorry, sorry CSI! CSI!" Barry calls as he races into the crime scene and toward Captain Singh and the two detectives.
"Seems like we're going to have to carry on the investigation without him." Captain Singh mutters in annoyance as, right on cue, Barry comes screeching to a halt in front of them.
"Sorry I'm late Captain Singh." He apologises politely.
"What was it this time, Mr. Allen? Did you forget to set your alarm clock?" He questions sarcastically to Barry who shakes his head rapidly.
"And before you answer. I shall remind you of the excuse you gave me last time was car trouble." He folds his arms as Barry closes his eyes in embarrassment.
"Want to know why that one was so particularly memorable?" He reminds him.
"I do not own a car." Barry sighs.
"He was running an error for me." Detective Joe West cuts in quickly, Barry giving him a grateful look.
"Barry, did you get me what I asked for?" Joe turns to him, an expectant look on his face, silence passing as Barry panics a minute.
"Yeah, yeah. I did…" He shoves his hands into his pockets, pulling out a half eaten chocolate bar and handing it to Joe.
"I have it right here." Joe takes it from him with an annoyed expression upon his face.
"I had a few bites of it…" Barry babbles as he looks toward Captain Singh before moving quickly toward the crime scene, getting on his hands and knees, examining the tire tracks he spy's on the ground. Thinking to himself, he quickly analysis it with his eyes.
"Getaway cars a mustang shelby GT five hundred. Shelby's have a rear super wide tire specific to that model, twelve inches with asymmetrical tread. There's something else." Barry notes as he gets to his feet, moving to grab a pen from Detective Chyre before moving back to the tire tracks, thanking the bemused Detective as he takes the pen.
"Fecal excrement. Animal, I'd guess." Barry notes wincing at the smell from the pen as he lifts it out of the crap.
"My dad gave me that pen." Detective Chyre muses as Barry glances at him.
"Before he died." He notes as Barry collects the crap in a sample bag.
"Sorry." Barry winces.
He can never do anything right!
CCPD
At his and his best friend's lab back at the precinct, Barry continues to analyse different aspects of the crime scene. It's his job after all.
He does it with a slight sigh every time he looks over at his best friend, Julian Alberts desk.
Lucky guy being on vacation, leaving only Barry in their lab.
He'd made friends with Julian during his first week at the CCPD.
It had taken some time, the British man not exactly being the most welcoming and neither got on for the first few days, then kindly after closing their first case together, Barry had asked if Julian had wanted to get a drink with him and they'd been friends ever since and over the years their friendship grew to the point where Julian is practically his best friend.
Glancing at his computer, he looks at the pictures of the Mardon brothers, distracted by them for a minute.
"Hey! I am ready to see this atom smasher smashing." Comes the cheerful voice of Iris West, Detective Joe West's daughter. The woman Barry once had unrequited feelings for.
He'd lived with Iris and her father since he was a kid after his father was imprisoned and his mother was murdered and ever since he'd met her he'd had a crush on her.
Yet Iris never realised this and despite Barry's hopes and dreams, she never did.
He's practically almost over it now.
It had taken one Julian Albert to make him realise that, after all these years if something was going to happen between them, it would have done and that he genuinely thought it was odd that Barry would have feelings for a woman, who is practically his sister and after mentioning that factor several times Barry had ended up agreeing with his friend and coming to the realisation that he and Iris are better off as being best friends and seeing her in a sisterly way then continuing to pine for her.
"There was a shooting, your dad needs me to process some evidence, which means I don't know if we'll be able to make it to STAR Labs." Barry sighs miserably as he moves around the lab, mentally cursing Julian's absence once again.
"But seeing this thing turn on is like your dream. Your sad, little nerdy dream. Besides I canceled a date for this." She points out as she takes one of Barry's fries.
"Hands off my fries!" Barry pulls them away from her, shaking his head at her.
"Unbelievable." He mutters, walking back toward his desk.
