"Excuse me! Coming through!" Barri Singh cried, pushing her way through the crowds of people in her way of getting to the crime scene she was supposed to be at twenty minutes earlier. If there was one thing you could always count on from the twenty-five-year-old, it was that she would be late. "My father's going to kill me! Out of my way, please!"
"Watch it," a woman snapped after Barri's shoulder slammed into her.
"Sorry!" Barri called out. Yep, she was definitely dying today.
"Where's Allen?" She heard David call out as soon as she ducked under the police tape, flashing her badge and a smile.
"Sorry, I'm here," she panted, skidding to stop after her sprint to David, Joe, and Joe's partner, Fred Chrye. "Captain, detectives," she greeted.
"What was it this time, Allen?" David questioned, crossing his arms across his chest, staring her down. Barri's heart skipped a beat.
"I missed the bus," she lied quickly. He clearly didn't believe her, quite used to her bullshit.
"Get to work, Bernadette." Barri flushed hotly at the use of her name, and looked at the tire marks on the ground, studying there tracks.
"The getaway car is a Shelby Mustang GT500. The rear tires are wider in the back with an asymmetrical tread," she explained. She didn't notice David's proud grin he flashed at her. "There's something else. Captain, do you have a pen or something?" She questioned, turning her head to look at him. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out one of the office pens that are always lying around and handed it to her. She grabbed it with a gloved hand and picked up what she assumed was excrement with the tip of the pen. She took a cautionary sniff and reared back, scrunching her nose. "Fecal matter. My guess is animal. I'll take this to the lab and process it," she finished, dropping the pen with the fecal in an evidence bag.
"Good job, Allen," David praised.
"Thank you, Captain."
"Let's go see this Atom Smasher….smashing," Iris said, walking into Barri's lab at the precinct as Barri was waiting for the results on the fecal matter found at the crime scene.
"Are you talking about the Particle Accelerator?" Barri questioned, turning in her chair lazily to face her friend. The two has drifted apart once David adopted Barri, but they still got along and still hung out, but Barri knew there were things that she would never confide in Iris about. She knew the same could be said about Iris.
"You find anything yet, Barri?" Joe asked, walking into the lab.
"The test is almost finished, Joe," Barri answered.
"What exactly does the Particle Accelerator do?" Iris questioned, spinning in one of the chairs by Barri's desk. Barri grabbed a marker and walked over to her glass board, drawing a dot.
"This is everything we know to this day," Barri explained.
"Does that include twerking?" Iris interrupted. Barri ignored her with an eye roll. She drew a large circle around the dot.
"This," Barri continued. "Is everything we'll know from the Particle Accelerator. It will change everything we know about theoretical physics." She explained things in a bit more detail before the machine running the trace on the fecal matter beeped. Barri walked over to her computer, pulling the the results. "Joe, it looks like the fecal found at the crime scene was cow manure. It contained traces of oxytetracycline, which is an antibiotic. Only four farms around here still use it." She printed out a paper with the list of the farms and handed it over to Joe with a grin. "I bet one of those farms will have a beautiful Shelby parked in front."
"Now that Barri has solved your poop problem, dad, can we go see the Particle Accelerator?" Iris asked, placing her hand on Joe's shoulder. He sighed.
"Fine, go. Just make sure you tell David. We don't want another repeat of Starling." Barri flinched slightly. Yeah, the yelling she had to put up with from David was a nightmare, and Rob's disappointed looks were just as bad.
"Got it, thanks, Joe."
Iris and Barri made their way down the steps into the bullpen and Barri poked her head into her father's office. "Captain? May I come in?" He motioned for her to enter and she shut the door softly behind her.
"Going somewhere?" He asked, noticing Barri's jacket draped over her arm.
"I'm going to S.T.A.R. Labs to see the Particle Accelerator get turned on. I processed the fecal matter from the crime scene and gave Joe the results. He and Chyre are leaving soon to check out the farms the Mardon brothers could be hiding at."
"Good job, Bare, and thanks for letting me know that you're leaving. Have fun. Oh," he continued, making Barri pause at the door and turn back around to face him. "Rob wanted me to let you know that he's cooking dinner tonight. Wants you over." Barri smiled.
"Sounds good, dad. Text me a time and I'll be there. Love you," she said before opening the door.
