AN: And I've finally updated again! Sorry for the long wait (relatively speaking), I've been busy moving my brother out of his apartment for the last few days, so writing time has been sparse.

On that note, the chapter.


"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child, my parents were murdered, and I was attacked by something…impossible. Then an accident made me the impossible. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist, but secretly, I use my speed to fight crime and help anyone who needs me. One day, I'll find what attacked me and get justice for my parents. I am…the Flash."

Indeterminate (adj.): not exactly known, established, or defined.

1 week later

Republic City, Residential District

6 months, 4 weeks after the fall of the Red Lotus

"Well…that's inconvenient."

Mako looked at him incredulously. "You mean you haven't been home all week?"

Barry shook his head. "Chief Beifong had me on overtime in the lab after the attacks, trying to sort out every scrap of evidence they collected." He nodded to the detective. "How's your nose healing?"

Mako brushed a finger over the bandaged appendage, wincing. "Okay, I guess. Nothing I haven't been through before."

Barry nodded slowly, turning back to the place he'd called home for the last two years and frowning. Half of his apartment building was little more than a pile of rubble, and though there had been no fatalities here, the total cost of the damage was already threatening to bankrupt the city. He was now, like hundreds of other people, homeless. And I was finally getting used to having my privacy.

"Hey," Mako said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I realize it's not ideal, but…you could come live with me for a while."

Barry's eyebrows shot up. "Y-You'd do that?"

The firebender smiled. "Sure. My brother got his own place anyway, so I've got the space. Besides, it feels way too empty without a roommate."

"I-I don't know what to say. Thanks, Mako."

Mako nodded with a smile. "Of course, you're still gonna have to find new clothes and all that."

Barry shrugged and grinned. "I got it covered. Thanks again."

The detective strode over to the fire crew sorting through the wreckage as Barry walked into an alley, checking his surroundings before vanishing in a flash of golden lightning.

15 minutes later

Future Industries Airfield, just outside Republic City

Korra watched as Barry streaked his way onto the airfield, a former Equalist staging area now converted into a makeshift testing site for any Future Industries tech. He swept into the control tower in seconds, papers lifting off Asami's desk but not flying everywhere thanks to the foresight she had in putting down paperweights.

"'Sami," he greeted with his trademark grin.

"Barry," she answered.

Korra gave him a nod and smile, somewhat subdued, and he noticed, if his momentary wince was any indication. Asami noticed as well, given the judgemental look she shot Korra, but said nothing.

"So what's on the menu for today?" Barry asked.

Asami stood and headed toward a side door. "Follow me."

Korra and Barry followed closely, through a series of doors that brought them to a brightly lit room built of metal and stainless steel—with two other people in it. One was darker-skinned with black hair, his dark eyes sitting in a young, rather jovial face as he turned toward them, a lollipop sticking halfway out of his mouth. His colleague was pale-skinned, with long auburn hair and light brown eyes, her mouth seemingly set in a slight but permanent frown. Both rose from rolling chairs, the darker one yanking out his lollipop and stepping forward with an animated grin.

"This ray of sunshine is Mr. Cisco Ramon," Asami explained, waving between Barry and the man. "Cisco, this is Barry Allen."

"It is so great to meet you, man…I mean, Mr. Allen, or…whatever." Cisco let out a few nervous chuckles, causing Barry's eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

"Nice to meet you too?" He shot Asami a questioning look.

She rolled her eyes and replied, "They know."

Barry blinked rapidly, looking between her and Cisco. "Y-You told them? How much?"

"Everything, of course. They can't help you get started if they don't know the full extent of your abilities."

"And let me tell you," Cisco laughed, "I am so psyched to get started. I've got ideas for a helmet, a suit, a mobile food station—"

"Cisco," Asami interrupted gently. "Tone it down a notch."

He chuckled again. "Uh, right, sorry." Cisco turned toward the frowning woman at his back. "And this other ray of sunshine is Caitlin." He coughed discreetly. "Excuse me. Dr. Snow."