"I'm stress eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters. I ate two today! If I don't graduate soon, I'm going to be more muffin top then woman." She takes another fry from Barry's box, as he turns to face her.
"You look amazing." He says kindly as she smiles at him before stealing more fries and picks up one of Barry's magazines.
"What's so important about this particle accelerator anyway?" She frowns.
"Harrison Wells work in quantum theory is light years ahead of anything they're doing at CERN." Barry replies to simply a look of pure confusion from Iris.
"You're doing that thing where you're not speaking English." She points out as Barry sighs.
"Ok." Barry moves to grab a pen from his desk before moving toward his board.
"Just imagine, that, that dot is everything the human race has ever learnt until this moment." Barry draws a dot on the board.
"Does that include twerking?" Iris ponders.
"That…" Barry draws a massive circle on the board.
"Is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator. It's a whole new way of looking at physics. It will literally change the way that we think about everything!" Barry exclaims emphatically as Iris grabs his shoulders.
"You have got to get yourself a girlfriend." She sighs.
"Easier said then done, Iris. Easier said then done." Barry responds.
"Leave him alone, he's working." Joe West says from behind them.
"Hi dad." She smiles at her father before glancing toward Barry's computer.
"Your test thingy is done." She points out as Barry moves toward the computer, glancing at the information he sees on the screen before looking to Joe and Iris who sit behind him.
"I think the Mardon brothers are hiding on a farm. The foecul matter I found on the street, it was cow manure, which contains traces of oxytetracycline. It's an antibiotic. There are only four farms in the area that still use it in their feed. I bet you find a really sweet shelby parked at one of them." Barry passes Joe a map of the narrowed down locations.
"Dad, seeing as Barry solved your poop problem. How about letting him go to STAR Labs?" Iris suggests to get father sweetly.
"Fine. Go." Joe sighs with a smile as both Barry and Iris cheer before racing toward the door.
"Thank you Joe!" Barry calls, grabbing his coat and following Iris out the door…
STAR Labs
"So Barry, how was your trip? Did you find proof of the impossible in Starling City?" Iris asks him as they walk arm in arm through the busy crowds of people.
"Or did you just make my dad mad for no reason?" She smiles, both of them chuckling.
"Actually, while I was away I had a chance to think about relationships. I mean. We can talk about this stuff, you're my best friend Iris." Barry comments.
"You're mine to. Why else would I be here?" Iris reminds him with a smile, Barry laughing at her comment.
"Fair enough, fair enough." Barry says with a shake of his head.
"Of course we can talk about this stuff, we grew up in the same house together and we're practically brother and sister so of course we can talk about this stuff. So. Did you meet a pretty girl?" Iris nudges him.
"Yes. Yes I did. She was very, very beautiful. Smart, so, so smart and I'm pretty sure she was into some other guy." Barry sighs.
"You sure about that Barry?" Iris glances at him.
"Pretty sure, I mean you wouldn't believe me if I told you who the other guy actually was and if you did know. You'd probably see why I never had a chance in hell." Barry mutters.
"Ohh Barry. Don't seek yourself short, any girl would be lucky to have you and if they don't see that. It's their loss. There is nothing I want more than for you to meet the right person that totally loves and adores you for the amazing guy that you are." Iris smiles at him.
"That's nice of you to say." Barry ends up smiling back.
"It's because it's true!" Iris leans into him before glancing up at him again.
"But I do want to know every single detail. Like, who this girl is. What's her name and who the competition is. Let's start with the competition. What's he like?" Iris questions.
"Like I said. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you but you know that story about those three people who were stranded on a…" Barry stops abruptly as the large crowd bursts into applause as the ceremony begins. Harrison Wells taking to the stage.
"Tell me later." Iris nudges him as they turn to face the front.
