The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
~ Socrates
~~~~~~~~~Start~~~~~~~~~
"You don't really believe he can run that fast do you?" Nathen heard Caitlin ask Dr. Wells.
Looking around at the large runway of Ferris Air Testing Facility, Nathen sighed remembering the conversation he and Barry had with Dr. Wells and his two remaining employees.
~X~O~X~O~Flashback: 1 hour - S.T.A.R. Labs~O~X~O~X~
"Dr. Wells," Nathen called out, stalking into the Cortex, his brother trailing behind him, "we need to talk."
"Why are you looking for Dr. Wells?" Caitlin asked, sticking her head out of the med bay.
Turning to her, Nathen smiled and nodded his head in greeting before explaining.
"Earlier today, Barry and I were at the precinct, talking to our surrogate father." Nathen started
Barry walked forward, suddenly taking over, "While we were there, I noticed a detainee attempting to steal an officer's gun, before I knew it I had crossed the room, knocked him over, and made it back to my brother's side."
"Okay, I don't see why this is important?" Caitlin asked, noticing Cisco and Wells entering the room.
"It was strange, not because of what happened but because of how long it took to happen. Barry crossed the room, a full 10 feet, and back in less than a second. All I saw was a blur moving to and from the detainee's position." Nathen explained, turning to Dr. Wells.
"Barry isn't the first person I've seen do something impossible since the night of the Particle Accelerator explosion," Nathen stated. "I have an employee, Danton Black, who can replicate himself. When he was working at Stagg Industries, he was looking into organ cloning and experimented on himself briefly. Whatever happened that night, allowed him to clone himself."
"You have to be kidding me," Caitlin exclaimed in disbelief.
"I assure you, I'm not," Nathen said, pulling out his phone.
Typing a few things into his phone, he accessed his company's footage and showed it to the group. The video showed, Black slowly separating into two, the clone having clothes and all.
"So explain to me Dr. Wells, what happened that night?" Nathen asked.
Coughing into his hands, Wells tried to change the subject, "First let's test Mr. Allen's new abilities."
Nathen narrowed his eyes and looked around to see the rest of the group nodding in agreement.
"Fine but afterwards you will explain what happened," Nathen said forcefully.
~X~O~X~O~Flashback End~O~X~O~X~
"Well, I believe anything is possible and in a few minutes maybe you will too," Wells responded with a slight smile.
"So Cisco, what's Barry doing in there?" Nathen asked.
"Changing." was all Cisco said with a smirk.
Walking over to the research van, Cisco spoke, "How's it fit?"
Barry walked out in a red leotard, with a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, running shoes, and goggles on. Nathen struggled to hold in his laugh seeing his younger brother looking so ridiculous.
"It's a little snug," Barry said with an embarrassed, awkward look on his face.
Nathen burst out laughing, as he pulled out his phone and took pictures and a video.
"Cisco, buddy, you and I are going to be great friends." Nathen gasped out in between laughs.
Chuckling Cisco responded, "At least you'll be moving so fast, no one will see you."
"Yeah, no one except God, and our mother," Nathen murmured under his breath, still laughing.
"See you thought the world was slowing down, it wasn't," Cisco began, "you were moving so fast, it only looked like everyone else was standing still."
"Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output and Caitlin your vitals." Cisco said.
"What do you do?" Barry asked.
"Isn't obvious, little brother, he makes the toys." Nathen smirked at the two.
"Thank you, finally someone understands!" Cisco exclaimed towards the sky.
"Check it, this is a two-way headset with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms, which would be awesome," Cisco explained, grinning excitedly.
Barry scoffed in astonishment as Cisco took his helmet. Looking over at Caitlin, Nathen noticed she was walking over to Barry with a tablet. Caitlin began to modify some things on the monitors covering his suit, noticing Barry staring at her.
"What?" Caitlin asked, still working.
"Nothing, I just noticed you don't smile too much." Barry asked, causing Nathen to facepalm.
"My once promising career in bioengineering is over, my boss is in a wheelchair for life, and the explosion that put you in a coma also killed my fiance, so this blank expression kind of feels like the way to go." Caitlin replied somberly.
Hearing about her predicament, Nathen decided to look further into the "death" of her fiance.
"Who knows, maybe he survived somehow." Nathen thought curiously.
Barry looked at the doctor in apology as she stalked away.
"Mr. Allen, while I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint." Wells advised with a smile.
"In other words, don't crash and burn, little runner." Nathen jokes.
"Dude, you haven't called me that in years, I'm 25 now." Barry complained, walking over to the starting line, and pulling on his helmet.
"Little runner?" Cisco asked.