Barry almost laughed at his tone and expression, like this was an argument that they'd had repeatedly, but Caitlin's rather blank expression as she clinically extended her hand stopped him. He took it, surprised by how little heat came from her, and suppressed a shiver as she pulled away.

"Cisco is a mechanical engineer," Asami explained, "Caitlin the best doctor in Republic City. He'll be managing your equipment and Caitlin your vitals. Until further notice, they're your team."

Barry looked them both up and down. "Great. Can I talk to you for a second?"

Asami sighed and nodded as they walked off. "What's wrong?"

"You told them."

She shrugged. "I thought we already covered this."

"That wasn't your secret to tell, and besides, Chief Beifong was very explicit about no one else knowing."

Asami gave him a look. "Would you rather run off without any support whatsoever, half-cocked? What happens the next time you run in with third-degree burns, or worse?" She sighed hard. "Look, Bear. Cisco and Caitlin stayed with me through the worst straits my company has ever gone through, and their assistance, both professional and personally, has been invaluable. I trust them with my life, and if Chief Beifong has a problem with that, she can arrest me."

Barry smirked. "She probably would."

Asami rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Look, if after today, you don't think this'll pan out, I'll see if I can find another way." She got up close and jabbed a finger into his chest authoritatively. "But until then, you will work with them, understand?"

He gulped slightly, clearing his throat. "Yes, ma'am."

A sadistic, thousand-watt smile punctuated by a honey-sweet voice. "Good." And she walked away toward her employees and a rather impatient Korra.

Spirits, that woman can be scary sometimes. He strode back into the room, giving Cisco one last once-over before deciding that he liked his upbeat, grinning manner. He tapped the shorter man on the shoulder. "So whatcha got for me?"

Cisco's eyes lit up like the northern sky. "All right, you're gonna love this."

He practically sprinted over to another section of the room, inputting a code into a new electronic lock and yanking the door open. He pulled on a diagonally-standing dummy, the mount rolling out of the closet on wheels and revealing a dark red suit with mesh over its shoulders, arms, and lower chest and what looked like leather over everything else, including a cowl that covered most of the dummy's face except for its eyes, nose, and the area surrounding its mouth.

"I built it to replace the traditional turnouts worn by our firefighters," Cisco explained. "After the whole 'Equalist' mess, I thought if we did something to help the city, people wouldn't hate us so much." A frown briefly crossed his features before he smiled again. "It's heat and abrasive resistant, so it should hold up to you running at superspeed."

"Though I would caution restraint today," Asami said. "After all, this is your first day back on your feet. You don't wanna overdo it and injure yourself further."

"R-Right, totally." Barry looked the suit over, smiling as he saw the yellow lightning patterns where the ears would be. "Looks like you customized it for me, though."

"W-Well yeah," Cisco laughed. "So it's not boring."

Barry frowned and tucked his hand under his chin. "Seems like something's missing, though…some kind of…aesthetic off-balance."

"Huh? Wait…yeah…you're right." Cisco pondered the issue a few moments before his eyes lit up. "Ah! I got it!" He smacked his forehead. "Of course, I totally forgot." The short man reached into a nearby drawer and pulled out a circular object, placing it in the center of the suit's chest.

Barry let himself grin as he saw the suit in its completion, gold lightning highlights on the ears, belt, and boots, and now a diagonal lightning bolt mounted on its chest. "I like it. Now let's see if it works."

5 minutes later

Barry set up at a runner's block some ten feet away from a line of scientists and engineers, all watching in rapt attention as he crouched down. From the side, Korra watched absently, with crossed arms and a slight frown, her mind a thousand miles away until she heard Caitlin speak to Cisco.

"You don't really think he can run that fast, do you?"

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," Asami cut in, "I might not believe it either, but after witnessing Harmonic Convergence, the Avatar State, and a tsunami being stopped by nothing more than the wind flying off Barry's back, I'm ready to believe anything's possible."

Korra gave her a look. "You were there?"

Asami glanced over at her. "Not exactly, but I did manage to see the waterfront from where I was. You just filled in the gaps later."

"You ready?" Barry called back.

"Ready!" Cisco answered, goggles on as Caitlin clicked a pen and held up a clipboard.

