[1] Exposure ➳ The Flash (S1)

|03| A Sight For Sore Eyes

Chapter 3 x

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Harrison pressed his lips together as he watched the light blue bar graphs on the monitor in front of him raised and fell as it tracked Barry Allen's energy readings they had recently recorded on the "Cisco-ed" treadmill. He would be surprised it hadn't caught fire by now with how fast Barry could run on it if Cisco hadn't worked on it and he hadn't seen just how much Central City had changed in a little under a year. To have been working with the fastest man he had ever set eyes on and yet have him always be tardy was a mystery to him. One he was willing to crack no matter what it took.

Rug burns didn't come close to describing the injuries Barry Allen could sustain from a single fall. Luckily for him he healed fast. If only Harrison's own back could do the same. He was doing everything in his power to try and get the jump on this certain scientific discovery; on what exactly Barry could do, how fast he could actually go. Not only would it put STAR Labs back on the map but it would, in turn, give him his good name back...and get Mercury Labs out of his mind as someone to worry about.

"He could be going faster," he whispered to himself. He could hear his knuckles popping as he tightened his grip around the hand rest of his wheelchair.

He sat back against the back cushion, letting out a sigh through his nose, shifting his gaze from the monitors to the dark treadmill room in front of him. Soon it would be bathed with light, keeping everyone's attention on the speeding young man as he helped them fully understand his capabilities. They just had to wait for him to arrive.

Like usual.

"This is the fastest he's managed to run so far, Dr. Wells," Caitlin said, leaning back in her chair, shifting her gaze from the monitor in front of her to the red blur on the treadmill. "I mean, more so than his top speed with Bette." She briefly glanced over at Cisco when he sniffed before letting out a sigh. She lifted her eyebrows before shifting her gaze back towards the older man. "It's small I'll admit, but, it's some improvement."

He slowly nodded at her words. "Be that as it may," Dr. Wells replied, sucking in a deep breath of air through his nose, "we haven't even begun to assess exactly what Barry can do. He hasn't put his mind to this and the more we have to wait for him, the less time we have to really learn just what that accident did to him."

"And we can't do that with Johnny-Come-Lately," Caitlin agreed, running her hands over her face before brushing her hair back behind her ears. She then turned towards Cisco, her hair swinging around her face, removing itself from behind her ears as she gave him smug look. "See? I can come up with names, too."

"You sure can, Cait," Cisco replied with a toothy smile, pointing the Twizzler in his hand in her direction before taking a bite out of it. Caitlin let out a huff of air, rolling her eyes.

"You know those are bad for you," Caitlin pointed out to him, sitting back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. She pointed a clear glossed nail polish covered fingernail at him. "There's 21 grams of sugar in there, has 160 calories per stick and because of how long it takes to eat, you trick your body into thinking you're full."

Cisco tilted his head back, letting out a laugh. "Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin." Cisco shook his head back and forth. "This may not be good for the body, but it's good for the soul."