"It was a nickname I gave him when he was a little kid. When he took his first steps, he didn't walk, he ran. It just fits him." Nathen explained.
Barry took a deep breath as Cisco held up a speedometer behind him. Breathing deeply, Barry took off, blowing Cisco off his feet. Nathen braced Caitlin and himself so they didn't fall, causing Caitlin to blush slightly.
"Damn, I always knew the boy could run but jeez." Nathen exclaimed in disbelief.
Looking at Barry's form from afar, Nathen noticed yellow lightning trailing off of him.
"Son of a bitch..." Nathen muttered in disbelief.
"That night, the man in yellow had red lightning…if the yellow lightning wasn't coming from him, then, does that mean there was another one? Two people with Barry's abilities?" Nathen realized.
Deciding to keep the realization to himself until he could gather evidence, Nathen focused on Barry.
"He just passed 200 mph." Cisco informed the group.
"That's not possible." Caitlin stated, struggling to comprehend Barry's abilities.
Nathen looked over at Wells, to see him slowly smiling, as if he'd just accomplished something.
"What are you up to, Dr. Wells?" Nathen wondered silently.
Nathen suddenly focused on Barry, in time to see him run into a bunch of barrels of water. The explosion of water shocked him as he grabbed the binoculars from Caitlin and focused on the barrels. Nathen saw Barry leaning against one of the remaining barrels, holding his right arm. His arm was bent at an interesting angle at the wrist.
"Barry's hurt," Nathen cried out.
~O~O~O~O~Meanwhile, at CCPD~O~O~O~O~
Joe looked around at the crowded precinct and breathed out in exhaustion. Turning his head, he saw his friend and captain approaching him.
"What is all this," David Singh asked, switching his eyes between his phone and the room.
"Witnesses from the robbery at Gold City Bank, perp made off with 200 grand, more or less." Joe quickly replied walking beside the police captain.
"Catch these guys," was all Singh said before walking away.
As Joe watched his captain walk away, he heard a witness, one of the bank tellers, describe her perspective to his new partner, Eddie.
"The windows blew in. It was like a...hurricane, everyone ran for cover." The bank teller described shakily, clutching her blanket.
"We're going to have a sketch artist work with you if you feel up to it." Eddie spoke soothingly.
Signaling the sketch artist to do her job, Eddie got up and approached his partner.
"Third robbery in a month where a freak storm precedes it. Sounds like one of those "wide world of weird" cases Barry's obsessed with." Eddie remarked wryly to Joe.
"He's not obsessed," Joe denied immediately.
"Guess you haven't read his blog," Eddie fired back.
"The security cameras at the bank?" Joe asked, successfully changing the subject.
"Apparently, they all shorted out." Eddie replied, looking over his notebook
"Well, we got a bunch of witnesses here, they all have cell phones." Joe said to Eddie.
"The sky went black and then, boom. Outside was inside." one of the witnesses described.
Joe was looking over the video footage he had gotten from the witness, watching a man in black with a cap walking through the storm to his car. Joe, recognizing the car, turned to the group of law enforcers.
"Man, it was like there was a thunderstorm, in the bank." Joe heard the witness say.
"Vukuvich, suspect is driving a black Mustang. Partial plate; six-kilo-Charlie-three. Put out an APB." Joe called out to the elderly beat cop.
"Copy that," Vukuvich said, walking away.
Joe turned back to the video, hoping to find something else.
~O~O~O~O~At STAR Labs~O~O~O~O~
Nathen sat in a chair looking around at the Cortex, trying to find something to do. After helping Barry back to the STAR Labs van, Nathen and the others drove back to STAR Labs. For the past 3 hours, he had been doing nothing but sitting.
Nathen noticed Caitlin approaching Barry so he followed her.
"It looks like you had a distal radial fracture," Caitlin said, holding up a tablet.
"I'm sorry, 'had'?" Nathen interjected, standing beside his brother.
"It's healed, in three hours." Caitlin explained, looking at the Allen brothers.
"How is that even possible?" Barry asked.
"We don't know...yet," Caitlin responded.
"Well, maybe his abilities include super-healing. His entire body is probably supercharged so maybe it's the same thing with his healing?" Nathen theorized.
"Maybe, maybe not," Caitlin said.
"You really need to learn how to stop," Cisco remarked walking by with the helmet.
"What happened out there today? You were moving pretty well, and then something caused you to lose focus." Wells stated, rolling up to Barry.
Barry gained a pensive look, not sure what to say. Nathen, noticing the look, sighed.
"It was about that night, wasn't it?" Nathen asked.
Barry turned to his brother and nodded slightly.
"I'm sorry, what night? What are you talking about?" Wells asked.