"Bye, Barri!" David called from behind her and she and Iris made their way to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Turned out, Barri was not going to be able to see the Accelerator get turned on. Someone had snatched Iris' bag, and Barri took off after them, earning her a smack to the face with said bag. Thankfully the new Keystone transfer, Detective Eddie Thawne, was there to catch the guy when Barri let him get away.
"Who's the new guy?" Iris asked, looking at Thawne skeptically.
"Eddie Thawne," Barri answered. "Just transferred from Keystone."
"Oh, that's Detective Pretty Boy," Iris mused. Barri shot her a confused look. "That's what my dad calls him."
"Hey, Allen, you good?" Eddie questioned, moving over to them after he put the handcuffed perpetrator in the back of his cruiser.
"I'm good, thanks, Eddie," Barri assured. Eddie looked her over and winced sympathetically.
"That's going to be a nice shiner by tomorrow." She sighed loudly at his comment.
"I know. My life sucks."
About thirty minutes later, Barri sat her desk, a bag of ice pressed to her cheek where the bag had cracked against her cheekbone and sighed loudly as she turned on the news. Linda Park was standing in front of the labs where just moments later, the Accelerator would be active. "You okay, Baby-Face?" Detective Frank Johnson asked, walking into her lab.
"I'm good," she assured, handing him the results of a test she had run for him earlier. He moved the bag of ice away and let out a little hiss before moving it back into place on her cheek.
"Keep icing it. You'll probably have one hell of a bruise and will most definitely swell."
"Thanks, Frank." He left a couple seconds later, and Barri turned her attention back to the TV. Instead of cheers, people were screaming, and Park was talking about a malfunction. Barri stood up and walked to the window, looking out to where S.T.A.R. Labs was, and her eyes widened when there seemed to be an explosion of sorts that sent a shockwave through the city, cutting the power off everywhere.
Dropping the bag of ice on to her desk, Barri made her way to where her skylight was, noticing that it started raining and water was pooling on the floor. She grabbed the chains and started tugging when she felt static go throughout the room. She looked around and saw chemicals in beakers start floating. The same as when mom was killed, Barri thought. She then looked up to see a bolt of lightning heading straight towards her from the opening in the skylight.
The bolt struck, sending her into complete darkness. She wasn't aware as she went flying backwards into shelves that were filled with chemicals, and she crashed to the ground on top of the fallen metal shelves.
A yellow bolt of lightning traveled through her veins.
Captain David Singh was sitting at his desk, finishing up some paperwork before he had to leave for dinner to meet his boyfriend and daughter. He heard a little bit of commotion outside in the bullpen, so he got up and walked out to where a group of his detectives were standing in front of a computer screen. "What's going on?" He questioned.
Something happened at S.T.A.R. Labs," Detective Miller supplied. "They're evacuating, Sir." David felt his heart skip a beat.
"Barri-" he started, already turning to grab his jacket and make a run for the Labs.
"Is fine, Captain," Miller said. "She's upstairs in her lab." Relief flooded through David and then confusion seeped in.
"Why is she here?"
"Someone stole Iris' bag," Detective Johnson snorted. "Barri decided to play hero and got cracked in the face with said bag. Did I mention it had Iris' laptop in it?" David closed his eyes, feeling a headache forming quickly.
"So, the guy got away?"
"No, Thawne got him," Johnson answered, motioning with his head towards his newest Detective. The young man was sitting at his desk, processing a man probably younger than Barri. David felt his eye twitch when he realized this was probably the guy that smacked his daughter in the face with a laptop.
"Something at S.T.A.R. Labs just exploded!" Miller yelled and David's attention was snapped back to situation at hand. He felt a chill when something seemed to pass through the building and the lights flickered off.
"What the hell?" He murmured, looking out a window to see it looking like it was about to storm. Lightning flashed in the sky, followed closely by a large crash from upstairs that was echoed by thunder. Johnson chuckled lightly.
"There goes Barri being her clumsy self, huh? I'll go check on her real quick." The Detective jogged up the steps as David started sending people to S.T.A.R. Labs for a damage assessment.
"Captain, I just got a call from West. The Mardons were killed when the Accelerator blew, but Chyre was hit by a stray bullet. He's dead." God damnit, David thought. He'd have to call Rob and let him know they'd have to cancel dinner. There was going to be way too much on his plate tonight.
