Chapter 9

"Come on, Barry!"

Anna and Barry Allen were in a clothing store, and Barry watched as Anna tried on different articles of clothing. She seemed to be enjoying herself very much, and Barry was glad she was having fun.

"What about this one?" she asked him, as she revealed a purple dress she was wearing.

"You could make anything look good on you," he said.

"Not true," she contested. "Elsa's dress doesn't look good on me."

"You've tried it on?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yes," she admitted, turning shades of red. "You weren't supposed to know."

"Why not?" he asked, concerned.

As Anna sat down in her purple dress, she let out a sigh of discouragement. Barry couldn't have guessed what she would tell him.

"When everyone found out Elsa had powers, I felt sorry for her," she began. "And I wanted to help her."

"But?"

"But I felt a tiny bit relieved I didn't have powers," she said, shamefully. "It looked like something that no one should have to deal with."

"Now I realize that her powers are a gift, and the real problem was she wasn't raised to harness her gifts," Anna explained. "And now, I feel like the one who isn't good enough."

"How could you even think that?" Barry said, in complete disbelief.

"Coming here, I was only made aware of how wrong I was, but even now, I still feel like that," she said. "And if I'm being honest, I don't know what you see in me. I've always been just the spare."

"You are not!" he insisted. "There is no one else that comes as close as you do to being the perfect woman."

"But take that woman, the Wonder Woman, she's perfect! She is a good hero! And yet you choose me," Anna said, her voice cracking.

"But you're you," he reassured. "Diana may be great, but you're all I've ever dreamed of, and more. There is no woman who has ever lived that comes even close to you."

"It's not about the powers. The powers only bring out what you were before you had them. It's the person's heart that matters, and you have one made of pure gold," he said.

"I feel so lucky to have you, Barry," she said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You never told me why you were trying your sister's dress, Anna," he reminded her.

"Oh yeah," she said, remembering. "I wanted to feel like I had powers."

"I think we can arrange that," Barry said, thinking.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, confused.

"Well," Barry said, "I have this ability that lets me give someone else my speed for a certain amount of time."

Her eyes widened in excitement. "You mean-?"

"Yes I do," he said, grinning. "Come on."

Anna took her purple dress, and once Barry had paid for it, they ran outside to the street.

"We have to go some place where no one will see us," Barry said, and Anna nodded. They quickly found an empty alley, and Barry began to warm up.

"I haven't done this in a long time," he said. "So I need to remember how to do it."

It didn't take him much time to get the feeling back in his body, and he knew he was ready.

"Ready?" he asked, and Anna once again nodded. He reached out for her hand, and when she held it, she felt the shockwave of time ripple through her body. As she looked towards the street, she noticed the cars and people had frozen in place. When she looked at Barry, though, he acted normal, and smiled.

"Welcome to my world," he said, and took her hand again. The pair took off running, and Anna's fascination only grew. Everyone around her had turned into statues, and when she reached out to one man, Barry had to stop her, because if she had touched him at the speed they were moving, the man would have been knocked off his feet. She tried telling him something, but the sound wasn't reaching Barry at all. So she was very much surprised when she was able to perfectly hear him.

"If you touch something at the speed we're going, you could hurt that object," Barry said in Flashtime.

Anna once again tried to say something, but he shook his head.

"You haven't mastered the ability to speak in Flashtime," he explained. "It took me some time, so don't worry about it."

Their trip was coming to an end, and Anna could feel it, as her vision became blurry, so Barry decided to pick her up and run her back to his apartment, which wasn't very far away. Once inside, he set her down on the couch. For Anna, time had resumed the moment he had carried her, and one instant she was being picked up by her lover, and the next she was sitting on his couch.

"Woah," Anna said, her mind still reeling from the experience. "That was new."

"Yeah," he said, letting out a laugh, which made Anna cross her arms.

"What's funny about it?" she asked.

"Nothing," he quickly said. "You were actually better than Snart."

"Snart?"

"He's a villain who I once touched with my ability and gave him super speed," Barry told her. "He struggled a lot, which was lucky for me, since I was pretty new to being a superhero."

"So he's a normal guy too?"

"Yeah, he is," Barry said, thinking. "Strange. I haven't seen him in a while. Or any of the other Rogues, for that matter."

"Rogues?" Anna repeated.

"The group of villains that regular used to fight me," Barry informed her. "Only Captain Boomerang has shown himself since I returned."

"But you always beat them, right?"

"Yes," he replied, as he got up from the couch. "Well, now you know what it's like to have my speed."

"I wish I could run along with you," she groaned. "That way, we could always be together."

"And risk you, my dear?" Barry scoffed. "Never in a million years."

