Disclaimer: All characters are from the cw show 'the flash'. This post is meant for entertainment uses only and isn't for monetary purposes. Copying/reposting without the author's permission will be seen as intellectual property theft and will justify legal action against the offender. All rights reserved.
Whew! Just mapped out all of the different character arcs for this series! No worries though- Westallen and Snowstorm are safely out of bounds for this fanfic. Updates will come sporadically, but you can PM me for a sneak peek at my stories!
Act 2
Joe and Chyre made their way into the farm, when suddenly a loud BANG! caught them off guard. As they dove for cover they could hear the sound of an engine coming to life, and when Joe whipped around from cover to shoot at the criminal, he saw a blonde man with sharp, angular features that were contorted into a sneer. "I've got a plane to catch." He spat as he ran away.
Just then, Chyre ran out from cover, raising his gun and firing at the fleeing criminal. However, one of Clyde Mardon's shots found their mark. As Chyre fell to the ground, Joe run up to him after missing his shots on the plane. He looked at him with concern and began applying pressure to the wound. "Stay with me Chyre." He prompted the injured cop but Chyre's pulse slowed until it stopped entirely. As he stood defeatedly, a glowing band of light appeared, rippling through the air in pulses. Joe stared in a mixture of awe and terror as the pulsating wave of energy hit the plane, cleaving it in half and taking the Mardon brothers with it.
Barry looked up at his lab's sunroof worriedly as the rain steadily worsened until the lab floor was drenched. When he looked out the window, a blinding band of light rippled throughout the rainy sky, blacking out the lights of the city. As he pulled on the chains for the sunroof cover, the fingerprint test mixture suddenly rose up, suspended in the air. Just like the water in his fish tank the day his mother was murdered by a yellow blur. His eyes widened at the sight of a blinding light, shattering the sunroof entirely. He felt his body light up as thousands of volts worth of electricity hit him. Then everything faded and the last thing that crossed his mind was a feeling- the crackling power of lightning in his bloodstream.
-What the hell happened to him?
- He was hit by lightning.
- How is he still alive?
- Go.
- No heartbeat. Cbc, chem 24, type and cross four.
-Bag him. He's coding.
-You can't be in here.
- I'm family.
- Charge the paddles to 200.
- Barry!
- Clear.
"What are you doing?"
Dr. Caitlin Snow, a biochemist with two PhDs and a doctorate, asked her coworker, annoyed at the song that was now playing in the lab's speakers. Cisco Ramon, the prodigy engineer personally hired by Harrison Wells, now grinned as Poker face played loudly in the cortex.
"He likes this song."
Caitlin frowned, a familiar expression for Cisco.
"How could you possibly know that?"
Cisco took a bite out of his twizzler, as he and Caitlin leaned towards their patient, who seemed blissfully unaware of his surroundings.
"I checked his facebook page. I mean, he can still hear everything, right?"
Caitlin pursed her lips as she adjusted the drip speed on her comatose patient's drip bag.
"Auditory functions are the last sensory functions to deteriorate."
Cisco walked away from the hospital bed, which was placed in the middle of the cortex so that Caitlin could keep monitoring the patient's vitals. Though Cisco doubted that they needed to check on him so often- he had stayed pretty much the same for the last 9 months, so why would that change now?
"Can't read myy- Can't read myah~ Poker faaacee…" Cisco sang under his breath.
Suddenly, the patient jumped to life, taking a huge shuddering breath.
Cisco's eyes widened.
"Ohh myy god."
The patient looked around, looking very disoriented and panicked.
"Where am I?"
Barry could hear something. He wanted to ignore the sound, to keep sleeping, but it continued.
Can't read my, can't read my… Poker face, ooohh
As Barry senses returned, he could hear two voices: one soft and high- definitely feminine, and the other low and humorous- probably a guy in his twenties.
He woke up- violently at that. Heaving in a huge breath, he sat up quickly in the hospital bed. His surroundings were anything but familiar- low roof, four huge high tech monitors, an assortment of cutting edge medical equipment- all hooked up to him.
"Where am I?"
He hyperventilated, a strange feeling tingling, electrifying his senses.
A dude with long, black hair and a Halo t-shirt started when he saw him.
"Woah, he's up."
Barry's eyes darted around the room- he had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was looking up at the sunroof of his lab and the sound of shattering glass. And the feeling of being electrocuted.
The hispanic guy- who did indeed look like he was in his 20s, spoke into the intercoms.
"Professor Wells, get down to the cortex, like, right now."
A woman dressed in a lab coat and a simple black sweatshirt with a formal pencil skirt stepped forward.
"Pulse 120, pupils equally reactive to light. Look at me, look at me."
She shined a light in his eyes, further disorienting him. Barry blinked rapidly, ripping off the wires connected to him and attempted to stand up.
The dude with the Halo t-shirt stopped him.
"Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, relax. Everything's okay, man. You're at STAR Labs."
Barry squinted.
"STAR Labs? Who are you?"
"I'm Cisco Ramon. She's Caitlin-Dr. Snow."
As Barry continued to try and walk away from them, the woman whose name was Caitlin held up a specimen bottle.
"I need you to urinate in this."