"14 years ago, our mother was murdered and our father was framed and wrongfully convicted for her death," Nathen explained.
Cisco and Caitlin winced, slightly shocked and horrified. Wells, Nathen noticed, didn't even flinch.
"I started remembering something. When my mother was murdered, I saw what looked like a ball of lightning. Inside the lightning, there was a man. He killed my mom." Barry stated.
Seeing Cisco and Caitlin's disbelieving look, Nathen interjected.
"He's not lying, after my brother disappeared from the house, the man in yellow came to a stop, knocked my father out, and approached my mother. Since he wasn't expecting me, I managed to break his arm before he disabled me and killed my mom in front of me."
Caitlin, Wells, and Cisco looked at Nathen in surprise.
"Everyone, the cops, the shrinks, they all told me what I saw was impossible. But what if the man who killed my mom was like me?" Barry queried.
"Well, I think I can say unequivocally, that you are one of a kind." Wells said, attempting to make light out of the conversation.
Barry nodded, seeing that the conversation would be going nowhere. Nathen looked down at his new watch before sighing.
"Alright well, I have to get going." Nathen patted Barry's shoulder, while also discreetly placing a note in his brother's pocket before waving goodbye to everyone else walking away.
~O~O~O~O~At CC Jitters~O~O~O~O~
Iris walked out of the cafe, wary of any eyes on her, and approached her father's partner.
"Can I help you, detective?" Iris asked.
"You can stop acting like you can't stand me when your dad's around," Eddie replied, smirking slightly.
"Aww, but I like having a boyfriend who isn't shot to death." Iris jokes, smiling.
The two smiled at each other before kissing. Feeling someone watching her, Iris turned her head to see Barry looking at the two.
"Looks like I was too slow, again." Barry thought despondently.
~X~X~X~X~Timeskip: Moments Later~X~X~X~X~
"You can't tell my dad. He doesn't know about me and Eddie." Iris pleaded.
"Doesn't seem like anyone's in on the secret," Barry remarked bitterly.
"I was gonna tell you," Iris said, noticing but misinterpreting Barry's tone.
"When you and Nathen were in the hospital, Eddi covered my father's shifts so that we could both be with you two. I thanked him with a cup of coffee, and things just kind of happened. And it's good." Iris explained smiling.
"Dating your partner's daughter...Isn't that against department regulations?" Barry asked, jealously.
"Why are you so upset?" Iris asked, confused.
"I just don't like having to lie to your dad, you know?" Barry lied.
Hearing sirens, Barry and Iris turned their heads to see a police car speeding towards them. Acting quickly, Barry grabbed Iris and lunged out of the way. They both fell as the car the police tried to stop sped past them. Barry got to his feet and chased after the car, subconsciously tapping into his powers.
"Barry?" Iris asked, looking around.
Barry was catching up to the car, running beside it when he looked inside through the window. Barry, making a quick decision, opened the passenger side door, lept in, and closed the door. The speed he had done so, caused the car window to explode. The driver, Clyde Mardon, Barry recognized, went to grab his gun.
Before Barry could think it through, he grabbed the steering wheel and twisted it. The sudden turn caused the car to flip over, slamming into the pavement hood-first. The car slid a few feet before coming to a grinding halt. Barry crawled out of the car as fast as he could. Looking up, uncaring about the blood on his head, Barry saw Clyde walking away while shaking his arm.
"Hey, Mardon!" Barry exclaimed.
Clyde turned towards Barry, blood flowing from his cheek. Sneering, Clyde held his arms out and used his powers to call upon a fog. Using it to envelope him, Clyde ran away. Barry, still in shock, barely reacted in time to avoid the car that was flung into the air and almost crushed him.
~X~X~X~X~Timeskip: Moments Later~X~X~X~X~
"That poor man. The way that fog came in, I have never seen anything like it." Iris said to Barry.
"Barry! Iris!" Barry turned his head, seeing Joe approaching the two.
"I'm alright, Dad," Iris assured her father.
"What the hell were you thinking having her out here?" Joe accused Barry, concern clouding his judgment.
Before Iris and Barry could respond, Joe turned to his daughter. "And I told you, when you see danger, you run the other way. You're not a cop."
"Because you wouldn't let me." Iris fired back.
"You're damn right." Joe raised his voice.
Barry looked between the two, feeling slightly awkward.
"Joe, I need to talk to you," Barry said.
"It can wait," Joe responded.
"No, now." Barry demanded.
Joe, noticing the serious tone, walked towards Barry.
"I know who did this," Barry started, seeing Joe's nod, he continued, "It's Clyde Mardon."
