While Cisco drove back to our base of operations I laid in the back of the van trying to ease the pain. I cradled my right arm and tried to roll up my jacket into a tighter ball for a better pillow. The van hit a pothole and my head banged against the metal floor. "Ow," I said, tired.

"Sorry! Sorry," Cisco called from the front.

I opted to not take a trip to the emergency room for two reasons. One, they were insanely expensive for an out of work forensics assistant, and two, I was pretty sure I healed as fast as I ran. It started with minor scrapes and bruises that healed in minutes. Then, when I smashed my pinky toe going 700 MPH and it healed in two hours, I knew I didn't need to ever go to the hospital unless it was absolutely necessary. Any bone fracture would heal up nicely as long as it wasn't displaced... or sticking out of my body.

A sore spot on my back faded away and I was finally able to sit up without any pain. "Oh, that feels better," I muttered. I took the time to peel off my cowl and disconnect the lightning emblem from my jacket. I waited to take off my knee and elbow pads because some of my limbs were still healing and I didn't want to move them too much.

I maneuvered to the passenger seat of the van, tired of sitting on a metal flooring. Cisco was jamming out to an 80's rock song and asked, "Hungry?"

I nodded, "Very."

We pulled into a fast-food taco place. Cisco spoke into the intercom when they asked us for our order, "Yeah, can I get one beef quesadilla and a Big Red and, uh, Barry?"

I leaned over, "Forty-seven crispy tacos and seven chicken quesadillas, please. Oh, and one large water."

There was silence from the intercom for a moment and then the employee said in a strained voice, "Pull forward, please."

When we made it back to HQ, I was feeling tons better. My right arm and hand that took the brunt of my fall from earlier was nearly painless, now! Plus, the food was a nice distraction. I sat in an old office space while I ate my tacos and thought back to my recent heroics. Being a superhero was a more physically demanding job than one would think. Thankfully, my superpowers seemed to keep me in my physical prime. When I woke from the coma I was still as fit as I was before taking the six month nap. Though it didn't show too much, I could feel more solidly built. As if my muscle density increased overnight. Being superhuman definitely has its perks.

My thoughts took a swift turn to a different issue. I was superhuman, sure, but now I had a huge target on my back. What's worse, I accidentally roped Cisco into this mess. Someone or some organization stole our Wyrm drone. Cisco had theorized that whoever was responsible was well funded. As evidenced by the surveillance bug they had planted on me. Cisco had said that it wasn't a tracking chip because it couldn't connect to a satellite but had relayed our conversations to a building with a big enough radio tower or transceiver.

"Barry!" called Cisco from across the warehouse.

I poked my head out of the office room, "Yeah?" called back.

"Get over here!"

I wondered what this was about. I sped over, stopping a few feet in front of Cisco, a few stray pieces of paper were blown up in random directions from the gust of air I produced. "What's going on?" I asked.

"So, I've been looking into our... Adversary," he started, testing out the name.

"We're not calling them...that."

"Alright, alright. Well, I managed to hack into the storage locker compound's security footage, right-"

"You hacked into a security system?" I asked.

"Well, not so much hacked into... I bribed the assistant manager. Our stuff was stolen and he didn't want to lose his job, so. We came to an agreement."

I forced a tight smile, "That's not bribery, Cisco. That's extortion."

"Tomato, tomato," he said but pronounced tomato the same way both times. "Anyway, the manager finally sent over tapes from that night and I found something pretty interesting."

"Alright, lets see it," I said eager to put a face to our drone thief.

Cisco spun in his rolly chair and scooted toward his computer setup. He booted up a connected DVD player and played the footage. There were four different camera angles. One square of the video showed the entrance to the compound. The second and third video squares showed two floors of the indoor storage units. The fourth showed the garage doors to the outdoor locker units. "Okay so, at 11:12pm a black SUV strolls up."

"Okay," I said following along.

"Now, they don't input a gate code, but watch this," Cisco trailed on. Whoever was in the SUV stuck a hand out of the window. They were holding some kind of black box about the size of a phone or tablet. It was hard to make out with all the fuzziness of the video footage. They touched the device to the gate keypad and every video square fizzled out! The hell was that!? Each square had the same static screen! Whatever that device did, shorted out the cameras! "Insane, right?" Cisco said impressed. "Now check this. Twenty minutes later the cameras reboot and we get back our visuals." Cisco fast forwarded the video to show the black SUV nowhere in sight, with the front gate wide open, and a broken lock on our storage locker.

"So, we have nothing. They're practically ghosts."

Cisco scoffed, "Actually, no. Whoever they are, they've just given us a huge lead. There's only one known organization that has weaponized local EMP's..."

