Survivors

Chapter 41: Fallout

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Central City- Jitters

Barry Allen sat in the same booth he always sat with Iris after the two met up after class. Normally the man was excited, happy, brimming with news of some new scientific discovery that Iris had no hope or interest in understanding. Today the girl was having trouble gauging her best friend's mood. She had thought he would be excited, beyond excited. Since Christmas though, Barry Allen had lost some of his light. Iris knew he had been crazy over a girl he met in National City and she knew he had stopped talking about her all the time. He even seemed pained the few times she brought this Kara girl up, so she stopped. Whoever this girl was, she was the first girl Barry had ever shown true excitement over. He had girlfriends in the past but when he came back from National City not even Joe's disapproving lecture could wipe the smile off his face. Her Dad finally gave it up, seeing there was no bringing him out of his good mood and back down to Earth with a lecture. Learning he had spent the weekend with a nice girl instead of chasing werewolves cooled her father's irritation as well.

Now it had happened. Less than 24 hours ago, on the West Coast, what Barry had talked about forever, what he swore was true, had been proven. The impossible happened. Joe West could not tell Barry he was crazy or chasing dreams any longer.

But instead of excitement, he seemed a bit shocked then somber.

"Barry, would you snap out of it? This is amazing! Look at her! Everything you have ever said about how the impossible could be out there, all the stories..."

"If she was a yellow ball of lightning, that would help." he muttered. "But this isn't going to prove my Dad's innocence."

Barry Allen saw the picture on the news, the one being plastered all over TV screens around the world. It was a face he spent one glorious weekend with and he had memorized. No pair of glasses would change that.

So much made sense now.

"Maybe she knows a ball of lightning?" Iris suggested, hoping to get some excitement out of him.

"She would have told me if she had. Thats what Dante meant." he mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. Talking to myself. She uh...I doubt a girl who can do that, who saved all those people, knows about lightning storms that can kill people in their homes with a knife."

Barry thought back to the weekend, where he first met her, her friends, the special forces team, everyone being protective over her even though she didn't seem to need it.

She hadn't been surprised about the girl who was saved from the werewolf. He bet she was the one who saved the girl. He also suspected she was the girl from Gotham City. Dante had told him that he was right, that there were things in the world that could not be explained. He also told him if he knew of something that could help he would let him know.

Meaning none of them, Kara included, knew anything that could help him. She would have told him.

So much became clear when he saw the footage for the first time. Barry knew, but watched it three more times, making himself acknowledge it. Her eyes, the small scar inside her left eyebrow, her build, her hair. He never could understand the contradictions in her. The scholarly girl who was an MMA fighter with a core made of steel and loved motorcycles. The anxiety issues...she knew this was coming. She had a suit made. Barry had wondered what had happened, what could make her go away for a year. He was afraid she may have attempted suicide or had a nervous breakdown or something. Instead she was preparing.