The Problem with Multi-Dimensional Travel
Previously:
"My friend, Cisco, has powers too and can open portals…and stuff." Steve still looked skeptical but he didn't really care seeing as Cisco was still trying to talk to him. He could discern some words liked 'worried', 'where', and 'please'. Barry sighed. "I think he knows I'm not where I'm supposed to be."
oO-Oo
"He has visions, w-we call them 'vibes'," Barry explained, "But maybe the…the gap between the two dimensions is too large." It felt like there was a steel-plated puffer fish rolling around in his head, poking everything, pushing against his skull. He bit his lip reflexively, subconsciously, but he didn't know why. It didn't help with the pain and it didn't distract him. Steve carefully cupped Barry's elbow in his hand and pressed the other to the middle of his back. He let himself be pulled up gently and tried not to chew through his lip.
"Well now I know to have, like, 10 inches of padding around the entire room and maybe not have glass…anywhere." Tony said. He looked unaffected externally, but internally he was fretting. What could cause a speedster to almost pass out in the middle of a super-speed run? He smothered his worry with sarcasm and snark, though.
Steve carefully walked him out of the room and deposited him on the couch Tony usually collapsed in after a long night of experiments. Once he was sitting, Barry continued explaining. "My head started to hurt, worse than a migraine. Like the time I got whammied…"
"What the hell is 'whammied'?" Clint asked.
Barry waved him off, "That's not important," and then rubbed his eyes, "He stopped trying to talk to me." The pain subsided slightly, but a sharp pain was still present right behind his eyes. He rubbed them again vigorously, scrubbed his face and said, "I'll just-" He hunched his shoulders reflexively and rubbed his arms. Wanda stepped toward him slowly and grabbed his elbow gently.
"Maybe you should lie down," she said. Her voice caught a little. After seeing him run, seeing a human blur, memories of her late brother came rushing back. She felt a developing need to protect him like she did with Pietro. It was dangerous and stupid and she knew it wouldn't end well, after all Barry Allen is not of this universe, but it was inevitable. There was too much sentiment and emotion connected to speedsters.
"Okay," Barry said weakly and allowed her to lead him back to the common room. Tony, Scott, and Bruce stayed behind to analyze all of the data they got. Bruce went with the rest of the team to make sure Barry wasn't going to collapse or have a seizure.
Matt stayed near the witch and speedster, having similarly fallen victim to the latter's undeniable charm. It was like meeting Foggy all over again, except Barry could probably kill them all in fewer than 5 seconds with the same amount of effort it took to complete a child's crossword puzzle. The only reason Matt wasn't actively trying to figure out a way to incapacitate the younger man was that he knew Barry didn't have the ability to kill people. Sure, he was bitter and obviously has gone through a lot, but the haunted glint that was present in Frank's eyes wasn't in Barry's. He hadn't yet killed someone.
And that is enough for Matt.
oO-Oo
Barry sat down heavily on the plain white bed. Everything in the room was white or chrome, all of the furniture stylish and minimalist. They were organic shapes, all curves and no sharp edges. Even the window corners curved. The sheets smelled lovely and were very soft and the pillows were fluffy. Of course the mattress was memory foam and had a control to move half of it up or down.
Dr. Banner had checked his lungs, tested his reflexes and generally just poked and prodded him. The diagnosis was, thankfully, physical exhaustion. He told Barry to eat as often as he needed and more so that his body had the energy to heal itself. Apparently the run on the treadmill had only worsened matters, if not only by a little bit. The bad news was that he shouldn't run as an inhuman rate for a while, but the good news was that his speed wasn't 'jacked up' as Barry had so eloquently put it. He didn't really want to go into detail about how he was afraid that his speed would come only in bursts like it had for his former mentor, Harrison Wells, who was actually Eobard Thawne from the future who was now nonexistent because his best friend's late boyfriend had shot himself in the heart. So Barry wasn't embarrassed about his wording. He was just glad that Dr. Banner hadn't pried and instead let Wanda and Matt escort him to a guest room.
Wanda and Matt was standing at the doorway currently, poking their heads in.
"You can sleep here for as long as you need to. I believe that tomorrow Tony and someone else, most likely Scott or Peter, will drag you out to shop for clothes." Matt said.
"But I couldn't-" Barry started,
"Do not worry about it, Barry. Tony is a very rich man," Wanda reassured. She smiled at him.
"If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell us." Matt said. "I might not be around much. My law firm needs me, and I patrol at night. You can find me in Hell's Kitchen."
"And I will be at the Tower most of the time. I'd like to talk to you about your powers when you can," Wanda's smile faltered, "My brother was like you. Very fast." Barry caught the way she said 'was' and the overwhelming sadness in her eyes and decided to just nod at her.
"Thank you." Barry said. "For everything."
"It is no problem." Wanda nodded to him and then waved goodbye, heading to her own room now. Matt said his farewells, too, and followed her lead. He closed the door behind him.