"Thank you. My name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics. Will bring about advancements and power. Advancements in medicine and trust me that future will be here faster then you think." Harrison Wells addresses the crowd, who instantly begin to applaud, just as a thief takes the opportunity to steal Iris's handbag…
"Hey! My laptop! It's got my dissertation!" Iris cries in horror as the their races away, Barry hearing her cries and instantly racing after the thief, who escapes through the crowds, Barry following him as fast as he can go to get the laptop back for Iris.
The thief jumps over a bush and down a flight of steps as Barry remains in pursuit of him.
"I'm sorry!" Barry calls to a guy he nearly almost knocks over in an attempt remain chasing after the thief.
Racing on and down another street Barry finds himself being promptly smacked in the face by the very same laptop bag the thief had gotten his hands on and is knocked to the ground, looking up at the thief in front of him.
"Hey, kid. You don't have to do this." Barry starts as he tries to get to his feet.
"Alright? Just give me back my friends bag and we'll call it even, okay." He deals.
Thinking for a moment that he's gotten through to the thief. He was wrong.
Instantly, the thief slams the laptop bag into his stomach before taking off running again.
"Barry!" Comes the sudden cry of Iris as she catches up to him.
"Are you okay?" She asks, grabbing his arm.
"Yeah. Yeah I'm good." Barry nods.
Feeling more disappointed then anything else that he couldn't do a thing to get Iris her laptop back to her.
Meanwhile…
After knocking Barry down, the thief had continued on down the road, running quickly with the laptop bag in his hand and jumping over a fence with ease only to be met with by the blinding light of a flashlight.
"Freeze! Freeze! Or do you want to find out the hard way that you're not faster than a bullet?" Comes the voice of the cop holding a gun toward him in front of him.
Standing, confidently in front of the thief with his gun raised, a wide smile crosses the cop, name of Eddie Thawne's face…
CCPD
As Barry sits in a chair, holding a tissue to his bleeding nose, Iris looks over at the cop who'd apprehended the thief, curiosity in her eyes.
"Who is that guy and what is he so proud of. So he caught a mugger." Iris comments.
"He's a transfer from Keystone. Started a few weeks ago. Eddie Thawne. Managed to get on the wrong side of Julian on his first day. I think one of their disputes might be why he's gone on vacation, you know. To get away from that guy." Barry glances toward Eddie Thawne, who's currently being congratulated for his part in stopping the thief.
"Ahh so that's Detective Pretty Boy. That's what my dad calls him, says he actually keeps score when it comes to arrests." Iris tells him, before tilting her head to the side.
"He is pretty though."
Somewhere In Central City
"This is the last farm on Barry's list." Joe comments as he pulls the car to a stop.
"Look, I know the kids smart but you said it yourself. Sometimes he's chasing flying pigs!" Detective Chyre retorts as Joe simply shrugs.
"Well let's check it out anyway."
Later...
"So how is it. The particle accelerator. Nearly time for the big turn on. You got a good view mate?" Comes the cheerful voice of Julian Albert through the phone Barry has to his ear as he heads up the stairs to their lab.
"Nope. Actually I'm back at the lab. Couldn't get to see it. I was there but then Iris…"
"Mate, are you telling me you missed out on the particle accelerator because of Iris West?" Julian questions in a sharp tone of voice.
"Come on, man a guy stole her laptop. I had to do something." Barry protests.
"Allen. If you did that to impress her I swear to bloody god…"
"Ok. Ok don't start threatening me! No. I did it because it was the right think to do and her dissertation was on that laptop." Barry points out.
"Ahh fair enough, mate. Sorry. Just worried you'd started pining for her again." Julian responds as Barry sighs.
"No, Julian. I told you I am over her."
"Yeah, that's good. No, in fact, mate that's great. There was really something not right about that mate, she's practically your sister!"
"Yeah, you've mentioned that. A lot." Barry reminds him.
"And I'll keep doing so if you start pining for her again." Julian retorts sharply.
