Waking up in a Flash
Kara POV:
This morning was rather uneventful, apart from discovering a small glitch with the power cell, which was fixed easily, nothing really happened. In fact the day has gone so smoothly that I have decided to take an extended lunch break. Winn wanted to go and discuss the modifications that he made to my suit, so we went to big belly burger. Alex joined us for a little bit and Winn said that he would upgrade her suit too.
Once we finished lunch Winn headed back to work and I flew to STAR labs. I walked past Dr Wells, or whatever his name really was, and straight into the cortex. Cisco was sitting at the computer looking at something and Caitlin was checking some of Barry's wires.
"Hey guys, how's he doing today?"
They both looked up and smiled at me, and it was Caitin who answered me first. "Hey Kara, he is doing good. I am just putting some wires on his head to measure his brains response to stimuli."
Cisco walked around the centre console and approached both of us. "I had an idea, you know how they say that the hearing is the last thing to go?"
"Yeah?"
"Well what if we start playing some of his favourite songs. Maybe it might register something in his head, or maybe even wake him up."
"Do you want me to go and fetch his iPod?"
"Nah it's all good, I checked his Facebook page."
Cisco went to back to the centre console and pressed play and some Lady Gaga came on. I smiled and nodded, remembering all the times we danced around Barry's apartment singing to her music. Cisco turned the music off, "But first Caitlin need to wire our man, here, up."
Caitlin went back to attaching the wires to Barry's head and Cisco continued typing something on the computer, I walked over to Caitlin. "Hey Cait do you think that this could work?"
"Well they do say that auditory function is the last to go, but we will have to wait and see. How are you doing? It has been a long nine months for you."
"Yeah, it has, but it has been worse for you. How is everything going for you, with loosing Ronnie?"
"I have finally managed to clean out the closet, but it was hard."
"We are both lucky we both found people who loved us for us."
She smiled and hugged me. We stood there for a few moments just hugging each other when Cisco walked around the corner.
"Hey I hope that I am not disturbing anything but I am ready to start whenever you are."
Caitlin nodded and Cisco pressed a button on the main computer. Suddenly poker face came blasting out of the speakers, Barry's favourite, and I sat next to Barry holding his hand watching, and waiting. I wasn't waiting long when he suddenly jolted upright.
Barry POV:
I opened my eyes and I wasn't in my lab, the last place I remember being, or in mine or Kara's bed. I was confused, I was wired up like I was in a hospital, but where I was was not a hospital. And why was Lady Gaga playing?
I could see a man and a woman standing over me, but they were not people that I recognised. I wondered where Joe and Iris were but the person that I wanted to see more than anyone else was Kara. I had to see if they knew where she was.
"Where am I? Where is Kara? And who are you two?"
Before anyone could answer someone grabbed my hand and I felt instantly calm. I would recognise that hand anywhere, it was Kara. I turned to face her and Iwas surprised to see that she was trying no to cry.
"Kara what's wrong? What's going on, why are you crying?"
"Barry, you've... you've... you've been in a coma."
"I've been in a what?! What happened, and who are these people?"
Before either of the others could answer my question Kara asks them to leave the room. She turns to face me with a funny look on her face.
"Barry you're in STAR Labs, you have been in a coma for nine months now." Kara took a moment to let the words sink in, nine months. I had so many questions, what happened? Why did it happen? What has been happening while I was in the coma? And were Joe and Iris alright? Kara could see that I had many questions that I needed answers for, and she reassured me that she would answer them all.
She explained to me about the night the particle accelerator exploded, how the energy released killed seventeen people and wounded many more. How I was struck by lightning and the hospital was struggling to keep me stable. She spoke about how Dr Wells brought me here and how the people who work here saved my life.
When I eventually got to look at my reflection I was surprised by what I saw, I actually had a runners physique. "Umm, lightning gave me abs."
Dr Snow was the first to respond. "Well I would have expected you to be in a state of muscular degeneration, instead your muscles seem to actually be regenerating, at a cellular level." Even I knew that that shouldn't be happening.