Korra looked at Barry, now fully-clad in the skintight suit and facing away from her on his hands and knees in a runner's position, feeling heat fill her face as she realized where she was staring and pointedly looked away, playing with her nails as if unimpressed. Asami just sighed and gave her a knowing eye-roll.

Barry noticed everything going on behind him, though he made a point not to let on. Forcing away the slight hurt at how Korra was avoiding him, he concentrated on that infinite source of power within him, feeling lightning dance in his eyes as his jaw set. A moment later, the runner's block was catapulted backward with the force of his launch, his legs quickly accelerating him well past any speed achieved by man or machine.

Caitlin's jaw dropped as Cisco was knocked back by the sheer backdraft caused by Barry's acceleration. "That's not possible," she whispered, wide-eyed.

"Zhu Li, are you getting all this?"

Every eye present shot over to the source of the voice, jaws dropping as they saw Varrick standing next to his assistant, who was holding a camera, turning it every time the angle to see Barry changed.

Korra was the first to recover from her shock, which quickly turned to outrage. "Varrick! What the hell are you doing here?!"

The unflappable businessman just sent a thousand-watt smile in her direction. "Oh, didn't she tell you?" He waved a hand at Asami. "I'm on the payroll."

Asami facepalmed as Korra shot her an incredulous look.

"See," Varrick continued, "Cisco may have designed that fancy suit of his, but I was the one who manufactured it. And I…may have added a few additions."

The Avatar's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms at him. "Like what?"

"Well, you know those lightning bolts on his ears? They function as a two-way radio transmitter."

She blinked rapidly. "Wait…you mean—"

"Yep, they can be used to communicate with him for a distance of up to forty miles."

"H-How? They're so small."

He absently picked at his nails. "Well, they employ the same tech I use in my detonators, with a few tricked-out parts to supplement conductivity." He gave her a toothy smile. "I tested it on Zhu Li to make sure it didn't have any…unfortunate side effects."

Korra's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Why make a miniature wireless communication device or why help the Flash?" He shrugged. "Like I said, I've always been a team player." And with that, Varrick resumed ignoring her and turned his attention back to Barry.

Korra allowed herself to look at his racing form, the red blur zipping across the airbase at enormous but, as she'd learned, leisurely speeds. A loud whoop came from him as he ran past, circling the spectators, then shooting off toward a far corner of the base. A small smile came to her face at his unflappable manner, the frown returning when she realized she'd been disrupting that. Some friend you are. You told him nothing was going to change between us, but it has…and I don't know how to fix it.

"Yuan for your thoughts?"

Korra turned to face an approaching Asami. "Just…thinking."

"Obviously," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "What about?"

She hesitated telling her. Undoubtedly, the girl would attempt to convince her against her current course of action, meaning inaction, and try to push her into something she knew she wasn't ready for. All the same, Asami was already judging her. She could feel it. "Barry."

"So you admit it. There is something there."

"Yeah," she laughed mirthlessly. "There's something, all right."

Asami frowned. "Did…something happen between you two?"

"He uh…when that tsunami rolled in, and he figured out he might be able to stop it…he kinda…um…"

"Yes?"

Korra sighed hard and wrung her hands, finally meeting Asami's intense gaze. "He kissed me."

The Sato heir's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped, shock turning to outrage rather quickly. "He kissed you," she began quietly, "and you didn't tell me?!"

Korra winced at the sudden increase in volume.

"How could you leave such an important detail of your life out for a week? And to me, no less, your best friend?"

"I'm sorry, 'Sami. I really am. It's just…been really hectic helping Barry heal and getting back into the swing of Avatar duties—"

"That's no excuse," she interrupted sharply, falling silent as she turned away and crossed her arms. "You're in big trouble, young lady."

Korra snorted and arched an eyebrow. "We're the same age, Asami."

"Doesn't matter if you don't act like it."

"W-W-What?!"

Asami smirked at her petulant display, pointedly ignoring the rant that followed and frowning when she saw Barry crash into a cluster of water-filled barrels. "Oh spirits. Caitlin—"

"Already moving," she replied, grabbing a bag and sprinting toward Barry's last known location.