Seeing Joe's disbelieving look, Barry tried to explain, "I know everyone thinks he died in the plane crash, after the STAR Labs explosion, but he is alive. Something happened to him that night, I...I think he can control the weather. The recent robberies, they all happened during freak meteorological events. And when I just confronted Mardon, the street was instantly enveloped in fog."
Barry looked at Joe and saw him nodding his head as if he was looking at a child.
"Of course, you don't believe me," Barry scoffed, "you never believe me."
"Okay, you want to do this now? Out here? Fine." Joe said, fed up.
"Mardon is dead. There is no controlling the weather, Barry. Just like there was no lightning storm in your house that night. It was your brain helping a scared little boy accept what he saw." Joe said.
"My dad did not murder my mother." Barry denied.
"Yes, he did! Your dad killed your mother, Barry! I am sorry, son! But I knew it, the jury knew it, now he's paying for what he did." Joe exclaimed.
"Dad, enough!" Iris said.
"Uh-uh, Iris," Joe said to his daughter before turning to Barry, "I have done my best to take care of you since that night, and I have never asked for anything in return, not even a thank you. But what I do ask you now is that you, for once in your life, see things as they are."
Barry scoffed and walked away from his surrogate father. As Joe looked at Barry's back, Iris looked at Joe in disappointment before walking away as well. Eddie, walking past Iris, approached Joe.
"You're not going to believe this." Eddie started, unfolding a piece of paper. "We got the eye-witness sketch of the perp from the bank job."
Handing Joe the paper, Eddie continued. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that's Clyde Mardon. But that's impossible. He's dead, right?"
Joe's arm dropped as he sighed in frustration.
~X~O~X~O~Timeskip: 30 Minutes - STAR Labs~O~X~O~X~
"I wasn't the only one affected by the particle accelerator explosion was I?" Barry asked storming into the Cortex.
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out, little bro." Nathen said from behind him, leaning against a wall.
Barry spun around in surprise, yelping. Nathen and Cisco started chuckling as Caitlin smiled a little.
"What are you doing here?" Barry asked.
"Coincidentally, I'm asking the same thing you are. Now back to the question." Nathen said.
Wells looked at Caitlin and Cisco, who were sitting behind the computers, before turning back. "We don't know for sure."
"Bullshit, how can you not know for sure." Nathen snarked.
"You said the city was safe, that there was no residual danger. But that's not true, so what really happened that night?" Barry interrogated.
Pulling up a map of the city, Wells tried to explain. "Well...the accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes, and then...it all went wrong. The dimensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world. Anti-matter, dark energy, x elements."
"Those are all theoretical." Barry and Nathen said at the same time.
"And how theoretical are you?" Wells replied to Barry.
"We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City. Though we have no way of knowing exactly what or...who was exposed, we've been searching for other meta-humans like yourself. Apart from you and Mr. Black, we've had little success." Wells said.
"Meta-humans?" Barry asked.
"That's what we're calling them," Caitlin explained.
"I saw one today," Barry said, catching the room's attention, "He's a bank robber, and he can control the weather."
"This just keeps getting cooler." Cisco breathed out.
"This is not cool. Alright, a man died." Barry exploded.
Cisco's smile died as Barry's words took hold. Nathen walked up to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright, why don't you calm down, Cisco had no way of knowing," Nathen said.
Taking a breath, Barry sent an apologetic look to the young mechanic before speaking.
"Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did. From the storm cloud. He's still out there. We have to stop him before he hurts anyone else." Barry said, turning to walk out.
"Barry! That's a job for the police." Wells remarked.
"And just what the hell are the police supposed to do against your metahumans?" Nathen asked. "What are their weapons supposed to do?"
"Why don't you figure that out? But Barry has to stay here. He's what's important." Wells responded.
"You're responsible for this. For him." Barry said.
"Look, I lost everything. I lost my company, I lost my reputation, I lost my freedom. And then you broke your arm, and it healed in three hours. Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world. Genetic therapies, vaccines, medicines, treasures buried deep within your cells and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero!" Wells exclaimed.
"You mean you can't risk it. You said it yourself, you lost everything. He could be your way to regaining everything you lost right? That's why you're content to sit around and do nothing right?" Nathen sneered.
"You may be okay with ignoring your mistakes, but we're going to do something about it," Nathen said, grabbing Barry's arm and dragging him away.
"You're not a hero, Barry. You're just a young man who was struck by lightning." Wells called out as the two brothers disappeared from his line of sight.
Barry, not thinking clearly, started running, however, because Nathen was holding on, he was spirited away with Barry. Barry only noticed this when he was just outside the city limits of Starling City.
"Dude, seriously?" Nathen asked.
"Sorry," Barry said, sheepishly.
"It's alright, I wanted to show you something anyway," Nathen said.
