You know how in some self insert fanfiction stories they just have someone burst awake when they are thrown into another world. Well that didn't happen to me. Instead I found myself in a dream, viewing my new life. Everything from the day I aced a math test in the third grade to the day my dad was arrested. It was an alright dream, but I was just along for the ride watching as the dream seemed to last forever. But when the dream finally ended, I woke up in the exact same place I had been sitting in the dream.
"All passengers prepare to disembark for Starling City. We will be arriving in ten minutes." I sat up fast when I heard that, and looked at the reflection in the window to confirm my suspicion. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed Grant Gustin looked back at me. I considered freaking out and drawing attention to myself, but I knew that wouldn't solve anything. So I sighed and started to plan. Now you may be thinking, how can you just accept it? And my answer would be something very simple, what can I do to change it?
After all, I was now Barry Allen right before he got his powers, and Barry Allen would develop multiverse traveling powers. So my plan was to go along with what I remembered from the show and then, when I wake from the coma, I can start acting like myself. After all, lightning strikes were known to cause personality changes, so I would only have to act like Barry for a little while.
This was helped by the fact that Barry was wicked smart, like genius level. Now, I believe that I am above average in intelligence but it was like I've been walking all my life and someone just put me in a car. Just the speed of my thoughts, and precision of my memory I felt like a computer. My brain automatically made connections that I never would have seen before. I felt a little like Sherlock Holmes when I noticed a fellow passenger who had a tan line from a wedding ring fooling around with a woman half his age. I was excited to see what my new brain could do once it was put through its paces.
The only reason Barry wasn't more successful is because he had limited himself so much. I can understand why, his mother dying and his father being blamed for it is bad enough. But when Barry knew that he was innocent and nobody believed him. That made it so much worse. Imagine if you will, you know something is true and you try to tell people, but everyone says you're wrong. When that happens you stop trusting yourself and your ideas, and it takes a lot to get past that.
But that was Barry and this is me, I am not the same person. There is also the fact that I am now in a death world and I'm going to need every advantage I can get if I want to not just survive but thrive. There is one problem though, I don't know which universe I am in. As I can see from my reflection, this isn't the normal CW universe. And while there were many sources to draw from, the multiverse is infinite and that means everything and anything is possible.
For the rest of the train ride I searched on my WayneTech phone, which confirmed that Batman might be a thing here, for any and all things I could think of. I looked for everything from Atlantis to aliens. What I found was reassuring, the only thing I could find was articles from Gotham of a demon beating up criminals. So as far as I can tell I'm before the age of heroes has started. I did find mention of a woman warrior in WW2 and reports of a meteor shower in Smallville years ago. Of course this could mean nothing, after all I had to take into account my upcoming "hibernation" and a lot could happen in 9 months.
I was only snapped out of my thoughts when the train announced we had arrived in Starling City. Now that I was here I realized that I had to make a better impression than Barry did in the show. So instead of making excuses when I got there I just reported my findings and theories. The detective didn't believe me but Oliver seemed to think a little more about it. My first step in making friends with the Arrow was a success.
The next step was to make sure to save Oliver's life, after all Oliver is a pretty good guy, plus he kind of restarted the multiverse. After that I helped catch the bad guy and gave Oliver his mask. Luckily everything went well, and I made some friends and also helped Oliver hide his Identity better than some eyeshadow. I couldn't really do anything more as I am now but that would soon change and I would be able to do so much more.
Now I'm back on the train to Central city, there are only a few hours until the lightning strikes. Now that I was headed back it suddenly became more real, I was about to slip into a nine month coma. I was terrified, nine months in a coma in this world where alien invasions could soon become a regular occurance. Not only that but I would be in the care of a man who wants nothing more than to make me suffer. But if I survived, my chances of living a long happy life would be exponentially greater.
After the train pulled into Central, the day pretty much went the same way as the episode, the crime scene, meeting Joe's new partner, and Iris. It was a bit weird talking to Iris and I think that she could tell something was different. But I always thought Barry's crush on Iris was a bit creepy. They are basically siblings, and while I can understand why he developed a crush, it's still kinda weird. I also did not really like how she seemed to talk down to me and my 'sad nerdy little dream'.
When I visited the particle accelerator with Iris I made sure to get the guy that stole her laptop. After all, it's easy to fight someone when you know what will happen. I still got scolded by Joe though, but I could see a proud glint in his eye. Like he was worried about my safety, but was proud that I stood up and did something. We still left after that, Iris because she was bored with all the science talk and I definitely didn't want to miss my date with the lightning.
When I got back to my office I turned on the news to keep track of the timing. Watching the news reporter I checked Barry's board of crazy. I had to admit that he did good work, but putting it on its own hidden cork board seemed a little obsessed. I left it where it was but decided to move it after I woke up. I finally hear the moment when the news is cut off by the particle accelerator exploding. I could see the wave of dark matter spreading from the particle accelerator.