Worry shot through Korra as she sped past the doctor on an air scooter, reaching Barry seconds later and when she saw his right hand bent at an odd angle. "You idiot!" she screamed. "Asami told you to take it easy!"

He yelped when she yanked him upright.

"Oh, suck it up! It's your own fault!"

Barry's blue eyes blinked owlishly at her from behind his cowl, jaw dropped slightly. "Yeah, I know." He looked away as she looped his good arm around her shoulders. "I just…while I was running…I started to remember something."

Korra's ears perked up, and she glanced at him.

"Remember what I told you, about the night my parents died? About what happened after I escaped the house?"

"You said all the rain falling around started floating, and then someone or something attacked you."

He nodded slowly, hissing in pain as his right hand brushed his leg. "I started to remember…in the middle of that lightning, there was…a man, a man in yellow. And I got to thinking…what if the man in yellow was like me?"

"Maybe…just one problem though. You said your powers started the night of Harmonic Convergence. So there's a bit of a hole in your theory."

"Yeah." He shrugged. "Just a thought."

Caitlin finally arrived at the pair, Korra helping him to a sitting position as the doctor bended water from her bag and around his wrist.

"This is gonna hurt," the woman said coldly.

Barry shrugged and grinned. "Trust me, I spent the last week healing two broken legs. I think I can handle a little yeeeeeooooow!"

The wrist snapped back into place with a wet shlick, Barry's scream of pain actually bringing a smirk to the doctor's face.

"Thanks," he hissed as he stood slowly, Korra still supporting him. A slow exhale and thirty seconds later, his wrist looked infinitely better.

"So," Korra said quietly, "how did you get your powers, exactly?"

"Ooh, is it story time?" Varrick asked, appearing from nowhere in particular. "I'd love to know how this all happened, Mr. Allen."

Barry's jaw dropped a little and eyes widened slightly. "You mean he—" He threw his hands up. "You know what? I don't even care. You want to know how I got like this?" He watched his six-member audience take their respective seats around him. "It all started about a year ago in Republic City, the night of Harmonic Convergence."

1 year earlier

Police HQ, Republic City

6 months before the fall of the Red Lotus

A tall, lanky teenager with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder ascended two flights of steps to reach his apportioned workspace, cluttered yet in ordered chaos as usual. He was in no rush, despite the fact that nearly every cop in the station had, for some reason, found a reason not to be in on that particular night. As a CSI, he wasn't often privy to the details of ongoing initiatives, only ever allowed details when operations became crime scenes, but honestly, that suited him just fine. Him, be on the front lines with that kind of information?

Even in a city that boasted the daughter of the first metalbender as its Chief of Police and the Avatar as its guardian, he knew that people who learned too much became targets. He saw enough of the grim results of such cases to know to stay out of the crosshairs of any criminal element. On the most recent case he'd worked, for instance, he'd inspected the crime scene of a robbery in the Financial District that ended with two security guards injured and one dead, managing to pull a sample of dirt from the corpse containing high amounts of animal fertilizer with a certain chemical trace in it.

That trace had led to a farmhouse on the outskirts of town, where Chief Beifong herself had confronted the perpetrators and busted up a weapon-smuggling ring. That had been two days ago. When she'd questioned the leader the next morning about why his crew had killed the security guard, he'd answered that he'd originally been in on the job but attempted to rat them out for police protection. They'd moved up their timetable as a result and taken him out to prevent loss of anonymity. Barry thought it morbidly ironic how the one action they'd taken to ensure their escape had directly led to their capture.

Now, he was bent over a TV, where a newscaster was declaring the appearance of strange lights over Republic City, arching an eyebrow even as he strode over to a nearby billboard and stared at the case currently posted there. Taking a quick look around out of habit, he reached forward and pulled at a tab on the underside of the board, the current case rolling up to the top and revealing an intricate web of pictures, newspaper clippings, and transcripts from police interrogations and eyewitness accounts—all linking back to the night his parents died in some way.