"It was worth a try," she laughed.

"Please don't ever feel like you did this morning, Anna," he said seriously. "I love you just the way you are, and I hope you never change."

Anna smiled, and gave him a kiss before responding. "I'm very glad I have the best man in the world with me."

At that moment, Barry's watch started ringing. He looked down to turn it off, and sighed, remembering what it was for.

"We have to get back to Arendelle," Barry said.

"What for?" Anna asked.

"Elsa's quest, remember?" he reminded her.

"Now I do," she huffed.

"Come on, we ought to get moving," he said as he picked her up, and they began the trip back to Arendelle.


When they returned, it was clear Elsa had been either practicing, or worrying about her quest. The house was unusually cold for the weather outside, and there were signs of frost on the furniture and walls.

"Elsa?" Anna called. "We're home."

They heard her before they saw her, her new boots clicking as she came down the stairs to meet them. She was wearing her 'superhero' dress, which she had designed herself, as an upgrade from Batman's previous one. It wasn't the same one she had shown them before anymore. It bore some resemblance to the dress she had worn during her self imposed exile, having the same color scheme, but now it had been given a harder look. It was bullet proof, to say the least.

"I'm ready," Elsa reported.

"Wow, Elsa," Anna gasped. "You look incredible."

"What do you think, Barry?" she asked.

"I think it looks great," he finally said. "But its main purpose will be to protect you, not its look."

"Yes, I know," Elsa said, as her shoulders slumped.

"Hey Barry," Anna said sternly while looking at him. "That wasn't very nice."

"But it's true," he said while shrugging. "We don't wear the suits for fun, we wear them for a reason."

"What about Superman's?" Anna asked smugly. "He's the Man of Steel, isn't he? He doesn't need his suit."

"He wears it as a symbol of hope," Barry responded, to which Anna couldn't respond.

"It's a nice suit," Barry complimented. "You made it yourself?"

"Yes," Elsa quickly answered. "My ice powers made it."

"Interesting," he said. "You know, my suit came from the Speed Force."

"The source of your powers," Elsa remembered. Both Barry and Anna looked at her.

"I never told you that," Barry stated, confused.

"Anna told me," Elsa blurted.

"Oh, that's right," Anna said, smacking her forehead. "I did tell her. Oops."

"That's fine," Barry said, shaking his head, and then looked at his watch. "We should get going now."

"Please don't get yourself hurt, Elsa," Anna said, as she ran up to her sister to hug her. "Do whatever Barry tells you, he knows what he's doing."

"Of course," Elsa said, with a big smile. "I will."

"Actually, we have two methods of travel," Barry said, thinking. "I can carry you there, or you can teleport there."

"No, Barry, that's reserved for us," Anna protested.

"Then a race it is," Barry grinned, as he set the coordinates of his teleporter to Central City, and handed the device to Elsa.

Barry then turned back to Anna, and held her. "I'll be back soon, dear."

"You better come back," Anna whispered. "I need you."

"I need you", Barry whispered back, before stepping forward to plant a kiss on her. Anna held on to his arm, and Barry embraced her, never wanting the moment to end. When it finally did, he clicked the compartment on his suit to reveal the Flash suit, and he put it on at super speed. He waved at Anna, who waved back, and then he was gone.

Elsa had left while they were showing affection, not wanting to keep watching the soap opera which was unfolding upon her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself inside an apartment, that looked rather ordered and neat.

After a moment, she heard the front door open, and she turned to see Barry in his civilian clothes once more.

"I brought you here because we need to set some rules before we do this," he told her, as he closed the door and locked it.

"Such as?"

"I'll always have your back, but you need to look out for me too," he said seriously. "Those criminals out there, they're more than willing to take lives. I need you to be at the top of your game. Always mind your surroundings, even when you feel safe. And always help the people around you. They're the reason you're fighting. So make sure they are your top priority. Get them out of the scene."

"How many rules were there?" asked Elsa.

"Just follow what I said, and you'll be fine," he said, as he grinned. "And also, remind me to put in the coordinates again to this place. They reset every couple of days. Now are you ready or what?"

"I am," she said confidently. "Is it fine if we just leave from here?"

"Oh yeah," Barry realized. He quickly put his suit back on. "Here, hold my hand."

Elsa's face reddened, and she put her hand in his. "What for?"

"We're going to walk out the window," Barry said, without a doubt. Elsa looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Don't worry," he reassured. "I'll catch us when we fall. Trust me."

Elsa's gut told her to not trust him; falling out of a window would surely mean death! But Barry's voice pushed her thoughts out of her mind, and she nodded to him, signaling she was ready.

