Struck By Lightning
I don't own The Flash!
Hazel Allen woke up with a start, feeling like she was falling after a nightmare. The nightmare was one she's had before, about the night of her mother's death. With a sigh, she looked at her alarm clock and got out of bed to get ready for work. She had a job as a CSI at CCPD with her older brother, Barry.
Hazel pulled on a black pencil skirt and white blouse, brushed her mid-length blonde hair, grabbed her keys, and left her apartment, locking the door behind her. She made her way down the street to Jitters coffee shop where she picked up three lattes, one for her, one for Barry, and one for her foster father, Joe West. Then, getting an alert on her phone, hurried to the first crime scene of the day.
Arriving before Barry, per usual, Hazel passed Joe a coffee with a smile "Barry is late again, isn't he?"
"Isn't he always?" Joe muttered.
"Second robbery this week." Detective Chyre commented.
"The teller I.D.'d Clyde Mardon as the shooter." Joe told his partner.
"What?" Hazel asked "The Mardon's are back?"
Captain Singh walked up to the trio "What do we got?"
"Perps took the bank, shot out the cameras, and as a chaser, killed the security guard over there." Joe reported "I've got Unis kicking in doors of known Mardon brothers associates."
"CSI been over it?" The captain asked.
"Can't yet, sir." Hazel frowned "Barry's bringing the supplies and he's a little late."
"You can't keep covering for him, Joe, Hazel."
"CSI! CSI coming through!" Barry's voice floated over to the group.
"If he's not here now, I'm gonna have to carry on this investigation without him." Captain Singh threatened.
"Sorry I'm late, Captain Singh." Barry finally reached the group, avoiding Hazel's frustrated look.
"What was it this time, Mr. Allen?" the captain raised his eyebrows "Did you forget to set your alarm clock? Before you answer, I should remind you the excuse you gave last time was car trouble. Want to know why that one was particularly memorable?"
"I do not own a car." Barry nodded, embarrassed.
"He was running an errand for me." Joe jumped in "Barry, did you get me what I asked for?"
It took Barry a moment to catch on "Yeah, yeah, I did." He started searching his pockets "I have it right..." He pulled out a half eaten chocolate bar "Here."
Joe and Hazel stared at him incredulously.
"I had a few bites of it." Barry muttered.
Joe nodded his head towards the crime scene and Hazel grabbed Barry's arm and pulled him towards it. The siblings put on their gloves and Barry laid down on the pavement while Hazel knelt down next to him.
Barry stared at the tire tracks in front of them for a moment before propping himself up on his elbows "Getaway car's a Mustang Shelby GT500."
"Shelby's have a rear super-wide tire specific to that model." Hazel joined in "12 inches with an asymmetrical tread."
"And there's something else." Barry got up, grabbed a pen from Chyre, and stuck it in the brown mush left behind on the tracks then sniffed it "Fecal excrement. Animal, I'd guess."
"My dad gave me that pen." Chyre said loudly "Before he died."
"Sorry." Barry muttered.
Hazel sighed softly, her brother was such a dork.
Barry and Hazel were in their lab running tests. Hazel pulled up information on the Mardon brothers from the criminal database while Barry ran a test on the fecal excrement they'd found at the crime scene.
"Okay, I am ready to see this atom smasher smashing." The Allen's adopted sister, Iris West, walked into the lab.
"There was a shooting today." Barry told her "Your Dad needs me to process some evidence, which means I don't know if we're going to be able to make it to STAR Labs."
"But seeing this thing turn on is like your dream." Iris insisted "Your sad, little nerdy dream." She stole some of Barry's Big Belly Burger fries "Besides, I cancelled a date for this."
"Hands off my fries." Barry took the food away from his sister/love-interest "Unbelievable."
"Hazel will share with me, won't you?"
"I got extras for you, don't worry." Hazel reached into the bag and pulled out a container of delicious, fatty french fries.