Cisco glared at her and pushed the bottle away.
"Not this second."
Barry finally managed to gain some semblance of personal space, turning to face the two.
"What is-what is happening? What is going on?"
Cisco looked at him with what seemed like geeky excitement.
"You were struck by lightning, dude."
"What?"
Barry looked at his body, trying to gauge the level of damage done to him- at least he wasn't missing any limbs. Suddenly, when his gaze shifted towards his abdomen, his jaw dropped.
"Lightning… gave me abs?"
Caitlin stepped forward, poking and prodding at his body, which had somehow gained bulk while he had been unconscious.
"Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration." She said, speaking in a very matter-of-fact tone.
Cisco rolled his eyes at her and turned his attention back to Barry, pulling him towards a chair.
"Come here- have a seat. You were in a coma."
Barry looked up at him, a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"For how long?"
"Nine months."
A new voice, loud and clear, rang out from the hallway.
There was a man in a wheelchair with narrow, intelligent eyes in the hallway leading to the cortex.
"Welcome back, Mr. Allen. We have a lot to discuss."
Harrison Wells smiled.
Cisco and Caitlin exchanged looks and headed to the med bay, probably to give Barry and the professor some privacy.
Harrison Wells gestured towards the hallway, and he and Barry started heading to an unknown destination.
Barry's heart was racing, exhilarated by the chance to meet his personal idol.
"It's hard to believe I'm here." He blurted.
Harrison Wells turned to look at him, an inquiring look on his neutral face.
"I mean, I have always wanted to meet you, face to face."
Wells gave him a glance, leading him through a maze of hallways and labs.
"Yeah? Well, you certainly went to great lengths to do it."
Wells shook his head slightly, as if to shoo away painful memories. He gestured towards an broken cage with the name 'Grodd' inscribed on it.
"STAR Labs has not been operational since F.E.M.A categorized us as a class four hazardous location."
Wells pressed his hand against the wall, opening up a door that Barry didn't even notice was there. What lay in front of him felt like a punch to his gut.
Wells gazed at the charred ruins of a gigantic tube, with pieces of insulation and concrete piled up around it.
"17 people died that night. Many more were injured."
He paused and glanced at his legs, now stuck in his wheelchair.
"Myself amongst them."
Barry peered over the railing.
"Jeez… What happened?"
Wells's eyes clouded, remembering that fateful night.
"Nine months ago, the particle accelerator went online, just as planned."
A woeful smile ghosted his lips.
"For 45 minutes, I had achieved my life's dream."
Barry stared at the ruins of the particle accelerator. His life's work, charred and in pieces. He felt sorry for the man. Not as an idol, or as a scientist, but as a fellow human being. He understood what loss felt like.
"And then- then there was an anomaly. The electron volts became unmeasurable. The ring under us popped. Energy from that detonation was thrown into the sky. And that, in turn, seeded a storm cloud-"
Barry looked at him, struck by realization.
"That created a lightning bolt that struck me."
Wells nodded, a hint of an apology and regret in his voice.
"That's right. I was recovering myself… when I heard about you."
Barry turned, an unspoken question in the air.
"The hospital was undergoing unexplainable power outages every time you were going into cardiac arrest. Which was actually a misdiagnosis, because you see, you weren't flatlining, Barry.
Your heartbeat was moving too fast for the ekg to register it."
Barry's eyes widened.
As they made their way towards the cortex, Wells continued.
"Now, I'm not the most popular... person in town these days. But detective West and his daughter gave me permission to bring you here- where we were able to stabilize you."
Barry's face lit up- he wanted to see her again- though it hadn't been long for him, he couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for her.
"Iris?"
Wells nodded.
"Iris- yes. She came to see you… quite often."
As Barry grinned and nodded, he could sense the tiniest sense of longing in Wells's voice.
Caitlin walked towards them, holding a tablet. "She talks a lot."
Cisco, too, jumped into the conversation.
"Also, she's hot."
Barry grinned at his goofy expression. He decided that he liked them- they had saved his life, after all- even cared for him when help was unavailable.
Barry scratched his neck awkwardly.
"I need to go."
"No, you can't."
Caitlin frowned and looked at Cisco for support, who just shrugged.
"No, no. No, Caitlin's right. Now that you're awake, we need to do more tests."
Harrison Wells told Barry, his calm, collected demeanor broken by a slight look of disappointment.
"You're still going through changes. There's so much that we don't know."
Caitlin glanced at him and nodded earnestly.
Barry appreciated their concern, but right now all he wanted to do was catch up on his friends and family.
"I'm fine. Really, I feel normal."
He said enthusiastically while starting to walk backwards towards the hallway, but Caitlin and Professor Wells seemed unconvinced.
"Thank you for saving my life."
Barry walked out the hallway.
Caitlin raised an eyebrow at Professor Wells. She couldn't believe they were letting him go this easily, since he had just woken up from a 9 month long coma.
"Really?"
Just then, Barry dashed back into the cortex.
"Can I keep the sweatshirt?"
Barry looked like a kid that was about to ask his parents for a Christmas gift.
Wells sighed.
"Yeah. You can keep the sweatshirt."
Barry's face lit up.
"Okay."