When this happened I made my way over to the skylight to pretend I closed it. My timing was perfect. When I grabbed the chain I felt it, like every breath of air felt like it was filled with lightning. All the liquids around me started to float and I knew it was time. I looked up to the storm clouds, wrapping my arm in the chain. My last thought crossed my mind right before I was struck, Finally.
One of the things that made me nervous was, I didn't know what happened to Barry during his coma. It could be like a long nap or it could be like when he tried to get his power back in the show. I was terrified it would be like I was trapped inside my own body completely cut off from the outside world. If I had a choice I would like it to be the second one, but nothing could compare to what actually happened.
While I slept I was encased in a storm of lightning of all colors. All I could see was different flashes of light, other sensations bombarded me, some I could identify like a static shock or a bass note. Some even sounded like a choir of angels or smelled like burnt rubber. Others I could feel but had no way to interpret what exactly I was feeling, and even more were impossible to put into words. But everything was flowing through me like a thousand streams, each passing through me differently. Some hit with the momentum of a planet while others burned with the heat of a star.
I was in the speed force and I was conscious! This would be massively helpful if I could train with my powers while I was here. So I tried to focus my mind and sort through everything I could feel. Time didn't really have any meaning here and it was hard to stay focused with so much going on. Every so often I would find myself drifting having no idea when I had lost focus or for how long I was drifting. Lost in the formation of a nebula or the slow growth of a tree.
As time passed I didn't really get better at controlling the force around me but I noticed that I improved in controlling whatever was passing through me in the moment. At first when the energy entered me it would collide and get tangled with the other streams. But eventually, I got to the point where I could make the streams harmonize, flowing with each other instead of clashing. I started with making one stream harmonize then moved onto controlling two different streams at the same time.
One day, after what felt like an eternity, I started to feel different sensations. If I concentrated on them they would become more distinct, they were sounds! I was finally waking up, but it still took a while for me to truly awaken. So I continued practicing while I waited, I wanted to get everything I could out of my coma. Eventually my hearing started to last for longer bursts, then the rest of my senses started to come back as well. Finally nine months after I was struck by lightning I woke up.
As I opened my eyes Poker Face was playing, just like in the show. However unlike in the show I didn't immediately rush out of star labs. I stayed and let them run their tests while I called Joe and Iris to let them know I was awake. Dr. Snow did all sorts of tests from drawing blood to doing an echocardiogram. By the time Joe and Iris arrived we were only halfway through the tests, but they still stayed and just talked with me.
It was nice to talk with them like that, I could see that they both loved Barry like family. While we had only talked for a short while they already noticed the differences in my personality. I shouldn't have been surprised as these were the people that knew Barry best. They were sad when Dr. Snow informed them that lightning strikes were known to cause changes in personality at times. A few hours later the tests were done and Joe took me back home and Iris went to her apartment.
The next few days were weird, at one point it would seem like the world stopped, at another I couldn't stop vibrating. I also stunned Joe with how much I was eating as the first night he decided to order pizza, we had to order three times to make my stomach stop growling. I ended up eating four large pizzas, two hot sandwiches and an entire two liter of coke. I knew that my powers were syncing with my body, but unlike Barry when this happened to me I told Joe.
He didn't believe me at first and wanted to take me to the hospital thinking that I was hallucinating. But after I showed him that I could vibrate my whole body he was a believer. He was actually the one who convinced me to go to Star Labs. HIs reason was that they were the only people who would know what to do. So I told him I would go and he seemed to calm down a little and suddenly I realized that he was justified to be worried, I had just spent 9 months in a coma after all.
He didn't know I was going to wake up, and thought he lost his son. I was suddenly a little overwhelmed with emotions, so I just pulled Joe into a hug. After a few movements of pretending we weren't both crying we slapped backs and separated. "Hey Joe." He looked up from whipping his eyes, "Thanks for looking out for me." He looked like he was going to cry again at that, but he managed to pull himself together.
"Well, you're my son, I need no other reason." with that we hugged one last time and drove over to Star Labs. Once there I explained what had happened and showed them proof, a.k.a. The Living Vibrator. Cisco came up with the name seconds after he saw it and received a slap on the back of the head from Catlin for it. Though I could see that he had done that on purpose to cheer her up, and not only did it work, but the smile on her face said she knew it too.
Unlike in the show where Barry needed a large open space to demonstrate his powers, I had more control. So we conducted tests inside of the lab, which sucked. I sat for hours sometimes using my powers to vibrate, but most of the time I sat there while they took vitals and performed scans. For six hours I sat there, waiting. Luckily Joe was there to keep me company when he could. Once he left to get dinner for us Cisco and I started to mesh pretty well.