Then it hit me, S.H.I.E.L.D. When we went to MIT, Cisco and I were working on the Wyrm interface, there was a recruitment agent from S.H.I.E.L.D. Scouting out local talent. I remember them because they said our work was "unfinished but had potential". They did actually recruit someone, a kid named Donnie Gills, I think? Donnie was working on some kind of tech that maximized a battery's output by minimizing its size. Cisco and I had actually worked with Donnie for a time or two. He had some interesting ideas about our Wyrm drone. The SHIELD recruiter had made some offhand comment about how Donnie's battery could power an EMP the size of a book. "SHIELD can't be the only ones that have a miniaturized EMP," I told Cisco.

Cisco's smug grin, someone became even more smug. I gave him a look that said, Out with it already. "They own the patent for the design, Barry. It's them. S.H.I.E.L.D. stole our stuff!"

"Oh, shit," I said, eyes wide. The implication was staggering. The spy organization worked alongside the U.S. Government and were even responsible for the clean up after the Stark Expo debacle. Generally, they seemed like the good guys. "Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. steal our drone?" I asked.

"That's the million dollar question, man," Cisco muttered.

I started to come up with a theory. "Well, if they know about me then they probably want to recreate what gave me powers. Can you imagine what an army of speedsters could do?"

"That'd... be terrifying," Cisco answered. There was a heavy silence between us for a few moments before Cisco spoke up, "I wouldn't put it past us to expect a rival speedster in the future. I mean, you have a head start on this whole thing and... and we're way out of our depth, Barry! We don't know people who know other people about S.H.I.E.L.D. or secret government conspiracies." Cisco was trying to keep his voice level but the reality of our situation was weighing him down.

A few different thoughts came to mind. Firstly, I agreed with him. We couldn't rule out other powered individuals from appearing in the future. The world was changing and flying billionaires was just the tip of the iceberg. We had to be prepared for every kind of threat that came with being a superhero. I couldn't just run away from the press anymore, either. I had to show the world I was here. If there was one thing I learned from Iron Man was that if you were a big enough hero the villains just showed up on your doorstep and what better way to draw out our hiding enemies. "Then we better get ready," I told Cisco, zipping back up my jacket and hooking on my emblem. "It's time to come up with a name," I said. "It's time I became a real superhero."

Cisco stood up from his chair with a look of pure determination, "Barry Allen, the fastest man alive. Saving the day in a flash. I have the perfect name."

-Two Weeks Later-

"Everyone put their hands in the air or I swear to God I will shoot you!" yelled a masked man. Him and two other masked individuals were robbing the East Central Bank. Each robber had identical ski masks with sunglasses, covering the eye holes . They had gloves and long sleeve jackets to cover up any possible way of IDing them. A bead of sweat materialized at the brow of the bank robber. This is taking too damn long! He thought. Frantically he twisted back, while making sure to keep his gun aimed at the hostages, and yelled at the rest of his crew, "Hurry the hell up!" Turning back toward the hostages he noted that some of them had this look of perplexity. Then he felt the emptiness in his own hand. "What the fuck," he muttered in shock. His gun was gone!

A voice broke through the tension in an almost jovial tone, "Looking for something?"

The masked man turned to see a red blur! Nothing else. Just a red colored movement and then he was flying! He was tackled and thrown across the bank floor, hitting the wall and sliding to the floor in a mess of limbs. What the hell was that!? There was, for the first time, a sprout of fear the robber had not felt in a long while. He always prided himself on never being scared easily. But this… This was a ghost or some kind of demon. What in God's name could move that fast? Consciousness faded and the man slumped over, a pair of red shoes being the last thing his mind was able perceive before slipping into sleep.

The two robbers that were making their way out of the vault were confused. Where had Carter gone? The robber with a single duffle bag slung over his shoulder marched into the center of the bank. If Carter made a break he would kill that S.O.B. for abandoning the job. Mark his words. The hostages were scrambling together, looking like they were gonna make a break for it. Oh no you don't, thought the robber with a sinister smile. He opened fire with his automatic, onto the crowd! Repeated gunshots rang through the bank in a thunderous applause! It was music to his ears. When his gun ran out of ammo he looked at the hostages with utter confusion. His partner had run up next to him saying, "The fuck is wrong with you, man!?"

The only thing the robber could say was, "...how?" Every single hostage was completely fine. As if by magic the bullets had missed every single mark. There wasn't even shatter glass or broken wall behind them. The bullets just...disappeared.

A clattering of bullets alerted them both. His partner aimed his gun at the intruder. A man clad in a red jacket and mask had just dropped a bunch of bullets. "That one was a little tricky, I'll admit," he said.

The robber with the empty mag shouted at his partner, "Waist him!"

His partner did so, dropping his two duffel bags and pulling out his sidearm. Right before taking aim a red blur shot out of nowhere and rammed into him! The robber was thrown backwards and through a window, shattering the glass! His gun had apparently flown out of his hand when he was hit because the red clad hero had appeared in his spot where his partner was and caught it as it fell.

The robber looked at the red dressed individual in growing terror, "Just what the hell are you?"

"I'm the Flash," he said with a smile and the last thing the robber saw was a blur of red and then unconsciousness.