Dr Snow said that she wanted to run more tests on me, even though I felt fine, and I think that Kara could sense that I just wanted to leave and show Joe and Iris that I was okay. So Kara said that she would take responsibility for me, and that she would bring me back later to finish running the tests.
Kara said that she would fly me back to hers to get changed, as it would be faster and as I still had clothes at hers. She also said that she wanted to show me something in private and it would be better to do it at home.
When we got back to Kara's place, and I had got dressed, she told me to sit down and not to get all nerdy on her. She opened her shirt and she was wearing a shirt with the superman "S" on it, just like her cousin.
"So what do you think?"
"About what?"
"My new superhero costume." And in a Flash of red and blue she was standing there in her full suit, with a cape. My jaw just hit the floor and I was astounded, Kara just chuckled at my expression. "That good then."
"I... Wha... Wow, I mean that is totally... Awesome! What is your superhero name? How long have you been doing this? Why did you start doing this? And most importantly, who knows?"
"Well my 'super name' is Supergirl, and I did this because of you."
I was puzzled. "Me?"
"Yes you. When you got struck by lightning, I was still in the building, I could have saved you. And while I was sat there in hospital, waiting for news about your condition, I could hear the city falling apart around me.
"I had to do something so I flew to Metropolis and got Clark to help train me. I spent the next week learning how to be a superhero, and when I got back I was ready to start fighting crime. I have spent the last nine months kicking but and taking name. As for who knows, obviously my family does, so does Winn he is my tech support, he even has a name, and Alex is also a vigilante. Out of that only Cisco and Caitlin, but they have been told that if they tell ANYONE then they would just disappear."
I was astounded I mean Kara was and actual honest to god superhero. She flew around saving the city.
Kara POV:
I have never been so happy, Barry was awake and moving around. There seemed to be no residual damage from the lightning strike, apart from the fact that his heart rate was higher than normal.
Barry seemed genuinely pleased that I was now a superhero, and he was being totally supportive despite how crazy this whole situation must be to him. I knew that I had a lot to catch Barry up on, from while he was in his Coma, but I knew that he would pick everything up quite quickly.
Barry wanted to go and see Joe and Iris, so when I got dressed, again, I called Winn to tell him that I was taking a few personal days, and that Barry was awake, and then I flew us to just outside Jitters.
Barry POV:
Landing in the alley behind Jitters I almost forgot how it feels to fly with Kara. We straightened ourselves out and walked into Jitters.
Iris looked the same as when I last saw her, and she was refilling someone's coffee when she saw me. She looked positivly stunned, and then her face just turned into this giant, beaming, smile. Abandoning the coffee she raced over and pulled me into a giant hug.
"Oh my god. You're awake. But... But... But why didn't STAR labs call us?"
"Iris I just woke up, Kara was there with me so I don't think that anyone thought about calling you or Joe." At those words I saw Iris glare at Kara, obviously something had changed there.
"Barry you died. I watched you die, over and over again. And here you are walking into here like nothing even happened."
I grabbed Iris's hand, and placed it over my heart. "Iris I am fine, look my heart is still beating."
"Yeah, but it is really fast. Like, it is racing."
Thankfully Kara was able to explain that because I couldn't.
"Yeah, that is a side effect of the lightning strike. Caitlin ran some tests on you while you were out and that is what she determined as the cause."
"Okay. Well look can you both wait for me while I go and get my coat. Man dad is going to be so happy to see you."
As Iris left to get her jacket one of the waitresses dropped a tray of glasses, and something weird happened. It was like I was watching the tray fall to the floor in slow motion, I spun around and the entire room was moving in slow motion. Everyone but Kara.
Kara POV:
As we were waiting for Iris something happened to Barry, he sped up. Not so much that other people would notice, but as someone who has superspeed I noticed. When Barry returned to normal he looked shaken up, he looked at me confused and scared. I pulled him into the corner of the room so we could talk in private.
"Kara, what... What happened?"
"I think that you sped up slightly, I can't explain it but it may have just been a fluke, it may not have been. But I will keep an eye on you, if it happens again we will definitely return to STAR labs."