Stepping back, Nathen closed his eyes and let his powers out. Allowing himself to turn into a shadow, Nathen opened his eyes. Barry's jaw dropped as his brother turned into a living shadow. Seeing his glowing white irises within the black sclera of his eyes, Barry could only think of one word.
"Cool." Barry breathed out.
"I know, the night of the accelerator explosion, I was working on a project involving photons. I guess the explosion merged them into my body. I've been doing some tests and I found that I have umbrakinesis and photokinesis." Nathen explained.
"That's amazing, have you told anyone?" Barry asked.
"Apart from you and Iris no, Joe would have a hard time believing me so I decided to hold off. Now where were you going?" Nathen asked, noticing the sign.
"Oh, um I was just visiting a friend," Barry said.
"Ok, well I'll come with you, I'm already here anyway." Nathen shrugged.
Barry nodded, before grabbing his brother and speeding into the city onto a rooftop, right in front of the Starling City Vigilante. Nathen closed his eyes and enjoyed the adrenaline rush of moving so fast.
"Barry, it's good to see you again." the hooded male said, his voice distorted.
"Cut the act, Oliver, I already know." Nathen said, surprising Barry and Oliver Queen.
"You told him?" Oliver asked, yanking his hood back.
"What...n-no...how did you know?" Barry stuttered out in surprise.
"A few months ago, I came to Starling City to visit a friend and offer a job to a potential employee. Imagine my surprise, when one night, I see the Starling City vigilante in an alleyway, completely unconscious. I go over to check him out and his hood falls off, and under it is Oliver Queen, the only surviving member of the Queen's Gambit." Nathen explains.
"Anyways, I patched him up as best I could and I took him to my hotel room, and left shortly after. He looked like he needed the rest." Nathen finished his story.
"Why did you never say anything?" Oliver queried, suspiciously.
"It wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, you were doing some good work, so it wasn't any of my business. What happens in Starling, stays in Starling." Nathen shrugged.
"What are you doing here Barry?" Oliver asked.
Barry stumbled at the change in subject, before explaining what had happened to him in the past months. Nathen had interjected in a few places to either embarrass his brother or tell their audience about some things Barry wasn't aware of.
~X~X~X~X~Timeskip: An hour or so later~X~X~X~X~
"So that's my story. I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible, never imagining I would become the impossible." Barry said.
"So why come to me?" Oliver asked. "Something tells me you didn't just run 600 miles with a passenger, to say "Hi" to a friend."
"All my life, I've wanted to just do more...be more. And now I am. And the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up. What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just some guy who was struck by lightning?" Barry asked.
Before Nathen could interject, Oliver spoke. "I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Barry. I think it chose you."
"I'm just not sure I'm like you, Oliver. I don't know if I can be some...vigilante." Barry said.
"You can be better. Because you can inspire people in a way that I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel. Making a difference. Saving people. In a flash." Oliver smiled. "Take your own advice. Wear a mask."
Barry smiled back, before turning and speeding off.
"Cool," Oliver said, before turning to Nathen. "Does he always forget you?"
"Yeah, Barry's gonna remember about me in a few minutes. Until then I'd like to talk to you." Nathen remarked.
"About what?" Oliver asked.
"About Tommy. A month before Tommy died, he called me for advice about you. He didn't try to tell me about your secret but I figured it out. I let Tommy know that I knew and we got to talking. He wanted to talk to you but wasn't sure what to say. I tried to tell him you were a good person and he wanted to know why I defended you. I talked with him for about an hour or so, trying to get him to understand why you were doing what you were, why you never told him, why you used the methods you did. At the end of the call, I asked why he needed advice and he told me something." Nathen said.
"What?" Oliver asked.
"He was dying," Nathen said. Seeing the shaken look Oliver sent his way, Nathen continued, "Tommy, in his last doctor's visit, had found out that he had Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. The doctors had told him he had only 3 months to live. He didn't want to die without reconciling with you, he wanted you to know he saw you as a hero, that he saw you as a brother. It's why he broke up with his girlfriend and pushed her towards you. Oliver, he trusted you and he forgives you. I'm sorry that he never got to tell you that."
Oliver nodded, tears streaming down his face.
"His death wasn't your fault, he would have died anyway. If anything it's my fault, if I had found out sooner, I could have found some way to treat him. I'm sorry." Nathen apologized.
The two men hugged each other, their connection to Tommy, cementing the start of a beautiful friendship. Wiping his eyes, Nathen looked at his watch and sighed.
"Looks like Barry isn't going to remember me anytime soon." Nathen chuckled, causing Oliver to smile.
