Chapter 3: Identity
"What?" Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Total strangers already believed in his cause. Iris was right.
"Yup. You can stop by later today and we can talk. Sound good?" Cisco asked.
"Okay got it, see you then." Barry hung up the phone, "Iris. Star Labs just called. They heard what I did and they want to work with me!" He could barely contain his excitement.
"That's great Bar!" Iris clapped happily, "When do you meet with them?"
"Later today," Barry answered, still smiling from ear to ear, "Joe gets back soon, maybe when he gets back, we can go?"
"Sounds good." A thought hit Iris, "Wait, Barry, how did this 'Star Labs' know who you were and what your phone number was?"
Barry thought about this. "Hmm. I don't know. We can probably ask when we meet them in person. I assume their intentions mean well though. I mean, they were the people who told the government I had escaped."
"Really? What is Star Labs anyways?" Iris asked, soon realizing her mistake when Barry's face lit up.
"You've never heard of Star Labs? Star Labs designed the particle accelerator. It was meant to be the greatest breakthrough in the science world, until, you know, it blew up. It's fascinating really. The accelerator used electromagnetic fields to propel the already charged particles to nearly the speed of light, then the machine contains them in beams. Then those beams can be used for…" Iris tried to listen as Barry waved his hands to animate his words, she really did. But she ended up nodding politely until he was finished.
"They sound really great Barry. I'm genuinely glad you get to work with people who as nerdy and brilliant as you." Barry laughed.
"Nerdy?"
"Uh, yeah? Did you hear yourself just now? Going on and on about magnetic fields and particle accelerators." Iris rolled her eyes at him.
"Alright, alright point taken, I'm nerdy and brilliant," Barry admitted, "I'm actually really tired. You know, running practically all night? I'm going to go get some rest. Wake me up when Joe gets back?"
"Yeah, yeah of course. Get some rest. I'll be working on this article I've been writing," Iris replied, "See ya."
As soon as Barry had gone upstairs to take a nap, Iris brewed herself a cup of tea and sat down at the dining table. She opened her laptop and clicked on her latest article. The headline was, "The Streak: An Ally to the People".
Of course, she was biased towards Barry. He was her best friend after all. The purpose of the article wasn't to inform, but to convince. In her article, she had reviewed the streak's supposed motives and purpose, hoping to prove to her audience that this man was a hero.
A few hours later, at nearly 7PM, Joe West returned from the station, putting his jacket on the hook. "Hey, baby girl. What's up?"
"Oh, dad, you're back! I'll go wake Barry, we're going to Star Labs," Iris said, slipping her coat on.
"Wait, what?" Joe asked, confused.
"Oh, well, when you were gone, Barry saved his first meta from being taken, a father. And a person from Star Labs called and asked if they could work with Barry," Iris explained.
"What if it's a trap? We can't just have Barry waltzing out into public again." Of course, as a father figure, Joe was paranoid for Barry.
"It's not. Did you hear the city-wide announcement? Those people practically saved Barry's life." Little did they know that wouldn't be the last time either.
"What?" Joe raised his eyebrows.
"You heard those people who said they saw Barry escape? That was them," She elaborated.
"Oh… Then, I guess we do owe them. How did they know Barry was this streak anyways?" Joe wondered aloud.
"Guess we'll find out soon enough." Barry walked down the stairs, yawning.
"You guys are awfully loud," Barry complained, "Anyways, you guys ready to go?" Iris almost laughed at the thought of Barry walking into Star Labs looking as he did now. His hair was all over the place, his t-shirt was wrinkled, and to top it off, he was wearing his bunny slippers.
"Uh, why don't you get cleaned up first?" Iris suggested.
Barry looked at himself and chuckled lightly, "Wow, I look like a mess, don't I?"
"You look a little disheveled, yeah." Iris replied, with a smile of her own.
"Why don't you guys go ahead? I'll run there," Barry suggested.
"Nah, Bar, we can wait for you," Joe insisted.
"I bet," Barry challenged, "That I can still get there before both of you."
"Oh, you are on, kid." The two of them rushed out the door to get the Star Labs.