I hugged him and reassured him, that everything was going to be okay, even if I am not sure myself.
Barry POV:
Iris returned and made a comment about me only just waking up and wanting to get my freak on, and hugged me again.
We walked to the precinct and Iris was talking away, catching me up on some of the things that I have missed over the last nine months. She told me about her new job writing articles on heroes, and their purpose in the world, I looked at Kara with a smile on my face.
We eventually arrived at CCPD, and Helen, the receptionist, saw me and just leapt up out of her seat and gave me a massive hug.
"Oh Barry, you're awake. Joe never mentioned anything."
"Hi Helen, yeah I have just woke up so sush, I want to surprise Joe."
"Of course, I am just so happy that you are back." She hugged me again and went back behind the desk. Iris went ahead to make sure that dad was there, and Kara and I waited a moment to keep the surprise.
Kara held my hands, and just looked into my eyes. I was beginning to realise just how much this woman loved me. She waited nine months for me to wake up, and after only four months of knowing me. How many people would do that.
When I heard Iris say that she had a surprise for Joe, Kara and I walked around the corner, and Joe's face was an absolute picture. He leapt out of his chair so fast that I would swear that he had been shot out of a gun. He pulled me into a huge hug, it was so strong that even Kara would be impressed by the strength of it.
"Oh, Barry it is so good to see you awake." He paused to take a look at me and then hugged me again. "You scared the he'll out of us son."
All I could do was mumble apologies into Joe's shoulder, as he was still crushing me in a huge hug. When Joe finished hugging me I saw that most of the detectives were looking at us, happy. Even Captain Singh came out of his office to see what was going on.
Joe held me at arms length and checked me over, I could tell that he was still concerned but he was overjoyed that I was awake. "Are you sure that you are okay Barr?"
"Never better Joe, never better." I elected not to tell him what had happened in Jitters, and I could tell by the look on Kara's face that I made the right decision.
Officer Peterson walked passed. "That was quite the nap that you took there, baby face, and you still look 12."
Several of the other officers and detectives came over and welcomed me back, and then Captain Singh came over to me. Grabbing my hand he said, "Welcome back Allen. Come and see me in a few days about getting you back to work. But don't rush it, we are just happy to have you back."
"Thank you captain."
Captain Singh nodded at me and then shouted to the room. "Alright it is very exciting to have Mr Allen back but you all need to get back to work."
Joe hugged me again and Eddie came over. "Joe we have to go, there is a 5.15 in progress over at Gold City Bank. Two dead."
Alice shouted over at Joe us. "Storms really picking up, remember your raincoats."
"I'm sorry Barry, I've got to run." Turning to Eddie, "Let's go partner."
Eddie and Joe both grabbed their coats, on the way out Eddie stopped to welcome me back, and they left. I was confused as to when Eddie became my dad's partner.
"When did that happen?"
Iris was the one who answered my question. " The night of the explosion Clyde Mardon shot and killed Chyre. Mardon and his brother died trying to escape, their plane crashed." I looked over at the memorial for Chyre, and at that moment I realised just how much I have missed over the last nine months.
As I was looking over at Travers booking in a suspect, he acknowledged my presence and took his eyes of the suspect for just a second. That was all it took. The suspect reached for Travers's gun and I wished that I could do something. It was like someone answered my prayers.
I ran over to Travers, and stopped the suspect and returned to where I was standing, all in a blink of an eye. I couldn't understand what I had just done, what was happening to me? My whole body felt like it was vibrating, I looked at Kara, panicking, and she understood that I needed to go. We made our excuses to Iris and we left, via the alley.
The moment that I got outside I realised that my hand actually was vibrating. I tried to walk but the whole world slowed down around me again, and I seemed to move at a speed that only Kara could go, and I was terrified. Kara was trying to get me to calm down but I just couldn't. Suddenly before I knew what was happening I was at the opposite end of the alley and I had crashed into a laundry van.
Kara was standing there looking at me shocked. I had no idea what was happening to me, but I was scared.