Stepping back, Nathen closed his eyes and used his umbrakinesis to search for his brother. Moments later, he saw his brother speaking with Caitlin and Cisco. Snapping his eyes open with a smirk, Nathen quickly pressed the screen on his watch and his necklace, activating his suit. Oliver watched in amazement, as Nathen was enveloped in black nanites which were tearing his clothes off at the same time that they were covering him. Ironically, it looked like shadows were transforming into clothes. Seeing the mask, Oliver's eyes widened seeing the glowing white irises and black sclera of Nathen's eyes behind his mask.
"Barry needs some help, so I gotta go. Tell Felicity I said 'Hi'." Nathen called out as he ran and jumped off the roof. Oliver ran to the edge in time to see Nathen become a shadow and disperse in thin air.
"Cool...wait, how'd he know about Felicity?" Oliver wondered.
~X~O~X~O~Minutes Before - STAR Labs~O~X~O~X~
"I've been going over unsolved cases from the past nine months and there's been a sharp increase in unexplained deaths and missing people. Your metahumans have been busy. Now, I'm not blaming you, I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. I know you all lost something." Barry said, looking at Caitlin and Cisco empathetically. "But I need your help to catch Mardon and anyone else out there like him. But I can't do it without you."
Cisco and Caitlin looked at each other, having a silent conversation before Cisco smiled.
"If we're gonna do this, I have something that might help." Cisco smirked, before leading Barry into his lab.
Turning a stand around, Cisco presented a red suit. "Something I've been playing with. Designed to replace the turnouts firefighters traditionally wear. I thought if STAR Labs could do something nice for the community, maybe people wouldn't be so angry at Dr. Wells anymore."
"How is it going to help me?" Barry asked.
"It's made of a reinforced tripolymer. It's heat and abrasive-resistant, so it should withstand your moving at high-velocity speeds. And the aerodynamic design should help you maintain control. Plus it has built-in sensors, so we can track your vitals and stay in contact with you from here." Cisco explained, his grin widening with every sentence.
"Thanks." Barry said, admiring the new suit.
"Nice design, Cisco. But mine's cooler." A voice called out. All three nerds jumped in surprise and turned around. Upon seeing what looked like half of a masked man sticking out of a shadow, Cisco fell on his ass screaming while Caitlin and Barry took a step back. The masked man stepped fully out of the shadow and leaned against the wall for support, laughing uproariously. Barry, recognizing the white glow of the man's irises, took a cautious step forward.
"Nate, is that you?" Barry asked.
Nathen was struggling to breathe when he answered. Tapping the side of his mask, the nanites making up the mask slid apart and reformed into a necklace. "Yeah, yeah it's me. Sorry Cisco, couldn't resist such a great moment for a prank."
"Oh, that ain't right. You better watch your back, 'cause Imma get you back for that." Cisco threatened, trying to regain his pride.
Caitlin giggled a little at the comedy in front of her, before turning to Barry, holding a tablet.
"Now that Cisco's gained his manhood back." Caitlin began.
"Hey!" Cisco cried out in retaliation.
"I retasked STAR Labs' satellite to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City." Caitlin continued, ignoring Cisco.
Nathen, Cisco, and Barry came to Caitlin's side and looked at the tablet screen.
"We just got a ping. Atmospheric pressure dropped 20 millibars, in a matter of seconds. I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city." Caitlin said.
"Look at that, smart, beautiful, and can patch us up when we need it. If you don't ask her out soon, little bro, I'll do it." Nathen remarked, only half-joking.
Caitlin blushed a little at the joke, as Barry and Cisco smirked. Barry turned his head to the suit and smiled a little.
~X~O~X~O~At Same Time - Mardon's Hideaway~O~X~O~X~
Joe and Eddie stepped out of the car, wary of what may happen.
"You sure Mardon is alive? Or that he's even here?" Eddie asked.
"I'm not saying Mardon is alive. But if he was, this is the last place him and his brother hid out. Let's go." Joe responded.
As the two detectives cautiously approached the barn door, they heard bottles clinking. Pulling out their guns, the two detectives slowly entered further into the dark barn house. Coming to a lightened area, the two saw a man sitting on a stool. It was Mardon.
"Mardon?" Joe asked, half cautious, half disbelieving. "On your feet. Hands on your head." Joe ordered, still unsure of what to expect.
"You got me," Clyde scoffed, amused.
Joe and Eddie looked at each other before Joe grabbed his cuffs and slowly approached Mardon.
"The night of the storm, after STAR Labs blew, after our plane went down," Clyde began, bringing the two detectives to a halt, "and I woke up on the ground alive, when I saw what I could do, I understood. I am God."
"Shut the hell up." Joe scoffed, quickly approaching the criminal, intent on taking him in.