Reports of a firebender who specialized in lightning bending terrorizing the countryside around Zaofu. Articles about residents of a small village near the North Pole who reported inexplicably floating liquid at odd hours of the night six years ago. Wanted pictures of Farooq Gibran and Li Gris, the men responsible for his parents' deaths and the destruction of his childhood home. Everything from the mundane to the impossible was plastered to the surface of his billboard, similar events connected with various colored strings and tacks. Barry took a deep breath and let it out slowly as his hands ran through his messy auburn hair, jaw clenching as he read the headline in the center of his board: Respected Doctor and His Wife Murdered—Killers Still at Large!

He reached out toward the entry below that one, a picture of his parents and him, the only one that had survived the fire. His hand froze inches from it when he realized he wasn't alone. He slowly turned toward the door, but it wasn't until he saw the crackle of electricity between the man's hands that he realized why his instincts had automatically defaulted to alarm.

After they stared at each other for a few moments, the man spoke. "You know who I am?"

Barry gulped hard, jaw clenching. "Farooq Gibran, AKA Blackout."

"And you know why I'm here?"

The CSI's fists clenched as his eyes flickered to the billboard on his left. "Finishing the job you started when I was eleven."

Blackout stood in place for a moment before chuckling menacingly. "Kid, that ship sailed a long time ago, and besides, the gig didn't pay well enough to stalk you for that long. No, I'm here for a much different reason. That case you busted wide open, two days ago? Those were my men, my plan…and a very wasted opportunity." Lightning danced among his fingertips. "Because of you."

Barry understood very well the threat in those words, and though his body wanted to curl up and whimper, his mind had been preparing for this moment since they'd met—and they just so happened to be in his lab, with corrosive, volatile, and otherwise deadly chemicals scattered about. In trying to get him alone and vulnerable, Blackout had played right into his hands by giving him home field advantage. His hands and frame tensed with anticipation, ready to dive for cover or his makeshift weapons at a moment's notice.

Suddenly, a burst of activity from the television prompted him to cautiously stride back over and raise the volume.

"This just in, folks: the lights over Republic City have increased in both volume and intensity, and with winds around the city picking up to dangerous speeds, authorities are now warning all residents of Republic City to stay indoors while they attempt to regain—"

A brief burst of static was all that warned Barry before the power in the entire station went out. Scowling at the new development, heart racing, Barry was about to snatch up a vial of acid from his desk and chuck it when he looked up from the TV to see the lights the announcer had mentioned, eyes and mouth widening slightly in alarm when the sky exploded in white and red light, an impact in the bay creating a massive sinkhole where nothing sunk. His eyes went up once more, finding that the aurora in the sky had risen to a fever pitch in intensity, then glancing behind him to see that Blackout was nowhere in sight in the nearly pitch-black room. Without thinking, he strode over to the middle of the room and reached for the chain controlling the shutters over the skylight above him.

He'd pulled it halfway down before feeling a static shock from the metal and freezing in his tracks, eyes wide with fear. Gibran was still invisible in the dark room, but as his gaze flitted around, his eyes widened at the sight of something even more disconcerting: every single liquid in the room, including his chemicals, began to levitate without reason. His jaw dropped slightly as terror slunk into his bones, not even hearing the footsteps in front of him until a second later and turning to see a dark silhouette standing there. No amount of preparation had prepared him for this, and though his mind understood how easily he could fight back, his heart was that of a little child, seeing his parents die once again.

Only this time, it was his turn.

Blue lightning sparked off Gibran's fingers, but the moment he released it, Barry could've sworn it turned gold. When it hit him, there was no searing pain, no shriek of agony, only the mighty jolt of being shoved very hard and the register of his body smacking against something that a part of his mind labeled his chemical shelf. Various liquids splashed against his body, both clothes and bare skin, his eyes fluttering closed as Blackout vanished from his darkening vision.

A supreme feeling of electric euphoria was the last sensation he felt before passing out.

Present

Future Industries Airfield Command Tower

The captive audience considered everything Barry had just told them with a stunned air, Korra eventually speaking up.

"So what happened?"