Barry began walking towards the window facing the street, and he looked at Elsa. "Ready?"

"Yes," she breathed, and he walked straight at the window.

Elsa closed her eyes, thinking they would break the glass, but instead, she didn't feel anything, until she felt there wasn't anything to place her foot on, and they began the fall to the ground.

The building in which Barry resided was high up, and Elsa's instincts began to kick in. She began to scream.

Since before they had 'jumped', Barry had known what he would do. He tightened his grasp on Elsa's hand, and used his other, free hand to propel himself back to the building they had just left. His leg made contact with a wall, and he propelled them both to the building across the street, using the wall behind him as a jumping point.

In a normal situation, the person Barry had been holding on to would have immediately been crushed from the pressure that would have been exerted, and the same would have happened to Elsa, but Barry had thrown her forward at super speed to prevent her from taking any damage. He had caught up to her, and held her hand again so fast, she hadn't noticed he had ever let go.

As soon as he had touched the other building, he launched Elsa into the sky, and ran directly up towards her. He caught her, and placed her on the top floor of the building they were on.

It took a moment for Elsa to catch her breath, and ask, "What just happened?"

Barry had no choice but to grin again. How could he explain what had just happened?

"It's a bit hard to explain," he said, chuckling. "Long story short, you went flying."

"I did?" she said, worried.

"Don't worry, you're fine," he replied. "Now, it's time to get to work."

"There isn't much crime here," Barry began, "but when there is, it gets ugly."

"What type of criminals live here?" Elsa asked. But before Barry could answer, a gunshot could be heard in the distance, followed by several more. The duo looked at each other, and Barry jumped off the building again. When Elsa looked over the edge, she saw Barry waiting for her, as he yelled to her, "Fall!". She threw herself, and this time, she felt an updraft of air that stopped her fall.

"I'm going to carry you there to save time," he informed her, and in a flash, they were there. It was a typical attempted bank robbery, and Barry made out two robbers.

"Here's the plan," he told her. "I'll go in, stand in front of them, distract them, and when I whistle to you, you hit them with ice magic, without hurting them."

Elsa nodded, and she waited for Barry to finish his part outside of the bank. When she heard the whistle, she rushed in, and saw men wearing black masks. Barry nodded back to her, and Elsa blasted them with her powers. The men quickly fell to the ground, and Barry checked for their pulses, which were there.

It's all right, everyone," he called out. "There is no more threat."

All of the bank tellers and customers that were inside slowly rose to their feet, in awe of the woman who stood before them, instead of the Flash.

"Who are you?" one woman asked.

"I'm Elsa," she announced.

"That's enough press for today," he said nervously. "It's time for us to take our leave."

Both of them made their way out the door as the bank applauded.

"Do you think they will like me?" Elsa asked him.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable," he responded. "Opinions tend to change very quickly."

"Well, at least you let me help much more than Batman did," she said, content. "He only ever let me watch him and then help him put the criminals away."

"Yeah?" Barry said while looking at her. "Well, I do things differently."

For the next couple of hours, Barry and Elsa went around the city, doing good deeds. They helped people with their cars, their pets, their groceries at one point. They even helped a car chase come to a safe end. In truth, they did what superheroes were meant to do. Help others.

When they returned to Arendelle, Anna was more than excited to see them.

"Barry!" she squeaked, as the sound of the door hinges gave them away. "You're back!"

"Yes I am," he smiled, as he kissed her. "And so is your sister."

"I'm glad you're safe, Elsa," Anna said, as the sisters hugged. "How was it?"

"Better than I could have expected," she said, the slightest hint of a smile on her face. "Barry is a very good mentor."

"Aww," Anna said, happy with the news. "I'm glad you think that."

"Well then, a meal is in order then, no?" Barry teased, and before the sisters, could move, Barry had ran into the kitchen at super speed, and began making a wide range of food for everyone. When the sisters blinked, Barry Allen was standing in front of the dining table, with meals that looked as if they belonged in a five star restaurant.

"Did you make all of that, Barry?" Anna gasped, as he nodded.

"Only the best of the best for you, Anna," he tenderly said, making Anna look at him in a starry-eyed fashion.

"Let's eat!" Barry said.


Back in Central City, Hans had not been assimilated to the lifestyle of Central City. Everything was fast, he had learned. The people, the machines, everything. And he was constantly being slow.

What really helped him was Iris West. She was new to the city as well, but she had completely embraced the city life. She was what kept Hans on track with everything. Iris would always remind him of the places their jobs took them, and he had learned a lot about the Flash through her. Iris had explained to him that she looked up to the Flash, and admired him very much. Really, it made him feel the opposite. A seed of hatred had been planted in Hans' heart, and to him, it was clear that at some point he wouldn't be able to keep the act up with Iris. At some point, he would no longer be able to tolerate it.

