Chapter 1
Cisco was watching the Flash on NewsTube again. Dr. Harrison Wells suppressed a grimace and attempted to distract himself once again with his paperwork. If it had been anyone else, he would have ordered them to get back to work immediately, but this was Cisco. He'd probably already finished the project he'd been assigned to when it wasn't due until next month. Besides, Harrison had always harbored a soft spot for the eccentric inventor.
He was so preoccupied by Cisco's fascination with the presumptuous, overconfident man in the tin hat that he almost missed a certain CCPD forensic specialist sneaking past his office. The young man looked no older than eighteen, but Harrison knew for a fact he was almost twenty-six (he'd hacked the kid's records the first time he'd snuck in).
The forensic scientist pressed his back to a pillar, taking a moment to push his glasses higher up on his nose, and proceeded to stroll casually past Harrison's glass-walled office.
"Nice try, Mr. Allen." Harrison called out dryly.
Barry Allen winced, then turned on his heel and trudged sheepishly to the door of Harrison's office. "H-hi, Dr. Wells."
Harrison raised an eyebrow, glancing down at the brown paper bag in Barry's hand. "I suppose you've come to distract my head biochemist again?"
"W-well, it is lunchtime, sir." Barry smiled cautiously. "And you know how Cait – uh, Dr. Snow – can get when she's working."
Harrison looked at his watch, then put on his best stern face to stare directly into Barry's eyes. "My employees are permitted one hour lunch periods, Mr. Allen. Don't make her late." He paused. "Again."
Barry blushed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry about that, sir. It won't happen again, I promise."
"See that it doesn't." Harrison nodded his head by way of dismissal.
Barry grinned like a puppy and spun around, but was stopped by Harrison's voice.
"And Mr. Allen?"
"Yes, Dr. Wells?"
Harrison glowered for real this time. "Lana will page Dr. Snow to meet you over the intercom. The last time you were in her lab, her team was set back two months in research because of your clumsiness."
Barry reddened again. "Of course, Dr. Wells. Sorry, Dr. Wells."
He hit the door frame in his haste to get out of the office. Harrison rolled his eyes, but allowed himself a small smile after the boy had turned the corner. Barry was a bull in a china shop, but he had a good heart and a brilliant mind. Harrison had often contemplated an attempt to poach him from the CCPD. Barry, Harrison hypothesized, would have made a much more competent Flash than that ignoramus Jay Garrick.
Z
"Dr. Snow?"
Caitlin looked up from her microscope. She blinked her eyes a few times and pulled herself gently from her thoughts. One of her lab technicians was standing beside her looking concerned. She was a new hire – one of those fresh-out-of-college types who would take any job to get experience in their field of choice. Caitlin couldn't remember her name at the moment and the poor thing had forgotten her name tag.
"Yes?" Caitlin replied politely.
"They just paged you over the intercom," The lab tech said apologetically. "Something about needing you in the main office?"
Caitlin glanced regretfully at her work and sighed. "Alright. Can you put these away for me? I don't know how long I'll be gone."
"Of course, Dr. Snow."
Caitlin nodded at the tech. She deposited her latex gloves in a trash can on her way out the door, heels clicking decisively with every step. The back of her mind still buzzed with information, observations, and hypotheses about her experiment, but she attempted to focus for the sake of whoever had paged her.
The main office was nearly deserted when Caitlin pushed open the door, and the three people inside didn't even work in her division. She frowned minutely, trying to make sense of this turn of events through the cloud in her mind that was her work.
"Ah, Dr. Snow. I believe we have an appointment?" A voice murmured near her ear.
Caitlin grinned, whirling to see the man who had hidden out of sight behind the door. "Barry!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck. Pulling away, she frowned in confusion. "But wait, I thought Dr. Wells banned you from the Labs for life."
"Apparently he just meant the labs in which I can knock things over and break stuff." Barry grinned back. As if just remembering he had it, he held up the brown paper bag. "I brought you lunch."
"Excellent! I'll clock out and meet you outside."
"Wait, wait, wait…" Barry caught her arm as she turned to leave. "Give me a kiss first."
"Barry, I'm working." She reminded him gently. "We can kiss when I'm on lunch."
"Please?" He turned the full force of his puppy eyes on her and she groaned in defeat.