Barry flopped onto the oh-so-soft comforter and breathed in deeply. In, out, in out. In, in, out. He stopped. In. In. In. He breathed out, short and sharp. Inoutinoutinoutinout-
He bit his lip to keep from making too much noise as he crawled under the sheets and curled in on himself. The weight of the sheets and the contact with the pillow helped a little bit but he still didn't have a rhythm. Burying his face in the pillow he gasped and gasped until he felt hot tears wetting the fabric and the skin all around his eyes. His stomach flopped around in him and he staggered over to the bathroom attached to the room, which was spinning violently. It was all crashing down on Barry. 'It' being the months of unbelievable amount of negative emotions. Stress, sadness, disappointment, horror, fear, disgust, and frustration, all of which was because of or related to Hunter Zolomon. Zoom. Another imposter had gotten the best of him, of his team, his family. He'd killed Barry's father just when he'd gotten him back. He'd broken Caitlin's heart and he knew she'd never be the same again.
Barry's thoughts whirled in his brain and he tried not to throw up, but he leaned over the toilet just in case. Oh God, he thought. It had just occurred to him that maybe these people really were evil. Sure, they acted the part but so had "Wells". So had "Jay". What if they were waiting until he fell asleep to ambush him? What if the milk was poisoned?
What if they were going to kill his family?
Barry threw up into toilet.
oO-Oo
Matt strode into the common room and announced lowly, "Barry is having a panic attack." He winced. "He just vomited." Tony, Peter, and Scott had returned from the lab so most of the team was present.
"We should-" Steve began.
"Not we. In fact, maybe not any of us. Barry is obviously struggling with recent trauma and a group of strangers that can potentially harm him wouldn't help very much. The best course of action is to let him ride it out and seem as innocent as possible." He glares at Clint, Natasha, and Bucky.
"No assassin threats or passive aggressiveness with 'I'm-can-kill-you-where-you-stand' undertones, because, honestly, you can't," Peter adds.
Natasha tilts her head him and Clint pouts. Bucky's face remains blank except for a slight squint of his eyes.
"And how do you figure that?" Natasha asks. Peter cheers silently in his head when he doesn't flinch.
"See, Barry's power is speed. If he's creative enough, he can do a lot more than just run fast. Theoretically he can phase through anything, wear down material, and manipulate the weird lightning that surrounds him." He started to pace and gestured with his hands. "He can outrun anything, create after images, he can tear a hole through the fabric of the universe for fuck's sake!" He threw his hands up in the air.
"Language," Scott muttered, smirking. His eyes betrayed how awed he was, though. Barry had so much potential that if he was a villain, the entire human race would have to watch out.
"He can travel back in time," Peter continued, "Create strong winds by spinning his arms. The possibilities are endless. He may even be immortal." He said breathlessly. He started to mutter under his breath, theorizing, and paced faster.
"Care to explain?" Clint turned toward Tony now, who was smiling fondly at Peter.
"His cells are in a constant state of regeneration. I'm not sure of the limits of his healing factor, but it is possible that the regeneration will never end as long as he continues to provide his body with nutrients."
"So he can kill us all if he wants to." Bucky says. Natasha nodded and hummed. Steve scowled.
"I doubt that," Matt said firmly before the situation could spiral out of control. "He isn't the type of person to kill easily. If we don't give him the incentive to murder us all brutally, then he won't."
oO-Oo
Iris resisted the urge to bite her nails as her phone rang. It was Felicity.
"Hi, Felicity." She said meekly.
"Hey, Iris! I was just calling to ask if Barry was there. He isn't answering his phone. I'm actually getting a little worried. Even Oliver is getting his knickers in a twist." Despite the other woman's light tone, Iris knew she was concerned. Iris scrubbed her face and sat down on the couch in her father's home. She sighed heavily. "Iris?"
"I'm sorry, Felicity. We don't know where Barry is." Her voice caught on his name.
"W-What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Felicity yelled. Iris could hear faintly in the background what sounded like Roy, Laurel, and Thea.
After an incident with knives and Barry's hip, Team Arrow had practically adopted Barry into their twisted family, which functioned as a wolf pack, too. It was simultaneously very endearing and intimidating.
"We haven't seen him in days, Felicity. Zoom is dead and there aren't any metahumans left that we know of. We don't know…."
"Okay. Okay. No reason to panic, right? I mean, his father was killed, like, 5 days ago or something. There could be someone else evil out there looking specifically for Barry because that's just his luck. Oh God-" There was some rattling and muffled yelling on the other side of the line.
"Felicity?" Iris cried.
"Hello Iris." There was a new voice now.
"Hello, Oliver," she said tiredly. "You heard all of that, right?" She pinched the bridge of her nose and held back tears. Ugh. Goddammit, Iris thought. She'd been crying more than usual this week on account of her mother dying and other such things that could make stronger people crumble.
"Yes. I apologize for Felicity." Iris something like a car door slamming and more yelling. "We're heading over to STAR Labs."
Iris grimaced. "You don't need to-"
"I know."
"But?"
"I want to. Barry is family. We'll be there soon."
"Okay."
"We'll find him soon."
"Okay." Iris said softly.
oO-Oo
A/N: GODDAMNIT ITS 12.42! I was so close! Ugh whatever. Whatever. It's there. Hope you liked it.