"Thanks, but I'm stress eating over my dissertation." Iris pouted, popping more fries into her mouth "We started selling cronuts at Jitters, I ate two today. If I don't graduate soon, I'm gonna be more muffin top than woman."
Barry looked her up and down "You look amazing." He reassured her.
Iris scoffed "What is so important about this particle accelerator anyway?"
Hazel gasped dramatically and mimicked her brother "What's so important? It's only the key to the future of all technology!"
Barry ignored his sister's teasing "Harrison Wells' work in Quantum Theory is light years ahead of anything they're doing at CERN."
"You're doing that thing again where you're not speaking English."
Barry rolled his eyes "Okay." He pulled out the clear dry-erase board they had in the lab "Just imagine that that dot," He drew a dot "Is everything the human race has ever learned until this moment."
"Does that include twerking?" Iris asked, sounding completely serious.
"Yes, Iris." Hazel giggled
Barry ignored the girls and drew a large circle around the dot "That is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator. It's a whole new way of looking at physics. It will literally change the way that we think about everything."
Iris put her hands on Barry's shoulders, looked deep into his eyes, and said "You gotta get yourself a girlfriend."
"Hey, leave them alone. They're working." Joe walked in.
"Hi, Dad." Iris greeted.
The test Barry had been running beeped, signaling that it was done.
"You're test thingy is done." Iris told the siblings.
"Yeah." Barry hurried over to look at the results "We think the Mardon brothers are hiding on a farm. The fecal matter we found in the street, it was cow manure. Which contained traces of Oxytetracycline."
"It's an antibiotic." Hazel clarified "There are only four farms in the area that still use it in their feed."
Barry passed Joe the addresses "Bet you'll find a really sweet Shelby parked at one of them."
Dad," Iris put her arm around her father's shoulders "Seeing as Barry and Hazel solved your poop problem, how about letting them go to STAR Labs?"
Joe smiled "Fine, go."
"Yes!" Iris cheered and kissed her father on the cheek.
"Thank you, Joe." Barry grabbed his coat and dashed out the door with Iris following close behind.
"You going with them?" Joe asked Hazel.
"And third wheel the whole night? No thanks." Hazel tucked a lock of hair behind her ear "I think I'll stay here and get some more work done."
"You should get out, hon." Joe tried "I know you love your job but it's not healthy to spend so much time here."
"Joe, I'm fine. Seriously, don't worry about me."
"Why don't you take a little time off and go visit your Dad? I know he'd like to see you." Joe wheedled.
"Visiting hours are over for the day. But I've got some time tomorrow, I'll go see him then." Hazel assured her foster father.
"Alright." Joe gave up "But take a break every now and then, okay, kiddo?"
"You got it, Joe. Now go, you and Chyre have some criminals to catch."
Joe smiled as she shooed him out of the lab.
Hazel came down into the lobby of the CCPD about an hour later and saw Iris standing next to Barry who had a bloody nose.
"What happened?" She asked, coming up to them.
"Iris's laptop got stolen, I went after the guy." Barry summarized.
"Did you get the guy?"
"No, Detective Pretty Boy did." Iris told her.
"Oh, you mean Detective Thawne?" Hazel nodded.
"Why does everybody know what that means?" Barry groaned.
"Don't tip your head back, dummy. Tip it forward, or do you want blood running down your throat?" Hazel leaned her brother's head forward gently.
"Thanks, Haze." Barry muttered.
"Thank those first aid classes I took in college."
"I think it's stopped bleeding now." Barry took the Kleenex away from his nose and tossed it in the garbage "I'll see you tomorrow, Iris. Hazel can you help me with something in the lab?"
"Sure." Hazel followed her brother upstairs, waving goodbye to Iris as she went.
The siblings walked into the lab and groaned in unison, seeing that the skylight was slightly open and leaking water everywhere.
"So why aren't you watching the particle accelerator turn on?" Hazel asked.
"We missed a spot in line because of that stupid mugger. But we can watch it on the news." Barry stepped over the puddle and turned on the computer.
