Barry raced into the alley behind the CCPD and jolted to a halt, taking a few deep, steadying breaths in an attempt to slow his racing heartbeat. Something very strange had just happened in there, before Kara had showed up to scold him, and he needed to figure out what. He wasn't sure what prompted him to do it, but he lifted his arm up to his eye level and watched as it suddenly began to vibrate at incredible speed, far too fast for his eyes to follow.
"What's happening to me?" he muttered to himself. The next thing he knew, he was racing down the alleyway, the world around him turning into a blur, just barely managing to stop himself before he ran into a wall. No sooner had he done so than he was off again, this time slamming at full speed into a car that was parked in the alley. Its windshield buckled beneath him from the force of the impact, and he groaned in pain as he slowly pushed himself upright. Then, after double checking to make sure he was alone and there was no one around to see, Barry ran straight down the alley, on purpose, trying to see if maybe he could manage to control this strange new ability this time around. However, as unused to it as he still was, he ended up shooting down the alley like an unguided missile, straight into the open back of a van parked outside a building some distance away from its opening. Luckily, the van was one that belonged to a cleaning service, and there were plenty of clothes needing laundering piled inside to lessen the force of his impact. That force was still great enough to send several articles of clothing flying out of the back of the van when Barry landed in it, and its driver peered inside with a confused, scared expression, startled by his sudden appearance.
"Awesome," Barry said to himself, pleased that he'd at least somewhat managed to direct himself this time, and then he was off like a shot once again, heading for STAR Labs and the only people who would be able to provide him with answers about what was happening to him and, more importantly, why it was happening.
Because he was still only just beginning to figure out the ins and outs of his new powers, Barry ended up overshooting STAR Labs by at least two blocks, and it was at least five minutes before he even realized that he'd done so. Shaking his head, he backtracked, moving a little more slowly this time so he wouldn't miss it again.
"What's happening to me?" he demanded, repeating the question he'd asked himself outside of the CCPD, when he walked into the Cortex, his sudden appearance startling everyone present. He'd expected to encounter some sort of resistance on his way into the building, but as it turned out, STAR Labs had absolutely no security measures in place, probably as a result of the accelerator explosion. "What did that lightning bolt do?" Doctor Wells was the first to speak.
"What do you mean?" he asked. In answer, Barry held up his hand and watched shocked expressions cross the faces of everyone in the room as it once again vibrated at incredible speed, becoming nothing more than a blur attached to the end of his arm.
"I told you we needed to run more tests," Caitlin muttered.
"You both did," Barry said contritely, referring to her and Doctor Wells. "And I should have listened. I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Wells said dismissively, waving off both Barry's apology and Caitiln's protest in response to his dismissal of it. "You're here now, so we can run them. Although, truth be told, most of them were intended to determine exactly what the lighting bolt did to you, which, clearly, we know now."
"Not all of it," Barry pointed out.
"Exactly," Wells agreed. "Which means we need to run tests to determine the precise extent of your powers. Unfortunately"- He glanced around the room as if taking mental stock of the facilities currently available to them- "we don't have anywhere we can do that here."
"What would we need to do that?" Barry asked.
"Well, ideally, some sort of wide, flat open space," Wells replied. "Like an airport runway, for example."
"Well, I can't see the airport officials agreeing to let us shut down one of their runways so we can test out my powers," Barry muttered wryly. "They'd never believe us about their existence in the first place."
"What about the Ferris Air testing facility?" Cisco piped up. "I mean, they're not using it. They've been shuttered ever since one of their test pilots went missing."
"That will suit our purposes perfectly," Wells replied. "Excellent work, Cisco."
"All I did was make a suggestion," Cisco said, but it was clear that he was pleased by the praise.
"But it was an excellent suggestion," Wells said, countering Cisco's modesty. "And, as such, worthy of praise." A pause, then he said, "Alright then, let's get going. There's no reason to waste time." Barry watched as he and the others filed out of the room, off to make the necessary preparations before their departure. But something made him hesitate before following after them, and he hung back, remaining in the Cortex. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment, remembering how upset- and rightly so, he knew- Kara had been about having to find out about his recovery secondhand. His mind made up, he sent Kara a text that read, Meet me at the Ferris Air testing facility. There's something you need to see. Then he shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran off to catch up with the others, eager to find out just how great the extent of his powers was and what the limits or lack thereof might be on what he could do with them.