Barry 1;
Barry Allen awoke early in his bed in his apartment, this morning when he opened his eyes like every morning for the last few weeks he didn't feel like the fastest man alive, he felt like a failure, like a fraud. Every morning he had to remind himself, he had no friends, family or team here anymore.
He dragged himself out of bed, he went to his window and looked out at the sun rising over Central City, his city. Barry used to get a feeling of hope and happiness looking at that scene but now…
The image flashed in front of him constantly, the image of Iris, his Iris. She looked so full of pain, torment and shock when Savitar ripped a hole in her torso.
It still hurt so much, he felt guilt more than anything else. And he had no one. They had all left, Caitlin in fear, Cisco in hatred, Wally in anger and Joe in disappointment.
Barry began his morning routine, he used to use his powers throughout all of this but not anymore, every time he used his speed he was reminded of what his speed allowed him to do those weeks ago. He only used it when he had to now. Barry put on his clothes and grabbed the badge, the badge which made him grimace when looking at it, the badge of a CCPD detective.
With Joe gone and a new forensic scientist hired the only place Singh offered Barry back at the CCPD was as a detective, Singh thought Barry would be pleased with the promotion but it only made him feel guilt at Joe's absence and he constantly compared himself to his foster father and old friends Eddie and Patty as a detective. But Barry would do it, be a detective, try to help people. As penance.
Barry was also continuing as the Flash, working alone, he had Professor Stein at Star Labs but didn't go there much because of the memories and he didn't have a team to work with anymore.
He decided with him not using Star Labs as much as the Flash he could reinstate it as a science facility, with Professor Stein leaving the firestorm matrix and a young girl taking his with Jax and the legends, Stein was the perfect person to lead Star Labs and with his daughter they had a good team there. He could use the facility and Stein's help as the Flash but hadn't needed to yet. The city had been quiet since he stopped Savitar.
He angrily thought to himself, No Barry. You didn't just stop Savitar. You killed him. In cold blood. Him and his followers. All of them dead, necks snapped, organs burst. Barry had never felt so much rage, he would never forget how he felt in that hour, that hour of blood.
Barry didn't sleep well anymore, he didn't enjoy life like he used to, he did his job as a detective and as the flash and that was it. He felt his phone buzz, he checked it, it was another missed call from Felicity. Her and Oliver had been trying to call him, he couldn't face talking to them, Oliver might understand but he didn't want to see the look in Oliver's eye that he had seen in Joe. Barry knew Oliver always saw him as a symbol of hope and light and even aspired to be like him in that way but now he had proved Oliver wrong.
He understood now, the darkness he saw in Oliver at times, what Oliver had been through made him a killer, a weapon. That is what Barry felt like, he didn't use a gun or a knife to kill Savitar's followers, he used his hands, his body, he was a living weapon. He knew Oliver found a way out of the darkness, he had seen that too but it was always a part of him and Barry knew this would always be a part of him too.
About an hour later Barry arrived at the CCPD and went to his desk, he was on a missing person case at the moment, which he felt quite involved in. He read over the details again and reviewed the case notes he took yesterday, he was quite certain the young girl Kristen was out of the City, he had searched around everywhere using both his speed as the Flash and the tech at Star Labs.
"Detective Allen, in here please" Shouted his boss, Captain Singh.
Barry got up and walked into the captain's office, he noticed Singh had all the notes on Kristen White on his desk, he looked worried and anxious.
"Allen, time has passed, the Flash has had no luck. Neither have you it seems. We need to make it public, the Mayor herself wants to make the statement with the parents. Seems a bit too official for me but it was the idea of the Mayor's new chief of staff, makes more people pay attention when the mayor makes the message apparently. You need to go over to City Hall and brief the mayor and Kristen's parents. Can you do that?" Singh asked.
"Of course, Captain Singh, I'll set some officers on tasks while I'm gone. I think this message is a good idea if its country-wide news media there, Kristen must have left the city otherwise the Flash would have found her. Anyway, I better be going." Replied Barry. Singh nodded in approval as Barry left.
Barry sped over to City Hall in quick haste, this case was important and he needed to make things move quickly to find the girl.
Barry walked through the entrance of City Hall and upstairs towards the Mayor's office. Mayor Alison Moore was a good woman, as far as Barry could tell. She was elected this year and was pro-Flash which was pleasing to Barry.
Barry walked up to the receptionist outside the Mayor's office, "I'm here to see the Mayor and Mr and Mrs White, I'm Detective Barry Allen with the CCPD."
"Yes, the Mayor is expecting you, she is currently having a private audience with Mr and Mrs White. If you will, the Mayor's chief of staff is waiting for you, to prep, in her office, just on the left." Replied the young receptionist.
Barry nodded and walked over to the Chief of Staff's office and knocked, he heard a gentle but familiar voice call "Come in!".
Barry walked in and found no one else but Thea Queen sat at the desk smiling up at him. Oliver's younger sister and superhero in her own right was a beautiful, wilful and ultimately powerful young woman and even without her costume Barry saw the hero in her.
However, what she was doing in his city, working as the Mayor's chief of staff was a total mystery to him.