"I'm Linda Park, and we're live outside STAR Labs despite the inclement weather, which is only going to get worse." The announcer said "The torrential downpour has in no way affected the particle accelerator, which is up and running smoothly according to STAR Labs CEO Harrison Wells. The weather has also..."
Barry walked over to where the siblings had their secret project set up. The evidence concerning their father, Henry Allen. Henry had been imprisoned for the murder of his wife, their Mom. But the siblings were convinced he was innocent.
Hazel remembered that night. She was 10. She'd woken up to Barry shaking her and saying that something was wrong. The water in their fish tank had started floating and the siblings rushed downstairs to find their living room filled with red and yellow lightning. Their mother was in the middle of it.
Suddenly, the two Allen children found themselves nine blocks away from home. Hazel and Barry made a mad dash for their house but when they got there they saw their father being arrested and their mother dead in the living room. Stabbed through the heart.
Joe had taken them in and kept them together. Hazel appreciated that. She knew he didn't make much, and he already had Iris to take care of after his wife, Francine, died. But she knew Barry had always harbored some resentment towards Joe for not believing them about the lightning man.
Hazel snapped out of it by the news anchor saying "Wait, we're now being told to evacuate the facility. The storm may have cause a malfunction to the primary cooling systems. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator, but so far, have been unable to regain control of the system."
Barry and Hazel exchanged a look before their eyes moved in unison to the window as the computer shorted out. They could see a massive explosion coming from the STAR Labs building.
"Oh, my God." Hazel breathed.
Barry hurried over to the chain that would close the skylight "Hazel, come help me!"
Hazel ran over and started pulling on the chain with her brother. Suddenly, Barry stopped pulling on the chain and pointed to the chemicals they kept in beakers on the shelves. The liquid was rising out of them, just like it had on the night of their mother's murder.
A loud thunderclap sounded and lightning smashed through the skylight and struck the Allen siblings, throwing them into shelves in opposite directions. Both were unconscious and had small holes burned in the soles of their shoes. Hazel had a trickle of blood running down her temple.
Nine Months Later
Barry's eyes fluttered open to see two people leaning over him and arguing. Lady Gaga's Poker Face played in the background.
"He likes this song." The man protested.
"How could you possibly know that?" The woman asked.
"I checked his Facebook page." The man smiled smugly "I mean, they can hear everything, right?"
"Auditory functions are the last sensory factors to degenerate."
Barry gasped and sat up sharply.
"Oh, my God!" The man shrieked.
"Where am I?" Barry asked, confused.
"He's up!" The woman said, pressing a button.
"Dr. Wells, get down to the cortex, like, right now." The man said.
The lady started shining a flashlight in Barry's eyes "Pulse 120, pupils equally reactive to light." Barry tried to look away "Look at me! Look at me!"
"Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, relax." The man hurried up to them "Everything's okay, man. You're at STAR Labs."
"STAR Labs? Who are you?" Barry asked.
"I'm Cisco Ramon, she's Caitlin-Dr. Snow."
Caitlin held up a cup "I need you to urinate in this."
Cisco grabbed the cup "Not this second."
"What is-What is happening? What is going on?" Barry asked "Where's Hazel?"
"You and your sister were struck by lightning, dude." Cisco explained.
"What?" Barry turned around to find a mirror, he had a six pack? "Lightning gave me abs?"
"Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration." Caitlin said.
Cisco grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back to the bed he'd been lying on "Come here. Have a seat. You were in a coma."
Barry's brain started racing "For how long?"
"Nine months." Dr. Harrison Wells rolled into the room in a wheelchair "Welcome back, Mr. Allen. We have a lot to discuss."
"Where's Hazel?" Barry asked, very worried.
Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells exchanged a look before Dr. Wells nodded and Caitlin stepped aside to reveal Hazel, lying on a hospital bed, looking as if she were merely asleep.
"She's also in a coma." Cisco said, nervously.
Word count: 2276 words
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Love,
The Author
PS I promise the next chapter will be longer.