Barry shrugged. "You know what that explosion was, obviously, since you destroyed its cause. As for what happened to me, I wasn't found until hours later. A childhood buddy of mine, Edward Thorne, had been trying to get a hold of me at the station since the fighting started, and when I couldn't be reached, he stopped by and found me like that, sprawled out covered in chemicals and with nary a scratch anywhere except my clothes. Turned out that my heart started behaving erratically, though, and when I got to the hospital, it took three of the best healers in Republic City to stabilize me."

"People never wondered what happened?"

Barry shrugged. "Sure, and when I woke up a week later, I told 'em about Blackout, but since nobody had been able to track him down in the past, they figured it was a lost cause. Considering how close I'd come to dying the last time I'd crossed him, I was more than happy to concede that point." He smirked. "That very same day, I had coffee with Mako to let him know I was all right and watched a clumsy waiter drop a tray in slow motion."

"You started discovering your powers," Asami concluded.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, and it was damned scary at first, but as I learned to control them more and more, I started experimenting with what I could do and…well, by the time six months came around, I knew I could vibrate at superspeed, run on water and up walls, and think so fast it only seems like everyone else is standing still."

A pronounced silence lasted over the group, Caitlin asking Barry to outline the specifics of how he'd discovered each application for his abilities and the scientist dutifully obliging for a good half hour before a new voice spoke up.

"Well that was extremely enlightening."

Barry froze in place, letting the tension flow out when he spotted Chief Beifong's armored form leaning against a wall by the stairs. "Chief," he said sharply, shooting to his feet. "How long have you been there?"

She nearly scowled. "Long enough to know that I should ignore Blackout's request for clemency."

He blinked. "He requested clemency? You mean—" His eyes widened. "He's actually facing the death penalty?"

Lin shrugged. "Could be. How do you feel about that?"

Barry gulped slowly. At one point, he'd have known the answer in an instant, but after seeing so much death, both during his time with the RCPD and as the Flash, he wasn't so sure death was a viable option for someone like Gibran. Sure, he may have been a psychopath, but he was a hired blade. The real problems were the people who hired him, and he fully intended to get the names of every last one involved with last week's attack.

"I don't know," he admitted truthfully. "A part of me wants him to pay in full for what he's done, but the other part…needs him."

Lin's eyebrow twitched upward.

"He's the only one who might know who sponsored the attacks. Who even has the resources for an operation like that?"

The chief frowned. "I don't know. A few people off the top of my head." She looked pointedly at an innocent-looking Varrick. "But we've been trying to interrogate the terrorists we've captured and thus far nothing solid's come up. We'll keep trying. One of 'em'll crack eventually."

Barry nodded slowly, eyebrows furrowing. "So, not that I'm complaining or anything, but…what are you doing here?"

Lin smirked. "There's another caveat to becoming the Flash."

A firm effort barely prevented a roll of Barry's eyes. "What this time? Another recorded statement? A race around Republic City for charity maybe?"

She let out a snort. "Who could you race that wouldn't be immediately left in the dust?"

"Well, considering I'm still recovering, I'd say just about any master airbender would have a shot." He gave Korra a small wink, to which the girl blushed slightly.

Lin shook her head. "Regardless, it's nothing like that." Her face took on a serious tone. "It's something far more practical, I'm afraid. After agreeing to let you become this…guardian—not to mention the story I just heard—it's come to my attention that you're going to need training."

Barry arched an eyebrow. "What kind? I mean, I'm already a CSI and I know how to track down suspects."

"I know. It's the apprehending part I'm concerned with."

He nearly pouted as he crossed his arms defensively. "I took down Blackout just fine, a man you and your department have been trying to catch for decades."

She crossed her arms right back. "After suffering almost-fatal third-degree burns and nearly getting an officer killed." Lin lifted a hand when he began to protest. "I know you never would've allowed anything to happen to the detective, but the fact is it was a close call, for both of you. Far too close. You may be fast, Allen, but you're not unstoppable, and you can't exactly heal if you're dead."

Barry let out a long sigh, nodding slowly.

"In light of this, I'm enrolling you in the police academy."

"What?!"