Barry quickly threw on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, brushed his hair, and pulled a pair of sneakers on his feet. Then, he sped out of the house, running to Star Labs, having to use a GPS on his phone. He arrived at the front door, just as Joe and Iris were pulling up to the parking lot.
"No fair," Joe complained, "You don't have to deal with traffic on the way."
"Well I left a full ten minutes after you did, so I think I gave you a fair head start," Barry argued.
"Hey! Can we quit bickering and go inside now?" Iris asked, clearly exasperated by the immaturity of the two.
"Oh, yeah, right," Barry responded, sheepish. He pushed open the double doors and stood marveling at the devices all around the room. A voice pulled him out of his trance.
"Mr. Allen. Nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Harrison Wells, but you can call me Harry if you wish. I've heard so much about you," the man greeted.
"Nice to meet you too. This is my adoptive dad, Joe, and best friend, Iris."
"Pleasure to meet both of you as well. Now, why don't you all follow me. We have much to discuss." Dr. Wells led the three of them to the elevator which brought them to the 8th floor where they walked into the main room.
The man Barry assumed to be Cisco was there waiting along with another woman in a lab coat. "Barry! It's great to finally meet you! As you know, I'm Cisco, and this is my friend and colleague, Caitlin." Barry loved how although he's never met Cisco, he was already acting as if they were best friends.
"It's great to meet you guys too. Anyways, you said you all wanted to work with me?" Barry asked.
"Oh! Yes! We know what you're trying to do. We've seen it. And we want to help you," Cisco explained.
"But how do you know who I am and what I did?" To answer his question, Cisco typed on his computer, pulling up several videos of Barry on the monitor screens ahead of them.
"I hacked into the city surveillance cameras the other day, curious about that news report about that streak guy. So, I did a little digging and found out it was a man named Barry Allen." To further explain himself, Cisco paused the video of Barry running through the streets, enlarged it, highered the resolution, brightened the screen and there was a relatively clear picture of Barry Allen. "Then of course, I used facial recognition to figure out it was you. Saw the footage of what you did for that father and connected the dots." Cisco leaned back in his office chair, clearly impressed with himself.
"Wow." Barry exhaled, "That's impressive."
"What can I say? Computers are kind of my bread and butter," Cisco replied with a proud smile.
"It's true. He's kind of a genius. Like Harry of course," Caitlin agreed.
Cisco flushed, "Don't sell yourself short, Cait." He pointed to her, "This girl isn't just any doctor. I swear, this girl can heal anything you throw at her."
"Thanks, Cisco," Caitlin blushed and smiled warmly.
"Anyways," Cisco continued, his face turning more serious, "I've hacked into the government system and now have access to the communication system the meta-collection officers use. Whenever it's in use, this device here, will beep." Cisco held up a small, metallic stone-like object.
"That's amazing, Cisco." He took the device and inspected it.
"Well, Harry here helped create the device," Cisco admitted. "Now, for the fun part. I'm in the middle of designing a supercool costume for you and thinking of your superhero name."
Barry groaned. "It's not a costume, it's a disguise for a vigilante, not a superhero."
"Whatever you want to call it, man. I'm designing a suit and thinking of a name. Okay, I told you on the phone, but here's the names I was thinking of: the blur, the streak, the whoosh, and the flash," Cisco said proudly.
Barry thought about it. The whoosh sounded a little dumb (no offense to Cisco) and the blur was much too mysterious for him. The streak was what people were already calling him, so that was a valid option. But the flash really had a nice ring to it…
"What do you guys think of the flash?" Barry said finally.
"I like it," Iris agreed. Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. It's settled," Cisco announced, "Team Flash! Off to rescue the metahumans!" Everyone in the room cheered, laughing. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Barry, I have another surprise. Follow me."
"More surprises?" Barry asked in disbelief. Cisco led Barry to a room with a treadmill. "What's this?"
"Oh, this baby isn't just any old treadmill," Cisco said, resting a hand on the handle of the treadmill, "This thing will match any speed you run to, set to the maximum of… wait for it… the speed of light!"
"Woah!" Barry stroked the sleek design of the machine. He spotted the opposite wall, lined with cushions. He raised his eyebrow at Cisco questioningly.
"You know, in case you trip," Cisco explained.