"Fine; one kiss." Caitlin held up a finger for extra emphasis. "And you better enjoy it, because Dr. Snow and her team are still recovering from your last visit."
"But Caitlin still loves me, right?" He seemed concerned, even as he took her in his arms.
"We both love you," Caitlin assured him, "Dr. Snow is just a little fed up with your shenanigans."
"In that case, let me apologize to her." Barry murmured as he closed the distance between their lips.
As always, the world seemed to melt away and Caitlin's ears were filled with the sound of their heartbeats. Barry held her securely against him and she held him too, just in case. By the time they broke apart, the buzzing in the back of Caitlin's head had receded into the Work Center where it belonged.
"Hmm," She murmured. "I accept your apology."
"I'm glad." Barry murmured back.
Z
The Flash grunted as he pulled the bandage tighter around his arm. A jewel thief had gotten in a lucky shot, and even though the wound was already beginning to close Jay knew the importance of proper first aid. His tin hat laid on the table beside him in the little room. It was actually a storage locker that had been outfitted to serve as an HQ for what Joan liked to call his Extravagant Volunteer Work.
After wrapping his arm, Jay stripped his shirt off and laid it on the table, snatching supplies and turning on the radio in the span of a second. He laid his Super Suit First Aid Kit by the shirt, but instead of getting to work he sat back in his chair and listened to the radio, one hand keeping pressure on his wound.
There wasn't much new in the world these days. It hadn't taken very long for the world to get used to the existence of metahumans; they'd all picked sides in the debate over what was to be done about these creatures and not much had happened since. Harrison Wells was still being honored for his contributions to the anti-meta task forces and civilian safety equipment, too. Jay narrowed his eyes. What kind of man disrupts the balance of the universe and then takes advantage of his victims?
A whoosh of air disrupted his train of thought and he grimaced but didn't turn. "You're late."
"Sorry!" The young voice exclaimed. "I got distracted and by the time I checked the time it was already…"
"Calm down, kid." Jay smirked. "It's not like I'm going to fire you."
"Yeah…but still, I'm sorry."
This time, Jay did turn. "As your mentor, I feel that the first thing I need to teach you is to not get so caught up in apologizing. A lot of people who demand your respect don't deserve it."
"Are you talking about Dr. Wells?" The kid asked cautiously.
"Among others." Jay shrugged a shoulder and immediately winced.
"You're hurt!" The kid exclaimed. Before Jay could blink or open his mouth to reassure him, the kid had sped over and was examining the wound with a practiced eye. "Looks like a gunshot wound." He grabbed the Superhero First Aid Kit and returned in a blur. "When did you get shot? Was it a bank robbery again? I'm so sorry, Jay, I should've been there. Do you mind if I take off this bandage? Not that I don't trust you I just want to make sure it doesn't get infected did you use disinfectors I'll put more on just in case wowIthinkthisneedstobestitcheddon'tworryI'lldoitit'llbeoverbeforeyouknowit..!"
Jay struggled to make out the kid's words, but before long they went supersonic as his wound was disinfected, stitched, and re-bandaged within seconds. Jay sighed. "Barry? Barry! Calm down! It's just a graze. A flesh wound, if you will. Nothing to worry about."
"You were shot, Jay." Barry Allen replied flatly.
"It happens in this business." Jay rubbed his neck. "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to reconsider being my protégé."
"What? No way!" Barry exclaimed. "You saved my life, Jay. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably have vibrated myself into a nebula of atoms by now. You taught me how to control my speed, and I want to use my powers to help people like you do."
Jay smiled softly. "I won't hold it against you if you change your mind."
"I won't hold it against you if you keep offering," Barry retorted. "But I'm not going to change my mind. I don't know if this makes any sense, but when you were helping me learn to channel my speed and we saved that bus full of kids…I just got the feeling that this is what I'm meant to be doing with my life."
"Yeah." Jay agreed softly. "I know what you mean."
Barry nodded as if he was satisfied with Jay's understanding of his resolve and moved to work on his mentor's suit. "You got blood on it," He murmured. "I know how to get that out."
"If you're really intent on staying, you're going to need a code name." Jay mused.
"Yeah." Barry grinned at the thought. "Something cool, like 'the Flash'. Maybe 'Bolt' or 'Lightning' or 'Dash.'"
"What about 'Zoom?'" Jay wondered.
Barry paused. "Zoom." He echoed. "I like it."