"Captain!" Johnson shouted from the second floor. David looked up to see the older man leaning against the banister, his phone to his ear, and a panicked look on his face. "It's Barri! I think she was struck by lightning!" David's breath caught in his throat and his chest clenched tightly. Barri?
David ran for the steps, taking two at a time to get to his daughter more quickly. He sprinted into the lab and his eyes widened at Barri's prone form stretched out on the shelves that she must have been thrown into. She looked so pale, the bruise already forming on her left check looking darker. He ran up to her, dropping to his knees next to her, reaching with shaking fingers to check Barri's pulse. Weak and thready.
Johnson hung up the phone after giving all the information to dispatch. "Two minutes out, Sir." David didn't respond to him, just stroked Barri's hair, willing her to wake up and sass at him.
What would David do without her?
"Can't read my, can't read my poker face…" Barri felt awareness creep into her slowly as Lady Gaga's song pierced the foggy veil.
"What are you doing?" A woman's voice asked, sounding close to Barri.
"She likes this song," another voice said, sounding defensive.
"How can you possibly know that?" The woman questioned, sounding skeptical.
"I checked her Facebook page."
The voices moved away, and she could hear the man singing in a low tone to himself. Wake up, Barri, she told herself. WAKE UP!
She sat up with a gasp and looked around, eyes wide. "Woah!" The man shouted, his hands flying up. He had shoulder length dark hair, dark eyes, and was tanned. He looked a bit shorter than Barri.
"You're okay," a voice to her left soothed in a stern voice. Barri looked over to see a pale woman with brown hair and matching eyes shinning a penlight in Barri's eyes. Barri flinched away, trying to move in the bed.
"What?" Barri panted, freaking out. The last thing she remembered was closing her skylight. "Where am I?"
"You're at S.T.A.R. Labs," the man said. "I'm Cisco Ramon, and this is Caitlin-" he paused. "Doctor Snow."
"Are you experiencing any dizziness?" Doctor Snow questioned shining another light in her eyes. Barri cringed and then swung her legs off the side the bed. Why was she wearing sweatpants?
"No," she finally answered. "Why am I here?" She stood up quickly, brushing off the pair of hands trying to force her to sit back down.
"You've been in a coma. You were struck by lightning ," Cisco told her. Barri's eyes were wild as she looked around, finally stopping at a screen with a camera facing her.
"Lightning gave me abs?" She was in a red sports bra and looked like she had a bit of curves now on top of the new abdomen definition on her stomach. Did she develop a bit of bigger chest, too? Nope, still practically flat.
"Your muscles should've atrophied, but instead they are in a constant state of cellular regeneration," Caitlin told her, prodding her arms and then stomach.
"Wait, coma? How long?" Barri asked, Cisco's earlier words finally catching up to her.
"Nine months, dude," Cisco told her, breaking the news. Nine months? Jesus Christ. Oh, God. Nine months.
"Where's-"
"Your dad was here yesterday. He hasn't stopped by yet today. Speaking of, your dad is the Police Captain? Were you able to get away with anything as a kid?" Barri chuckled slightly at Cisco before sobering quickly. She needed to leave.
"I have to get out of here," she rushed out, pulling electrodes off of her temples and chest.
"You shouldn't be going anywhere," Caitlin protested, as she and Cisco tried to get her to sit back down.
"Miss Allen," a voice sounded from the entryway. Barri turned to see Harrison Wells, founder of S.T.A.R. Labs sitting in a wheelchair.
"Singh," she corrected. "Its Singh."
"Miss Singh," Wells continued, pushing his black framed glasses a little farther up the bridge of his nose. "There are still many tests that we need to run to make sure you're healthy."
"I feel fine," Barri insisted, thanking Cisco quickly as he handed her a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt. She slipped it on, and then was handed her converse. She paused and looked at them. Shouldn't they have been fried when the lightning struck? She shook her head, slipping them on and moving towards the door.
"Miss Singh, you really should lay back down," Caitlin protested as she and Cisco moved to stand by Wells' chair.
"Seriously, I feel great," she said, moving out the door quickly. She popped her head back in and motioned to the sweatshirt. "Can I keep the sweatshirt?"
