Chapter 1:
It was an ordinary day at Star labs. Cisco and Caitlin were looking over Barry's stats as Dr Wells monitored the satellites. Barry was saving some people from a sudden fire. Just a normal day.
"Alright Cisco that's everyone." Barry messaged over the coms. "What's next?"
"Nothing Barry." Cisco said. "Central city is safe once more." Barry appeared in front of him.
"So I can kick back for now?" He asked. Cisco blinked.
"Still cool." He muttered. Dr Wells smiled his usual cat like smile.
"Very good Barry but that's the fifth fire this month. I still caution a bit of restraint." He said calmly. He turned his wheelchair to leave the room.
"Uh make that six." Caitlin said as she stared at the screen. Dr Wells turned around. "4th and Park. Go!" Barry was gone in a flash. Dr Wells returned to the monitor. He began to fiddle with a pen, as he always did when he was solving a problem.
"Strange." He muttered. "Six fires in a month isn't normal." He glanced at Caitlin discreetly, was it Ronnie? He hoped not. It would over complicate things. Barry was steadily pulling people out of the fire. He was getting better. Whatever was causing the fires was helping to improve Barry's abilities. Wells supposed he should be grateful for that.
"I think everyone's out." Barry checked in. He sounded slightly shaky. Wells eyed the monitor.
"Alright come on back." Cisco said. One speedster flash later Barry was in front of them. He yanked his mask off and stared at Dr Wells.
"Could the particle accelerator affect kids?" He asked uncertainly. Caitlin and Cisco swivelled round to look at Wells. He had removed his glasses and had a surprised look.
"I suppose it's possible." He said slowly. "Why?"
"There was this kid in the fire. Like a ten year old girl." Barry raised his hand to indicate a short person. "And she was holding fire and shooting it everywhere and yelling at someone. It was crazy."
"A child." Wells repeated slowly as if that was all that had registered.
"Yes a child!" Barry exclaimed. Cisco was already tapping into the computer and doing some quick calculations. Caitlin joined him.
"It's possible." Caitlin said. "Unlikely but possible." Barry's cell phone rang. He answered.
"Alright that's Joe. I have to go. We can talk about this later." He said. He changed into regular clothes and sped out before the others could even nod in agreement.
Barry looked through the crime scene. The same burning building from earlier. Joe stood by him with a notepad and pen.
"So witnesses reports state a red blur saved them." Joe commented with slightly raised eyebrows. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Barry. "Anything helpful?"
"Why are we here?" Barry asked. "This is a fire." Joe scratched his chin.
"The sixth fire in one month. No open cause. The fire department is thinking foul play." He explained. "Anything you can tell me?" Barry shook his head. He wasn't sure why. He just didn't want to tell Joe about the girl. Maybe he'd been wrong about her. She had been arguing. Maybe the person she was arguing with had caused the fire. Barry took some more photos.
"I'll get back to the lab and analyse these." He said holding up the camera and some samples. Joe nodded but not before shooting him a concerned look. Barry pulled an apologetic smile before heading to his lab at the precinct. It didn't take Barry long. He put his case on the desk and pulled off his jacket. After uploading the photos onto his computer, he checked his samples. There was nothing in them. A few traces of an unknown substance. Barry stared at it for a few minutes.
"BARRY!" Joe yelled. Barry jumped a mile high. "I've been calling you for five minutes."
"Sorry Joe I was just thinking." Barry muttered. "This case. I don't know. Something's off. The samples have no trace of anything the system recognises."
"Could it be Metahuman?" Joe asked cautiously. Barry bit his lip.
"Maybe." He said. Joe took a few steps closer.
"Maybe we should get some, uh other back up." He whispered. Barry grabbed his samples and nodded.
"Let's go."