Mardon abruptly stood from the stool, putting the two law enforcers on edge.
"Turn around," Eddie demanded.
Suddenly, both detectives heard howling winds, Joe noticed that it started at the same time Mardon began to move his hand. Mardon jerked his hands down spontaneously, causing the wind to become semi-corporeal and ram into the two detectives. Eddie was thrown into a stack of hay, unconscious, leaving Joe alone to defend the two.
"Do you think that your guns can stop God?!" Mardon shouted over the screaming winds.
"Why in the hell would God need to rob banks?" Joe fired back.
"You're right. I've been thinking too small." Clyde admitted before holding his hands out.
Joe stared in horror and disbelief when dust, wind, and clouds began to circle the bank robber. As the tornado began to rip through the barn, Joe grabbed onto his partner and ran out of the barn. He had barely gotten ten feet away from the barn before he and his partner were blown into their car by the roof of the barn exploding.
Joe watched in shock as the tornado moved away from the barn, towards the city. Looking up, Joe saw what looked like a piece of the barn roof swinging towards him and his partner. Joe held his hands up in defense before a yellow blur slammed into the roof sending it flying away.
Uncovering his face, Joe saw a man in red stand up from under the piece of roofing and pull off a breathing apparatus.
"Barry. Barry. This thing's getting closer, wind speeds are 200 mph and increasing." Barry heard Cisco through the earpiece. "Barry, can you hear me?"
Ignoring the disbelief on his father figure's face, Barry grabbed the side of his head and spoke. "Yeah loud and clear."
"If this keeps up, this could become an F-5 tornado," Cisco warned.
"And it's headed towards the city." Barry cried out. "How do I stop it? Guys?"
"What if I unravel it?" Barry suggested, not hearing an answer from the two supposed geniuses.
"How the hell are you going to do that?" Caitlin asked, astounded.
"I'll run around it in the opposite direction, cut off its legs." Barry explained.
"He'd have to clock 700 mph to do that," Cisco informed Caitlin.
"Your body may not be able to handle those speeds." Caitlin warned Barry. "You'll die."
Barry strengthened his resolve and responded. "I have to try." Looking at Joe, who was still shaken, Barry took a deep breath and sped off.
"You know he'll make it right?" Joe jumped and turned his head to see a man in a mask and a long scarf sitting on the hood of his car, left leg propped up.
"What?" Joe asked, confused.
"Barry, the man in red you just saw," the masked man said slowly.
"W-what...that's Barry?" Joe asked.
"Yup, you've been seeing weird things in this city since the accelerator's explosion. Don't you think it's about time that you accept them?" the masked man asked.
"Who are you?" Joe asked cautiously.
"I'm Barry's backup. But you already know me, Joe." the masked man said, pulling his mask off to show Nathen.
"Nate, w-what are you? H-how did you? What is going on?" Joe asked, even more confused.
"I'll explain later, for now just watch and cheer Barry on as he kicks this dude's ass." Nathen smirks.
The two turned their heads to see Barry speeding around the tornado, slowly increasing in velocity. Nate smirked seeing Barry's plan working.
"The suit's holding up." Cisco giggled.
"But he's not," Caitlin said, worriedly.
"He can do it. I know he can do it." Cisco said resolutely.
Joe, Nathen, Cisco, and Caitlin all waited with bated breath for the tornado to unravel. Unfortunately, their hopes died when Barry was sent flying from the tornado.
"It's too strong!" Barry said.
Nate faintly heard Mardon speak. "It's time to think big." Mardon said.
The tornado suddenly surged, growing bigger and stronger. Barry, seeing this grew disheartened, but before Nathen could say anything, Wells spoke up.
"You can do this Barry. You were right, I am responsible for all of this. So many people got hurt because of me, and when I looked at you all I saw was another potential victim of my hubris. And yes I created this madness, but you, Barry, you can stop it. You can do this. Now run, Barry, run!" Wells said, empowering Barry's determination.
Barry dashed forward, moving even faster than before. Moving so quickly, he was able to run up and down the funnel cloud. Barry and Mardon looked at each other and roared. Suddenly the tornado exploded.
"Barry?" Caitlin asked cautiously after a moment of tense silence.
"Hey." Barry heard as he pulled his mask off. Turning his head, he saw Mardon with a gun.
"I didn't think there was anyone else like me." Mardon said, unknowing of the form that was rising from his shadow.
"I'm not like you. You're a murderer." Barry sneered.
Mardon raised his gun, but before he could shoot, he was suddenly wrapped up in a black cloth and was knocked unconscious by an ICER bullet. Turning his head, Barry saw Joe running towards him and Nathen.
"Barry?!" Caitlin called through the earpiece.