"Yeah, keep the sweatshirt," Wells sighed. As Barri ran down the hall, she heard Caitlin say, "really?"
Opening to the doors to precinct, Barri took a deep breath. Everything looked the same. Most of the same faces of people she remembered were at their desks. Phones were ringing, she could hear someone shouting from the holding cells. Her stomach clenched when she was reminded, yet again, that it had been nine months since she was last here.
Sneaking her way past the bullpen was too easy as she made her way to David's office. She glanced through the window to see him hunched over some paperwork, fully focused on what was in front of him. She opened the door a crack. "May I come in, Captain?" She questioned with a small smile. David's head shot up so quickly that Barri was worried the man was going to get whiplash.
"Barri?" He whispered. She fully stepped in, shutting the door softly behind her and let her smile widen.
"Hi, dad."
"Oh, baby," he cried, standing and circling his desk quickly to wrap her up in his arms. Her own arms circled his waist and leaned into his chest. Barri could feel David's shoulders shaking with silent sobs, making her own eyes tear up. They started falling when David pulled back and she saw that his eyes and cheeks were damp. "You're okay," he breathed, eyes flitting over her features. "When did you wake up? Should you even be walking? Why didn't I get a call?" Barri reached up to cover the hand on her cheek with her own.
"I'm okay," she assured.
"Do you want to go home? You should probably be resting. How are you even walking after just waking up?" David questioned lowly. Barri shrugged.
"I don't know, I feel fine." She pressed her hand to her abdomen with a grimace when her stomach growled loudly.
"Would you like to go grab some lunch first?" He asked with an amused eyebrow raise.
"Yes, please, food," Barri grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his office. David laughed slightly, grabbing his coat off of the coat rack in the corner of his office before they exited the room.
David's laugh garnered the attention of others in the bullpen, which was understandable. Barri's father was generally pretty serious and stoic at work. "Baby-face!" Miller yelled in excitement making her let out a small groan. Of course, that nickname was still sticking.
"Quite a nap you took there, baby-face. And you still look twelve," Johnson laughed as he passed them, clapping Barri on the shoulder with a heavy hand, eyes glowing with mirth and relief.
"Thanks," Barri drawled out flatly. Barri looked around, eyes scanning the room when she saw one of the beat cops accidentally elbow his coffee off of his desk. She reached forward and it was as if the world slowed down around her as she watched the mug fall and hit the carpet, shattering at a snail's pace. She took a step back and everything sped back up to normal speed.
Barri blinked in confusion and shook her head. What the hell was that? "Bare? You ready?" David asked, keeping an arm around her. She nodded.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Are you sure you're alright?" He stared at her, concerned. She nodded.
"I think I'm just getting a bit tired. I'm good."
Then, it happened again. She watched as a man was being processed and reached for one of the cop's guns. Everything slowed down around her again, and she suddenly found herself on the other side of the room, taking the gun out of the man's hands, and back in her original position all within a blink of an eye. The man stared hollering and thrashed in the cops hold. David stared for a moment, clearly wondering if there was anything he could do to help his cops, and then looked back down at Barri. She must have paled considerably at what had just happened because that concerned line between his eyebrows was back in full force.
"Baby? What happened? You aren't looking so good." Barri suddenly remembered Doctor Wells mentioning that they needed to do more tests to see if she was really okay. I think I need to go back, she thought.
"Dad, can we actually get a rain check on lunch? I think I'm just going to go back to my apartment and lay down. I will definitely be over for dinner tonight, though." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Do I still have an apartment?"
"Yes, Rob and I have been covering your rent while you were in the coma," David assured before pulling her back in his arms. Over his shoulder she saw some of the new faces of cops and detectives that never met her gawking at the sight of their normally straight-faced, hard ass of a Captain hugging some girl they'd never seen before. "Go get some rest, Bare. I'll call Rob and tell him the good news, so you don't give him a heart attack tonight like you did me." Barri rolled her green eyes with a smile.
"I'll see you tonight, dad. I love you."
"I love you, too, baby-girl."
Barri made her way out of the precinct and out to the back alley. She looked down at her hand and saw it was vibrating. "What?" She gasped, took a step, and she suddenly crashed into the alley wall twenty feet away from where she was just standing.