For now, though, he would do his best to extend the time he had before that day would come.

"Hey Hans," Iris greeted, as she sat at her desk next to him. "How was your weekend?"

"Fine," he responded, and remembered she had said there was something she was going to investigate over the weekend. "How was your story?"

"Okay, so here's what I've got," Iris said, a sparkle in her eyes. "A few days ago, there were reports of an asteroid crashing into the outskirts of Central City. And for some reason, the government shows up, and blocks off the entire area from the press."

"You think something's going on?" Hans was catching up.

"Well obviously," she said, as she rolled her eyes. "But get this: Yesterday, there were more reports of something happening at the site. I think something went wrong, and it's up to me to find out."

"Well, good luck," Hans said, as he went back to his monitor.

"Funny," Iris laughed. "Because I just talked the chief into giving us permission to go investigate it."

"Both of us?" Hans asked, as he looked at her, confused.

"I'm going to need someone to record what we find out," she said, as if it were trivial.

"But I was going to..." Hans groaned, as he stood from his chair. "How far is it again?"

"Not too far," Iris said, looking at her watch. "And if we're lucky, we'll make it back in time for lunch."

"Lunch?!" Hans was shocked. "It's only eight, Iris. Will we really take that much time?"

"Central City traffic," she shrugged. "If only you were the Flash, Hans. Then you could zoom us there."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Come on, let's go hail a cab."


"What did the reports even say?" Hans questioned, as they had reached the fields on the rim of Central City. There was nothing but fields, except for a small valley, where they were headed.

"Which ones?" she asked back.

"The original ones."

"Apparently, the asteroid dispersed blue light everywhere on impact, and after the explosion, there were weird sounds coming from the area," she explained.

"Where did you even hear such rumors?" Hans scoffed, as he lifted his foot from a puddle.

"That's for my source and me to know," she said playfully, as Hans groaned again.

"That's it down there," she pointed, as they finally reached the valley. The cab had taken them as far as the road could, and they had walked the rest of the way.

"Get the camera ready," she ordered, as Hans took out the camera from its protective strap, and prepared it.

"We're ready," he signaled, and Iris turned to look at him.

"I'm Iris West for the Central Citizen, and we're here on duty, reporting from the outskirts of Central City. We've come to investigate the strange reports coming from this region of the city, and with some luck, we'll have a chance to see something unusual."

The two of them began to approach the makeshift fence that had been surrounding something in the center of the valley; As they turned to another face of the fence, they could see it was exposed for anyone to walk in.

As they entered, however, the camera Hans suddenly went dark, and he immediately noticed. He tried turning it back on, but it was no use. It was completely dead.

"Hey Iris?" he called out. "The camera doesn't work at all."

"What?" she said, looking at him, confused.

"It wasn't the battery; I charged this overnight, it should be fine."

"Do you have the handheld camera on you?" she asked.

He checked himself, and responded, "No."

"Well then we're going to have to leave," Iris said, disappointed.

"Why?" Hans questioned.

"We need proof of everything we see here, so we'll return tomorrow with a fully charged camera," she said, shooting him a glaring look.

"Well wait, let me at least see what's being protected here," he argued.

Iris smiled. "Defying orders? There's a true reporter."

Hans left her behind, and quickly moved inside the closed off area, and started looking around. It appeared to be completely desolate, which he had expected, but it looked almost impossibly clean.

The area was a small camp, with tents surrounding the center of the camp. Everything appeared to be in order, as if everybody had just left a moment ago. Nothing was laying around, the insides of the tents were organized and clean, and there was nothing out of place. Except the center.

There was something strange about the organization of the camp. Everything was arranged so it would be pointing towards the center. Which led Hans to assume there was or had been something of importance in the center tent, which appeared to be bigger than the rest.

As he cautiously walked closer to the tent, he could hear a weak electrical humming noise fill his ears, and the closer he got, the louder it grew. His heartbeat raced, wanting to know what was inside but at the same time not wanting to risk himself, until he finally reached the edge of the large flap that separated him from the truth. The sound grew even louder, and he began to sweat mildly, when he yanked open the 'door' of the tent, and the humming stopped. It was strange, then, to discover a glass box sitting on a plastic table had been behind the sound.

It was in fact, not a glass box, but to Hans, it didn't matter. What mattered was the content of said box.

It was a blue rock. But the more he looked at it, the more he realized the blue rock was shaped like an insect.