"It's over. I'm okay," Barry said, bringing smiles to the three scientists.
Joe came to a stop in front of Barry and the two stared at each other, unsure of what to say.
"Oh just hug already, jeez." Nathen called out, exasperated.
Smiling slightly, the two men hugged, a silent apology conveyed by both of them.
~X~X~X~X~Timeskip: Hours Later~X~X~X~X~
The Allen brothers stood in front of Joe, both ignoring how Mardon was hauled into a police car, still unconscious. Nathen had modified his ICER to render his victims unconscious for almost 12 hours, to ensure he had time to create something to stop a meta's powers.
"What you two can do...it was the lightning bolt?" Joe asked.
"For Barry, yes, but for me, it's a little complicated." Nathen said.
"I'm sorry, Barry. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. And I called you crazy for chasing the impossible. But you really did see something that night your mom died." Joe said.
Barry and Nathen just nodded in affirmative.
"And your dad is innocent." Joe realized.
Suddenly, the man turned around and looked at Barry and Nate. "I need you to promise me something. I don't want you telling Iris about anything you can do, any of it. I want her safe." Joe said. "Promise me."
"Yeah," Barry agreed.
Joe looked at Nathen expectantly.
"I can't do that Joe. Iris is a grown woman, who can make her own decisions. Furthermore, how can she be safe if she doesn't understand the danger." Nathen argued. "I'm not gonna lie to her, because she will find out sooner or later. When she does, she's going to need someone to guide her through this new world, none of us can do that unless she trusts us."
"This is my daughter, Nate, I don't want her to get hurt." Joe pleaded.
"Joe, I have never and will never stop protecting Iris. That's why she has to know. She is just as headstrong and stubborn as you are, if she feels betrayed she will do the opposite of what we tell her, so the best thing to do is wait. Let her come to the realization and when she asks about metas, and Barry and me, we tell her. You can't keep treating her like a child. Otherwise, she will never be safe, because she'll never trust herself." Nathen responded.
Joe sighed and nodded in acceptance.
"Fine, but until she asks, none of us say anything to her. Swear it." Joe demanded.
The two brothers nodded.
~X~O~X~O~Timeskip: Days Later - Iron Heights Prison~O~X~O~X~
Barry sat in the visiting room of Iron Heights Prison, nervous and excited. Hearing the buzzing of the door, Barry looked up to see his father pass through the door and sit on the other side of the window. Both grabbed the phone before speaking.
"Hey, slugger." Henry jokes, causing Barry to chuckle.
"You've been calling me that since I was 11." Barry smiled, bringing a chuckle out of his father. "Funny thing is, I finally got into a fight today."
"You just got out of a coma. I'm not sure you should be picking fights." Henry warned.
After a moment of silence, Henry spoke. "Hey...did you win?"
"Yeah, I did." Barry nodded, coercing a chuckle out of the two.
"You didn't kill mom. You know I know that, right?" Barry asked.
"Your and Nate's belief in me is all I need." Henry smiled.
"You're not gonna be here much longer," Barry claimed, getting a confused look from his father.
"Whoever killed mom, whatever killed her...I think I finally have a way to find them. To stop them." Barry explained.
"Barry, we've talked about this. It's time to let it go. You have got to stop worrying about me, and live your life." Henry said.
"For the first time, I feel like I finally can." Barry smiled. "The truth is, ever since the night mom died, I've been stuck in one place, missed out on a lot of things. But I'm different now. I've made some new friends. They're helping me find my way..." Barry said.
~X~O~X~O~At The Same Time - STAR Labs~O~X~O~X~
"Why is it shaped like a lightning bolt," Caitlin asked, approaching Cisco, who was placing the chest piece on the suit.
"So it's not boring," Cisco grinned.
~X~O~X~O~Back at Iron Heights~O~X~O~X~
"To finally move forward." Barry continued. "You remember when you wanted Nate and me to change our name? So we wouldn't have to deal with people knowing you're our dad?"
Henry's eyes began to tear up as his son looked at him with pride.
"I'm glad they know." Barry chuckles, tears threatening to spill over. "I'm so proud to be your son."
"I love you, son," Henry smiles.
"I love you too, Dad," Barry replies.
Barry raised his hand to the glass, and Henry followed. And despite the glass window, despite his father's incarceration, despite everything that had happened to separate them, the father and son had felt closer than ever.
~U~U~U~Exposition~U~U~U~
My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. A friend recently gave me the idea for a new name. And something tells me, it's gonna catch on.
My name is Nathen Allen, and I am the silent guardian of my city. I will watch over my home and my family from the shadows and shine a light on the evil in my city. I am Omber.
~~~~~~~~~Finished~~~~~~~~~