"This is amazing, Cisco. I feel like I've been saying that this whole time."
"Well, I am kind of amazing," Cisco joked. The pair laughed as if they've been friends for years.
After a few hours of chatting and discussing, Joe finally said reluctantly, "We should probably be heading home now. It's getting kind of late."
"Oh my, it's nearly midnight. I hadn't realized how late it was," Harry said.
After saying goodbye, Barry got in the car with Iris and Joe, too tired to run home.
"Everyone here seems so nice," Iris remarked, "They seem genuinely passionate in your cause." Barry smiled at this.
"It's really nice to have so many people believe in me so strongly," he replied.
"We've all got your back, Bar."
Two days later, Barry came back to Star Labs by himself. Both Iris and Joe had work to attend to. Anyways, he was especially excited to try out Cisco's treadmill. Cisco, of course, happily obliged.
Barry stepped onto the treadmill. Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells stood on the other side of the glass window, Cisco checking on Barry's speed and Caitlin monitoring Barry's vitals. Cisco, gave Barry the 'okay' to start running. So he ran. Cisco couldn't even see his friend anymore, only a blur of lightning, constantly moving. Amazed, Cisco looked down at his monitor. Barry was so close to reaching Mach 1, the speed of sound.
"Dayumm," Cisco whispered to himself. The monitor showed Barry starting to slow down. "Don't stop, Barry! Just a little faster!" He called, "How are his vitals, Cait?"
"Absolutely perfect," She replied in disbelief.
"Impossible," Dr. Wells breathed.
Barry definitely heard him. He sped up, pumping his arms and legs faster than ever. Ten more miles per hour until Mach 1. Nine miles. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. He did it!
"Barry! You've reached the speed of sound!" Cisco exclaimed excitedly.
"Seriously?!" Barry called back. The small distraction was enough for Barry to lose his intense concentration. He tripped over his feet and was propelled backwards, into the cushion.
"Ooh." Cisco winced, rushing into the speed room, "You alright man?"
"Could you… ouch… add thicker cushion to your to do list." Cisco laughed.
"Oh my goodness, Barry!" Caitlin exclaimed, checking Barry's heartrate. It seemed normal, although a little quick. She pulled up Barry's shirt. "There will be a couple of bruises for a while, but nothing permanent."
"Thanks, Caitlin." Barry stood up, wincing from his sore muscles and bruised back.
"Dude, I've got something that will cheer you up. Follow me," Cisco said, beckoning with his finger.
"Do you ever not have a surprise?" Barry followed Cisco out of the room and into the main room. He pressed a button on the wall and a panel lifted revealing a mannequin. The mannequin wore a skin tight, dark red suit and mask. A lightning bolt emblem sat right on its chest proudly and Barry stared in awe.
"Cisco… is that…" Barry couldn't even get his words out.
"Yup. It's much more efficient for running since its tighter and there are communication comms embedded in the earpiece. Oh, and the emblem sends your vitals straight to Caitlin's computer." Cisco proudly presented the suit.
Barry opened his mouth to thank Cisco, but the small device started beeping. They looked at each other and Cisco hurried to his computer. "Meta-collection truck headed towards Clark Boulevard. Hurry!"
Barry put on the suit at super speed and sped off to follow the truck. He saw it immediately. Like the times before, the officer hopped out of the truck and knocked on the door of the house. A woman opened the door, a child by her side. The officer pulled out the blood scanner and scanned both of them. The child scanned red. The woman panicked and slapped the officer, which only infuriated him.
The officer moved to throw a hit at the lady, but Barry caught his fist. "Well, that's rude," He remarked, elbowing the officer in the back of the head. Learning from his previous experience, Barry ran to the back of the truck and knocked the other officer out quickly as well.
He returned to the mother and child. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, thank you. Wh-who are you?" Asked the mother, breathless.
"I'm the Flash."
Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter :) The Star Labs team is starting to come together! I'm trying to figure out how to include Julian. Any suggestions? Anyways, thanks for reading and, as always, review! These reviews are honestly my motivation to keep writing ;)
For any Supergirl fans, if you haven't already, go check my other story, "Forbidden Love". See you guys next time!