"Not as an officer," she amended, "but as a special nonbending student. To avoid suspicion, until further notice, I'm having all RCPD staff, CSIs and coroners included, go through at least basic officer tactics and self-defense training." Lin's face softened almost imperceptibly. "If you die out there, it won't be because I didn't prepare you."

Though it was said in a rather backhanded way, Barry heard and appreciated the concern in the statement. He nodded slowly and smiled as a result. "When do we start?"

"Today at five." Lin smirked evilly. "And we go non-stop until ten."

Barry paled slightly.

"Which means you've got—" she checked her watch, "—just over an hour to get to the academy." Lin's evil smirk remained in place as she glanced from him to the Avatar and back. "Should give you and your girlfriend more than enough time to say your goodbyes."

The sounds of jaws dropping and incoherent sputtering filled the room in Lin's wake as she exited via stairwell, the following silence so loud that everyone else filed out as well. It took nearly a full minute before Barry and Korra were coherent enough to realize they were alone. Heat filled his face a little until he saw the rather dejected look on her face. With a sigh, he sat down next to her, a comfortable amount of space between them.

"Hey. You okay?"

She looked up at him with a distracted expression. "Me? Oh yeah, fine." Another long, uncomfortable silence. "Hey Barry?"

"Hm?"

"Listen…I know…I know things are kinda weird between us right now, but…things will get better, okay? Nothing's gonna stop us from being friends."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Then let us be friends, Korra. We used to spend every night talking until one or both of us fell asleep. Now we're more like awkward acquaintances that can barely look at each other."

"That's not—" she froze mid-sentence, sighing when she realized it was completely true.

Apart from the initial relief after his awakening—specifically after their "talk" in his hospital room, she'd been distant, almost cold, to the now-eighteen CSI. Red-hot shame was present all over her face as she averted her eyes, only lifting them when Barry physically tipped her chin up.

"Don't take it the wrong way, please. I understand completely why you'd feel out of sorts, but the fact is…I've had these feelings for you for…well, as long as I can remember us knowing each other, and nothing changed. Last week was just…an acknowledgement, I guess."

"And a move," Korra added quietly.

Barry chuckled nervously. "Yeah, true. Not a terribly good one, I'll admit. It was more a spur-of-the-moment, in-case-I-die kind of move."

Her eyes flashed something unreadable before relaxing to their usual state. "It still scares me that you even considered that possibility."

"Like I think I told you once about my work in forensics, if you rule something out completely, you could be missing a life-changing breakthrough." He shrugged. "It was a very strong possibility."

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "Please don't do it again?"

It was said so softly, it almost sounded like a plea.

Barry smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, I've got no plans to do anything like that again anytime soon." He checked the clock on the wall. "Anyway, I better get over to the academy before Chief changes her mind about my second job." Barry gave her a quick hug before sloppily ditching the new suit on its dummy and speeding out the door.

All the while, Korra's mind kept drifting back to what he'd said.

"—if you rule something out completely, you could be missing a life-changing breakthrough."

Whether he meant it strictly about his work or not, Barry had planted a seed of doubt in her mind regarding her current approach to their…situation. Sighing hard, Korra got to her feet and strode toward the exit and what she hoped would be a relaxing night out with the former Team Avatar.

20 minutes later

Police HQ, academy level

"Form up you pathetic maggots!"

Barry nearly grinned at Lin's familiar yell until he turned and saw her face. Then he paled and instantly fell in line with the rest of the recruits, stance tense as ever. Beifong strode along the line with her hands tucked behind her back as she appraised them with a fiercer gaze than she'd ever used on the CSI. To his horror, she stopped directly in front of him and decided to address the group point-blank, at the top of her lungs.

"Now, you all know why you're here?!"

"Yes, ma'am!" they answered as one, Barry's voice slightly timid due to his proximity to the psychotic chief.

She raised an eyebrow at his actions, but said nothing. "Good! In light of recent events, we need every able-bodied man and woman to know what it takes to defend themselves. It's come to the attention of both myself and department that our uniformed officers are not the only ones to bear the ire of Republic City's criminal element—" Lin gave a pointed look to Barry, "—and we refuse to allow any of our people to be defenseless when faced with someone who means to do them harm. Now, understand well, this is not a free pass from your normal duties. You will continue to work as scheduled, only every other day you will report here at 5 PM sharp to continue training. Is that understood?!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good." Her tone turned venomous. "Start lapping."