How could she move so fast? She tried again, this time crashing into the back of a police cruiser, shattering the glass. She dusted herself off and and took off in a run and she tripped into the back of a truck. Pushing some stuff off of her, she grinned up at the top of the truck. "Cool."
About an hour later, Barri is changing into a tight red outfit that cut off at the shoulders and went to her mid-thigh. "How does it fit?"
"It's a little snug," she answered honestly, walking out the trailer uncomfortably.
"Good news is you'll be moving so fast, no one will be able to see your outfit," Cisco supplied helpfully. She shot him an uneasy smile and walked on to the tarmac at an unused portion of Ferris Air.
"What do you need me to do?" She questioned.
"Run as fast as you can," Wells supplied. "We need to test your speed." Barri nodded, and Cisco messed with the helmet on her head for a few moments before letting her get situated in a running position. She took a couple of deep breaths , waiting for her mark. Wells fired off a shot into the air, and she took off, turning into a blur with yellow lightning trailing behind her.
The world flashed by her and Barri had never felt so alive. She saw the yellow lightning around her, and her mind took her back to that night when she eleven, watching her mother surrounded by yellow and red lightning before Barri was sped away.
A man in yellow with red eyes staring at her.
"Barri, run!"
She came back to herself with an unpleasant bump and couldn't stop herself from careening into a few water barrels, making them explode with the impact.
Footsteps were running towards her quickly, and Barri scrambled to lift herself up on to her elbow, cradling her deformed right arm to her chest. She panted with pain as Caitlin reached for her.
Three hours later, Barri was sitting on a table with Caitlin walking towards her with a tablet in her hands. "You had a distal radial fracture," Caitlin explained.
"Had?" Barri frowned. Caitlin showed her the tablet screen. "This was your arm three hours ago," she started, showing Barri an x-ray of her clearly broken arm. Caitlin swiped to another one. "This is your arm ten minutes ago. Completely healed."
"For real?" Barri glanced down at her now healed arm in amazement. "How?"
"Your cells are healing at a hyper-accelerated rate. A bone that should takes weeks to heal, healed in three hours. It's amazing."
They talked for a few minutes until Barri looked at the time. David had gotten off work ten minutes ago. "I have to go; I'm having dinner with my dad and his boyfriend." She slid off the table and grabbed her things.
"We still need to run more tests," Caitlin protested.
"I'll come back tomorrow, alright? I just got out of a nine-month coma. I need to spend some time with my family." Barri's tone left no room for arguments. She started walking out of the room, calling out behind her, "I'll see you later!" Tapping into her speed, Barri found herself in front of David's house in a matter of minutes. She straightened out her clothes and re-did her ponytail, so her hair didn't look so wind-blown. When Barri reached the front door, she took a deep breath and slid her key into the lock and pushed the door open softly. She could hear David's deep voice coming from the kitchen, Rob's much softer one following shortly after. She took off her jacket, lying it on the back of the couch, and made her way into the kitchen.
She watched David and Rob maneuver around each other in a familiar way that made Barri's heart ache. She had missed so much of this because of the coma. Rob noticed her first and almost dropped the skillet of eggs he was making. "Breakfast for dinner?" She questioned with a grin as she leaned against the door frame.
"Your favorite," he choked out, placing the skillet on the stove to rush over and hug her tightly. She wrapped her arms around her dad's boyfriend, hugging him back just as tightly. When he let her go, David swooped in to wrap an arm around her and lead her to the dinning room table where they had set up some plates and drinks.
"Why don't you have a seat, sweetheart. We'll bring the food out." Barri nodded, taking up a spot near the far corner of the room; her normal spot.
A couple minutes later, dinner was served and the three were eating. Barri didn't realize how hungry she was until that moment and she started to shovel food in her mouth. "Bare, honey, slow down. You don't want to make yourself sick," Rob suggested, reaching out to push a lock of hair out of Barri's face. She swallowed with a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, didn't realize how hungry I was until I started eating," she explained with a shrug.
"There's plenty more food, Baby," David said, and Barri noticed the concerned eyebrow line was back in full force when he looked at her.
"Dad, I'm fine. I promise," Barri tried to soothe. She glanced at Rob and noticed that he had almost the same concerned face. "Guys, I'm good. I swear." She's pretty sure they didn't believe her, but they did stop giving her looks as they finished up their meals.