Hans had quickly found himself opening the box, and as he stared at the insect, he noticed it was glowing a fluctuating blue light. It was constant, but it was fluctuating. He thought it was peculiar, but didn't think much more of it. Rather, he began to try and figure what it was.

The insect had to be alien. It also had to be what the reports had said crashed to Earth. It was blue, and didn't look like anything he had previously seen, which, to be fair, wasn't much. So if it was alien, was it just chance it had crashed this planet by chance?

He had decided to leave it alone, when Iris West yelled out for him, which made him panic. This led to him trying to hide the insect, even if there was no one who had caught him looking at it by covering with books that were near the box. In that moment, however, he decided to do something he might think was foolish in the future. He took the blue insect and put it in his camera pack.

Hans quickly caught up to Iris, who was impatiently waiting for him outside the fenced off area.

"Did you find anything?" she promptly asked, with her arms crossed.

"Nothing," he said, out of breath. "There's nothing in there that looks remotely interesting. Frankly, I don't think we should even return tomorrow."

"Nonsense," Iris dismissed with her hand. "There's always some little detail they leave behind for reporters to find."

Though she didn't notice, Hans gulped at the mention of details. The only interesting thing he had seen in the little camp was currently in his possession. And what would he do with it? He was no scientist, and the only ones he knew of were back in Arendelle. This was a question he would have to answer later.

"Uh," Hans hesitated. "How are we meant to go home?"

"We're walking," Iris said without hesitation.

"What?! It will take us-"

"I was just kidding," she laughed. "You need to learn to lighten up."

"So are we really going to wait for the cab driver to return?" Hans asked.

"Yes," she murmured while she looked through her purse. "That's a bummer. I didn't bring my phone."

"So we just wait now?" Hans said.

"Yup," she responded, as they returned to the side of the road. "Will you put the camera away?"

Hans still had the camera wrapped around his neck, since he had the insect in his camera pack. "Um, I'm going to keep it out. You know, in case anything comes up."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, as they found a bench to rest on. "Rock, paper, scissors?"


The wait for the cab had seemed eternal to Hans, but it eventually passed, and they returned to the Citizen. Hans tried to be productive, but found himself thinking about the insect in his pack more often than he would admit. He had looked up scientific institutes near him, to try and take it to them so they could study it, and there was a branch of STAR Labs not very far away from the Citizen, but first, he would need to get himself cleaned up. He and Iris had messed around while they had been waiting for the cab to return, and he needed to at least take a shower.

At the day's end, Hans returned to his apartment, to prepare for his visit to the laboratory. Once he had 'secured' the insect, which meant putting it under his bed, he took a very short shower, and when he returned, the first thing he did was check under his bed for the pack. To his great relief, it was still there.

He quickly dressed himself properly, and was ready to leave, when suddenly, the insect hummed. Again.

His ear picked it up instantly, and he rapidly took the insect out of the pouch he had placed it in, afraid to look at it. He set it down on his bed, and opened his eyes.

The insect had stopped glowing ever since the humming had stopped, but now, it had resumed. And it was growing louder every moment.

"Quiet," Hans hushed in desperation, but to no avail. So, he left the bedroom and closed every window in the apartment, to try and suppress the noise that would surely stir the neighbors, and returned to the room.

Until finally, the humming slowly came to an end, and all was calm. Until it was not.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of a shock wave emanating from the insect that knocked Hans off his feet. It was sudden, and caught him off guard. As soon as he regained his composure, he stood and stared at the object which threw him to the floor. This time, there was a new sound coming from it. What could be described as a low mechanical murmur now filled the room, and Hans could feel the vibrations on himself. And as he reached for the insect, there came a blue light that blinded him momentarily.

When Hans opened his eyes, he noticed he had fallen forward. He was laying back side up in front of his bed. As he rose, he rubbed his head, trying to remember what had happened, when he at last realized the insect was gone. It was out of sight everywhere he looked, but yet, he still heard the sound of the insect very close to him. And then it hit him; he was missing his clothes.

His upper half was completely exposed, and he couldn't see the clothes anywhere either.

Hans ran around the room frantically, trying to find either his the insect or his clothes, with no luck. He then turned to the bathroom, to see the extent of the damage, and as he entered, his mind was blown.

He had noticed a hint of blue on his back, and thinking he was still suffering from the blue light which had blinded, he turned his back to the mirror to check himself, and to his complete shock, the insect was placed right on his back!

Hans couldn't feel it, but as he touched it, he was alerted to its presence. He fought himself to try and remove it, but each attempt left himself being electrocuted by the bug. It wasn't a painful sting, but it was getting very tiresome, and he eventually gave up.

He could only look in horror at what he had become.