The recruits, most too new to direct contact with the chief or too scared to move on command, froze in place for a few seconds as the supervising cops in the background snickered.

Barry closed his eyes when he saw the metamorphosis begin to occur, and Lin's eyes went red, nose spouting flames as she sprouted claws and fangs.

"NOW!"

And as one they yelped and sprang into action, Barry about to take off when he felt Lin's hand on his arm.

"Keep it real, Allen."

He smiled and nodded, taking off at a relatively fast clip—well, fast for an ordinary person. To him, running without his enhanced speed was like crawling, but only when he increased his rate of perception. So he didn't, he just ran alongside his comrades, most of them thoroughly out of shape and at one end or the other of the obesity spectrum, and chatted up whoever came close as he varied his speed, speaking in intentionally heavy breaths to keep from being bored. When his fellow professional geeks ran out of all breath to talk, he started to "push" himself, in thirty-second "sprints," then fell back to a slow jog several times.

On his fifth repetition, he took a look around the large spherical training room, a glint in one of the second-floor shutters catching his eye. Slowing down the world around him, Barry's eyes narrowed as the glint appeared again, his instincts going into overdrive as he took a closer look. Ice-blue orbs widened to their max when it moved—and shot out from the shutter. Barely a half-second later—what felt like ten seconds in speed perception—Barry understood fully what the object was and allowed his internal alarms to blare at full volume. A quick calculation and look to its intended path, and he knew he had to do something.

A 360 glance at the room revealed that no one was focusing directly on him. A quarter of a second later, he moved.

A blink. A gust of wind in a rough figure eight. A loud thud against the wall, barely six inches from her head.

Lin Beifong blinked once more, jaw dropping open as she slowly looked to her left, eyes narrowing as she grasped the dark shaft and pulled sharply, yanking it loose. With pursed lips and a brief moment of alarm, she shifted her gaze to Allen, who was just finishing another lap, and gave him a questioning look. He nodded ever-so-slightly, and she barely suppressed a shudder when she realized how close she'd come to being skewered—on the end of a dark green arrow.


AN: I did promise last time that I would be introducing Flash characters to the story a bit more—and I always keep my promises, so I hope you enjoyed the entrance of Caitlin and Cisco, as well as my last little nod at the end. Yes, he is going to be in this story, though his particular origin will be a bit different from the CW version. At least, his origin in Republic City. Also, the "Edward Thorne" character mentioned by Barry later in the chapter is a parallel to the CW show's Eddie Thawne. He'll have a major role in this story, though not until a bit later on.

For fans of the CW's The Flash: just so none of you have any illusions, the plot will not be unfolding exactly like the show. This is a parallel universe where Earth and the Avatar world have been merged, and as such, things will be changed.

If you're a fan of Legend of Korra, you'll already know that things have changed. In the show, it takes Korra far longer to recover enough strength and confidence to even consider bending full-scale or returning to her Avatar duties, over two years. It happens differently here for a variety of reasons, all of which would take all day to name. The primary reason, however, is that apart from her parents, healers, Tenzin, and the occasional letter to or from her friends, Korra basically had no interaction with anyone during her two years—at least, not anyone that could make her feel even remotely normal. Korra even mentioned this in chapter 2 and the effects later in chapter 4.

With this in mind, you can be sure that far more changes will be revealed as the effects of the Multiverse Theory run rampant. Muahaha…

More to come soon, I promise. Until then, oya, vode, and stay strong.

Musical Inspirations:

Arrow (Season 2) - The Scientist: Flashback/confrontation with Blackout/lightning strike

P.S.: To my faithful reviewer Revanite201, first off, awesome name (uber Star Wars fan here, you should check out my fic), and secondly…define "sooner." Haha just kidding. This is a Barra story, flat-out, so it will happen, but it must be in a way that makes sense…mostly with her character, and with the current reluctance…well, let's just say it'll take quite the kick to get things started. I think you're gonna like it.