"I'm not! In fact, I actually met this amazing girl during my trip to Starling City." He replies.
"Yeah, you messaged me about it and that you have no chance in hell with her."
"Yep." Barry sighs.
"Well. I kinda agree, I mean come on mate. You met that guy. He's the second in command to some multi billion dollar company and there's that whole, returned from a five year stay on some island…"
"Julian! This isn't helping." Barry exclaims.
"I'm just stating the facts mate! Anyway, you also said that they're not together so take a chance mate, please. Call her. Do you have her number?" He enquires.
"Yeah, yeah I do…"
"Then what are you doing talking to me then. Phone that woman, now!" He commands.
"Yes sir." Barry sighs.
"Barry." Julian growls.
"What?" Barry asks his friend.
"Your not calling her." Julian notes.
"I'm putting the number in now." Barry protests.
"Um no your not." Julian retorts.
"How do you know I'm not… Ohh god Julian, you haven't hacked into the security cameras again have you?" Barry sighs.
"No I haven't. I just know you're not doing as I ask because you're still on the phone to me!"
"Ahh yes." Barry winces.
"Call that damn woman Allen or I swear to god I will come straight back and…"
"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Barry hands up quickly, thinking he hears Julian's note of approval before, with a sigh dialling the number of the woman he'd met in Starling City.
He honestly doesn't trust that Julian hasn't either hacked or put up cameras anywhere!
So he complies, and calls the number.
The number of Felicity Smoak.
"Hi." Comes the sound of her cheery voice.
"Hey!" Barry calls back.
"Did you make it?" She asks.
"Ah yeah I made it back to Central City on time but I missed the cut off in line at STAR Labs. I was late, as usual." He mutters as he opens a door to his own lab.
"But in the spirit of not being late again, uh. If you ever decide that Slade Wilson isn't the guy for you. If you decide that you want to go on a date with… Someone else. Um… You should know that, that guy… He'll be on time." Barry sighs in relief as he manages to finish his statement.
"Good to know." Felicity smiles.
"Oh, hey and I left something for Oliver. Hope he likes it." He finishes.
"Bye Barry." Felicity says quietly.
"Bye. Felicity." He says as she hangs up, Barry still smiling as he sets his own phone down on his desk as he switches on his computer.
"I'm Linda Park and we're live outside STAR Labs. Despite the inclement weather, which is only going to get worse. The torrential downpour has driven away almost all the protesters though STAR Labs CEO, Harrison Wells has assured us that the storm tonight will in no way affect the particle accelerator, which is up and running smoothly." The report says as Barry moves toward a whiteboard, where he glances at his board all to do with his mother's death with a sad look in his eyes as the storm continues on outside…
Somewhere In Central City
Walking into the farm, Joe and Chyre walk in, both armed as they do so.
Looking around for any sign of the Mardon brothers.
Approaching a car covered with a cloth, Joe pulls the cloth away to reveal the exact car Barry said would be there.
"Mardon…" Joe starts just as the gunfire begins from above as one of the Mardon brothers begin to shoot at Joe and Chyre from a tall tower of haystacks, both cops moving instantly to avoid being shot at, shooting back as quickly as they can.
Moving from his place of cover, Joe shoots at the assailant, who jumps from the haystack.
"I've got a plane to catch!" Mardon yells as he continues to shoot at Joe and Chyre before making his escape, both Joe and Chyre waiting until the gunfire has finally ceased before chasing after the man.
"The hell!" Chyre yells, running out of the barn first only to be shot down by the Mardon. Joe shooting hurriedly back but it's too late, the Mardon has already gotten to the helicopter waiting for him outside and Joe is too worried about his partner to even think about catching Mardon.
"Chyre, hang in their!" Joe begs but it's too late.
His partner is dead…
CCPD
"Wait… We are now being told to evacuate the facility." The report continues as Barry spins around to glance at the computer.