"Want some desert?" Rob offered, and Barri nodded, watching him walk into the kitchen. Her gaze snapped to David as she felt fingers brush her left cheek softly, and she saw him looking at her with a soft look in his dark eyes.
"Do you want to stay in your old room tonight, Bare? Take it easy for a couple days?" Barri was about to decline; she wanted to learn more about this speed she acquired from the explosion. Something in his eyes, though, made her pause and think about what he had to have gone through while she was in the coma. The constant fear of her dying. He wanted her close for a while, if only to truly convince himself that she was really okay.
"Yeah, that sounds nice, dad."
The next day, Barri was out the door as soon as both David and Rob had left for work. She stopped by Jitters first to grab a coffee and say hi to Iris when she saw her kissing Detective Thawne. Barri stopped, startled. The last time she saw the two of them in the same room together, Iris seemed to almost despise the blond man. When they broke apart, Iris glanced in Barri's direction and saw her. Barri raised a questioning eyebrow, and Iris bit her lip before muttering something to Eddie and made her way over. "Can we talk about this later when I get off of work? And please don't tell my dad! Or your dad, because he will definitely tell mine."
"Yeah, we can talk later, and don't worry. Your secret is safe with me," Barri promised.
"Thank you, Barri," Iris breathed before smoothing out her apron. "Okay, I have to get back to work. See you later at around five-ish?" Barri nodded, and with her coffee forgotten she decided to head to back home. She had promised Rob she wouldn't do much today and overexert herself.
She sped her way through the streets, stopping at Big Belly Burger to get some food and plopped herself down on David and Rob's couch all within a few minutes. Barri was really liking this new development.
She turned on the TV, deciding to use the few hours of down time she had before meeting Iris to catch up on shows she's missed.
Barri was halfway through the fourth episode of the first season of iGame of Thrones/i when she got a text message from Iris saying she got off work early. Barri texted back saying that she would meet her at Jitters in a few minutes and turned off the TV, throwing her stuff away.
She ran to Jitters, trying to stop near the alley, but crashed into the alley wall instead. "So graceful, Barri," she chided herself quietly, pushing off from the wall and rubbing her now sore right arm. She was probably going to bruise.
She jogged out of the alley and saw Iris already waiting outside of Jitters with two coffees and a pastry bag. Barri crossed the street, making her way towards her friend. "How was work?" She questioned as Iris brought her into a hug.
"It was work," Iris sighed before smiling and handing Barri one of the coffees and the bag. "Cinnamon vanilla latte, extra foam and two shots of espresso. One large chocolate chip muffin." Barri peaked into the bag and shot Iris a thankful look.
"You are a Goddess among men."
"Obviously," Iris scoffed before linking arms with Barri and they started walking down the street.
"So, you and Detective Thawne?" The brunette prompted, taking a sip of her drink.
"Once he became my Dad's partner after Chyre died, we spent more time together and just clicked, you know?" Of course, Barri knew and understood.
" So, Joe doesn't know yet?" Iris shook her head with a sigh.
"No, not yet. We'll have to tell him soon, I know." Barri had stopped paying attention by that point, head turned behind them when she heard sirens. A car skidded around a corner, heading in their direction, with three cop cars behind it. They sped past them, Barri grabbing Iris' arm and pulled her towards the grass where they'd be safer. The car stopped, and Barri was surprised to see Clyde Mardon step out.
She took a step towards him, green eyes wide, when he lifted his hands, palms up, and the area started fogging up quickly. "What the Hell?" Iris cried, looking around. Barri's eyes never left Mardon. Wasn't he dead? He backed up into the fog, disappearing from view. "Iris?!" Barri's attention left the quickly dissipating fog and turned around to see Joe running towards them after exiting one of the cop cars.
"Dad?" Iris cried, hugging her father as he reached them.
"What the Hell are you doing? Why are you both out here?" He questioned angrily, pulling back from the hug.
"Dad, calm down-"
"Clyde Mardon is alive?" Barri interjected, cutting off Iris' placates.
"What? No! The Mardon's died the same night as the Particle Accelerator blew."
"Why did I just see him get out of that car, then?"