"Well, personally I understand why you think Empty Children are the scariest. They gave me nightmares when I was a kid too. But you are totally wrong, The scariest is the weeping angels." Cisco passionately debated his erroneous opinion while Doctor Snow was doing a series of bone scans to try and figure out why they were not cracking under the strain of my vibrations.
It seemed like it wasn't going well, and by the increasingly vulgar mumblings and the silent snickering of Cisco, this was good for her. Before I could ask what was so funny, there was a ding from one of Cisco's contraptions. I waited while he read through the readings, his increasingly confused look providing me and Doctor Snow some entertainment. "What the fuck?" He walked over and showed me some of the results.
"Dude, somehow you are producing energy from the dark matter in your cells, and the dark matter itself is not decreasing. Which means you have either found a way to create energy from nothing and therefore breaking the law of the conservation of energy. OR the dark matter in your cells have connected you to some sort of power source that we could not even begin to detect."
Both Catlin and I stared at him for a moment before a question occurred to me, "Wait, why can't you detect where it is coming from?" He shook his head and looked back at the tablet, "I could barely detect the energy you are giving off, and that wasn't so much detecting the energy itself but more like detecting the effects it has." That completely blew my mind, before I remembered that this was no longer a comic book, answers would not be dumbed down for the convenience of the plot.
While I was having my existential crisis, Cisco and Catlin compared their data. When I awoke from my musing they were in full on lecture and debate mode, so with my new found thirst for knowledge I listened. I knew that if I was going to survive I would need every advantage I could get. I only understood maybe a tenth of what they were saying, and I am sure half of what I 'understood' was me making false assumptions. But I still listened and tried to learn as much as I could and eventually they wound down and would remember I was here.
Once they did, the awkward expressions on their faces made me laugh, "Relax, guys I'm a CSI I might not be as good as you but I can hold my own." That seemed to make them relax, but in my head I was blown away. I thought Barry was smart, but these guys blew him out of the water. I can't even imagine what the mind of Lex Luthor could do. How high is the ceiling in this world where someone can kill gods with the sheer power of their mind? Knowledge is power afterall. Once again I had to shake myself out of my thoughts, "Hey Catlin, I've noticed I'm getting lost in my own thoughts more."
She frowned and took another look at some of Cisco's data, "Well it looks like your mind is running faster as well, so you quite literally have more time to think. It's not by much but still." She looked a little jealous at that but brushed it off in the next moment. They spent the next hour simply going over the data together and asking questions about what my powers felt like. It was interesting to hear about more aspects to my powers than the show could ever go over.
Like how if I got enough control with my powers I could make music from my vibrations. When Cisco figured that out he started to laugh before he even told us, "Dude, someday you can have a theme song." Joe had returned from getting some lunch by that time, and we simply stared at him until he was able to control his laughter. "Right now you are able to change the frequency of your vibration a lot and you seem to have a lot of control. So someday you may be able to vibrate at the exact frequency to produce music."
We had a good laugh at that and decided to take a break for dinner. It was fun to just relax with some new friends. After we finished we decided to pick up the tests at another time so Joe and I started to pack up and head home. But before we finished leaving Dr. Wells rolled up and asked for a minute of my time. "I understand you have been a very cooperative patient, and I wanted to thank you for that. I looked over the data and I believe that in your body lies discoveries beyond your imagination."
I knew that he was trying to test me in some way, but I didn't care. "While I am eager to find the secrets of my body. I am not sure I am comfortable with the fact you just violated HIPPA like that, as I never gave you permission to look at my records." He seemed surprised at my response, "Well I was curious to see what my employees were working on." I gave him a look, "Hmm, well just make sure it does not happen again." He nodded but I could only see the anger in his eyes because I was looking for it. "I apologize."
After he gave his curt apology he turned around and rolled away. I stared at his back for a moment before turning around and walking to the car. Joe waited to say something until after pulling out of the parking lot, "You alright Barry, you seemed tense." I sighed and thought of what to say, I didn't want him to get involved in this yet, "I now know why you should meet your heroes." He snorted at that, "He's a bit of an arrogant ass isn't he?" My head snapped toward him and he laughed, "I spent 9 months around him, I might have picked up on that fact during the first month, as in the first day."
I gave a laugh and turned to look out my window, the rest of the ride home was silent as we both had a lot to think about. Now that I was awake it was time to start taking steps, and one of the first was getting rid of the knife at my back. I wasn't worried, for all Eobard smarts he was an immensely arrogant man. He could barely use his speed before he got the tachyon enhancer, so I would train and prepare but I didn't have much time to make my move. As we pulled into the driveway I gave a smirk, one step at a time and I can do anything I put my mind to, after all with my speed I have all the time in the world.