"The storm may have caused a malfunction to the primary cooling system. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator but so far have been unable to regain control of the system…" Suddenly, the power shuts down, Barry glancing up at the window just in time to see an explosions happening exactly where STAR Labs is...
A explosion which causes a wave to fly outwards, knocking out all of the electricity all over Central City.
Moving quickly into the centre of the room, Barry grabs the chain that is used to shut the roof up as the rain is pouring into his lab.
However the minute he begins to tug on the chain, all liquids in his lab begin to rise out of their beakers and into the air...
Barry look up in time just to see a lighting bolt shatter his windows…
The last thing he sees is the lighting bolt as he too is struck by it and sent crashing down to the ground.
A trail of red electricity flowing up the side of his face…
Central City Hospital
Hurriedly, doctors, nurses, paramedics and more medical professionals race down the corridor of a hospital, transporting a patient.
A patient struck by lighting.
Barry Allen…
"What the hell happened to him?" One doctor asks.
"He was hit by lightning!" Another answers as he's wheeled down the corridor.
"How is he still alive?" Someone else asks as Barry is transported to a bed.
"He's coding!" Someone yells, a hurried mix of different medical jargon being thrown about as they fight to save his life whilst Iris watches in horror.
"Barry!" She cries as the nurses approach her.
"You can't be in here." They inform her sadly.
"I can't leave him!" Iris sobs for the man she sees as a brother, watching as the medical professionals try to save his life.
"BARRY!"
STAR Labs: Nine Months Later…
He can hear… He can hear music.
Not just music.
Lady Gaga.
It's Poker Face.
He really likes this song, it's catchy.
"What are you doing?" A cold female voice questions.
"He likes this song." An unfamiliar voice make speaks in response.
"How could you possibly know that?" The woman queries.
"I checked his Facebook page. I mean, he can hear everything, right." The man points out.
"The auditory functions are the less sensory facilities to degenerate." The woman speaks again as he can hear the man start to sing along with the song.
If he could speak, if he could even move he'd be singing along and dancing too.
Suddenly he finds he can open both his eyes fully and he sits up with a gasp…
"Where am I?" Are the first words out of his mouth.
"Ohh my god!" Comes the surprised call of the man with the longish dark brown hair in front of him and immediately at his side, speaking in such a hurried tone.
Is e woman with brown hair and warm brown eyes…
He doesn't know what happened but what he does know is that this woman is standing right beside him and she's beautiful.
He was in an accident…
Has he died and gone to heaven? And an angel is stood before him?
"Dr. Wells get down to the cortex, like right now." The man calls through the comms as the beautiful woman continues to speak in a hurried tone.
He tries to move out of the path of the light she's shining in his eyes.
"Look at me, look at me!" She calls to get his attention.
"Are you an angel?" He questions groggily as his vision starts to get even clearer.
"Hey, hey, woah relax. Everything's okay man, you're at STAR Labs." The man explains, grabbing his arm.
"STAR Labs?" Barry murmurs.
So he's not dead and in heaven. He's in STAR Labs…
Unless STAR Labs is his version of heaven, he wouldn't be surprised.
"Who. Who are you?" Barry glances at the man.
"I'm Cisco Ramon and by the way, you're not dead or in heaven, your in STAR Labs. The woman you thought was an angel is actually just my friend Caitlin. Dr. Snow." He glances over at the woman beside Barry.
The angel has a name.
Caitlin Snow.
Authors Note: Hey guys thank you so much for reading the prologue to this. I am writing this story to tie in with my Arrow AU story, Legends Of Canarrow as I've had readers ask me if I was going to write an AU for The Flash and I decided I shall as I'm a big Snowbarry shipper and loved the Allenbert friendship. The next chapter won't be posted until I've finished the season 2 part of Arrow for Legends Of Canarrow as the Flash is of course set in early season 3 of Arrow. But thank you all so much for reading the first chapter of this, please tell me what you all thought and leave a review if you can.