"Allen, I think you're seeing things," Joe said slowly, wrapping an arm around his daughter's shoulders. He didn't believe her. No one ever believed her.
"I'm telling you, that was Clyde Mardon," Barri pressed, voice rising with her temper. Joe waved his hand dismissively, pulling Iris towards his cruiser, clearly done with the conversation.
Barri's jaw clenched, and she let out a deep breath. "Are you sure, Baby-Face?" She looked behind her to see Miller and Johnson standing there, Miller having just exited a crashed cruiser. "You really think it was Mardon?" She nodded.
"I'm not seeing things, Mason," she said, her voice pleading for them to believe her. They exchanged looks and Johnson sighed.
"We'll know soon. Sketch artist is with witnesses that saw the bank robbery." His dark eyes cut to Barri again. "Go home, Kid. The Captain is going to be pissed if you get involved in this after just waking up from a coma." That was true.
"Keep me updated?" She directed this towards Miller. Johnson would just give her that look that he'd been giving her since she was twelve and tried to sneak peaks at David's files.
"Absolutely not," Miller answered and when Johnson turned to walk back towards his, thankfully, unmarred cruiser, he shot her a wink making Barri grin. She could always count on that man.
Barri walked down the road and as soon as she was out of the cops' views, she sped off towards the labs. She had questions that only they could answer.
"I wasn't the only one effected, was I?" Barri asked, bursting through the doors to the cortex. Caitlin and Cisco both jumped, Cisco turning wide brown eyes towards her.
"What?" He asked as Wells rolled next to him.
"The Particle Accelerator explosion; I wasn't the only one effected. The only one given powers?" The three exchanged looks.
"No, we don't think so," Caitlin answered slowly.
"Are you doing anything about this? I just ran into a man who robs banks, a bad guy, who can control the weather!" She paused, determination settling over her features. "I can stop them."
"You are not risking yourself to fight off metahumans," Wells protested, wheeling closer to her.
"Why not? Metahumans?" She directed the second question to Caitlin.
"It's what we're calling those effected by the Particle Accelerator," she explained. "And do you realize how valuable your cells are? With your healing, we can figure out ways to cure cancer!"
"We can not let you put yourself at risk," Wells finished. Barri felt a bit like a child getting scolded and sent to her room. She needed to get out of there.
She ran out of the labs and far away from Central. She needed to talk to someone that understood.
"-And then I ran here; I just had to get out of there," Barri finished as she explained what happened on a rooftop in the newly dubbed Star City. Oliver, in full Arrow gear sans the mask and hood, stood across from her.
"What made you decide to come to me?" Oliver questioned.
"If anyone could understand the desire to help someone when you're given the chance and the means to do it, it's you," Barri explained softly and then sighed, running her hand through her wind-swept hair. "I don't even know what I was thinking. It's not like I can do anything."
"Barri, I think that lightning chose you," Oliver explained, taking a couple of steps towards her. A small smile quirked Barri's lips upwards.
"Do you think I should become a vigilante? Become Central City's Arrow?"
"No, not a vigilante. Better. A hero. One who can save the day in a flash."
"I'm not like you, Oliver. I'm not sure I can do this."
"Don't be like me; be you." Barri blinked, surprised.
"You know, you're surprisingly good at pep- talks," she joked lightly.
"Please tell Diggle that. He seems to think he's the master at pep-talks," he returned easily, putting his mask on in a smooth motion. "Did I ever thank you for this, by the way?" He questioned, motioning to the mask. Barri smiled.
"No, and you are very welcome." She paused a moment. "You did promise dinner, though. Soon?" She questioned, hesitation in her voice. Was she reading the signs wrong? A small smile lit up Oliver's features.
"I'll let you know when I have a free night. You can run on over."
"It's a date!" She chirped happily.
"It's a date," he echoed with a small grin, before shooting an arrow at a building across from them with a rope attached. He slid across and Barri watched him go.
"Cool," she breathed with a grin, disappearing in a swirl of yellow lightening, a trail in her wake.
"Cool," Oliver agreed, watching the cute brunette run back to Central. He needed to start planning a date.
Barri appeared in the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs with a trail of lightening after her. "I'm going to stop Clyde Mardon," she decided firmly. "I'd like your help figuring out what it is I can do with these powers and hunt down other-" she trailed off, not remembering the name for what they, she, was.
"Metahumans," Cisco supplied.
"Yes, thank you, hunt down other metahumans using their powers to rob and hurt and kill people," she finished. Caitlin and Cisco shared a look, clearly discussing the offer silently between each other, but Wells was shaking his head.
"No, you are much too valuable to risk going after bad guys," he answered resolutely. "Your cells could lead to medical breakthroughs, but only if you stay alive," he stressed. Caitlin looked like she was starting to agree with him, the doctor side of her weighing in against her desire to help a superhero get her bearings.
"Look, I'm going to do this with or without your help., but I'd really like it if it was with your help," she added.
"This is mostly our fault," Cisco piped in, sounding sad as he remembered all the damage the particle accelerator did as it exploded. All the lives lost, and all the lives changed. One of them standing right in front of him, wanting to make a difference. "The least we should do is help." Caitlin let out a sigh and her big, brown eyes gazed at Wells.
"He's right, Doctor Wells. We're at fault, here. We need to do something." The man in the wheelchair let out a big sigh.
"Alright, fine," he grumbled and then peered up at Barri from behind his glasses. "What can we do to help?" Barri grinned and glanced down at her burnt shoes.
"For starters, maybe an outfit that doesn't catch on fire when I run?"
Cisco grinned. "Already way ahead of you, girl. Follow me." He led her deeper into the cortex and in front of them was a red, skintight outfit, with yellow accents. Her identify would be protected by an over-the-head cowl., and it looked like the torso of the suit was designed to give her a more masculine figure, hiding her curves and breasts. "Ta-da!" He yelled, throwing his hands out towards the display.
Barri grabbed an elastic hairband from around her wrist and put her long hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck and then speed-changed into the outfit. She went to normal speed as she slipped on the right boot and smiled over at Cisco. "How do I look?" She questioned, pulling the cowl up.
"Like a hero."
After a long battle, Barri was victorious, but at great cost. Clyde Mardon was dead. She had almost lost when Mardon created a vortex, but Cisco had the brilliant idea of running around the tornado in the opposite direction and unravelling it,
The idea worked, but Barri was left exhausted and collapsed on the side of the street. Mardon got a second wind and was stalking towards her prone figure menacingly. A shot rang out and then another and he twitched before falling to the ground. Barri whipped around, seeing Joe West standing there with his gun drawn and still aimed at where Mardon was just standing. "No," she shouted and quickly made her way over to where the man was bleeding out on the street. She placed her gloved hands over the wound on his torso, noticing that was the fatal one out of the two gunshot wounds, and put pressure on it.
Mardon groaned, met her eyes with his hazy blue ones, took a shuddering breath and stilled. Barri let out the air she didn't realize she was holding and stared down at him for a moment. She heard West approaching her, and started vibrating to mask her face and voice, well aware that he would know it was her in a heartbeat. "Is he dead?" He questioned, still keeping his firearm trained on Mardon.
"Yes," Barri answered in a clipped tone. Joe didn't have to go for the kill shot. He could have incapacitated him by doing something, anything, other than killing him. What kind of hero was she if she couldn't even save Mardon from a bullet or two?
She stood up as more cop cars started pulling up and Joe filled them all in as Barri took off towards S.T.A.R. Labs. "That was amazing!" Cisco cried in delight as soon as Barri had changed back into the outfit she had been wearing throughout the day, bruises and cuts she had accumulated during the fight already in the final stages of healing. Wells wheeled himself next to Cisco and Caitlin, who was double checking Barri's wounds to make sure they healed correctly.
"Yes, miss Singh, that was spectacular," he praised lightly.
"Thanks, but I could've saved him," she replied, sounding defeated.
"You can't save everyone, Barri," Wells stated. "None of us can."
"I'll just have to try harder next time."
Wells wheeled himself down a long stretch of hallway, leaving behind the sounds of laughter and celebration on Barri's win against Mardon. He came to a stop in front of a hidden door and wheeled through. As the door shut behind him, he stood from chair and removed his glasses, a podium appearing before him.
"Show me the future," he ordered out load and a hologram appeared above the podium. The hologram was over a news article, dated twenty twenty-four reading Flash Vanishes in Crisis and Wells grinned. Good.
The future was still intact.