Harrison Wells' Human Shield

Fastest Man Alive [3]

"Sorry." Caitlin told Barry as she cleaned up his wounds, "You're lucky the abrasions are already rapidly healing,"

"Yeah, I got my ass handed to me," Barry hissed.

"You got blood on my suit," Cisco said as he used a headlamp to examine the suit's finer details.

"I think some of it belongs to him. Another not-so-friendly meta-human,"

Dr. Wells pulled up the Meta's information on the screen. "Danton Black. He's a bio-geneticist specializing in therapeutic cloning.

Clara opened her mouth.

"Growing new organs to replace failing ones," Dr. Wells simplified.

Clara nodded her head. "Stagg stole his research and then fired him,"

"I saw Black create duplicates from his own body,"

"That's pretty ironic." Cisco noted, "They guy specialized in cloning, and now he can make Xeroxes of himself,"

"If he was experimenting on himself when exposed to the dark matter wave released by the particle accelerator explosion..."

"Meet Captain Clone," Cisco smiled.

Clara shook her head at the name.

"Don't worry. I'll come up with something cooler,"

Barry shook his head and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Clara voiced.

"Joe was right." Barry sighed. "I'm in way over my head. Yeah, I'm fast, but I am no warrior. Man, I could barely fight one meta-human, let alone six,"

"Barry." Dr. Wells called out, "I understand. Today was a setback. But any grand enterprise has them. And we can never learn to fly without crashing a few times,"

"This wasn't a grand enterprise, Dr. Wells. This was a mistake,"

***

Dr. Wells and Clara entered CCPD, where Detective West talked with Stagg.

"Spoken like a true philanthropist." Dr. Wells interrupted, "Or is it humanitarian?" he scoffed. "I'm sorry. I can never remember which one you're pretending to be, Simon,"

"Harrison..." Simon Stagg greeted, "Don't get up,"

Clara glared and moved forward, but her father held an arm before her.

Detective West pointed to Stagg as he got on the elevator. "Another fan of yours, Doctor?"

"Can we talk, Detective?" Dr. Wells asked.

Detective West nodded and led Dr. Wells and Clara to his desk. "So you were right. Barry's not the only one who's special. This guy who tried to kill Simon Stagg, he could..."

"Replicate spontaneously," Clara finished. "Yeah, we know,"

"Did you know about Barry?"

Clara looked over at her father.

"When he was first in his coma, you came to the hospital, and you asked me if you could take him to STAR Labs. Did you know what he could do?"

Dr. Wells cleared his throat and stretched his arms behind his head. "I had my suspicions that he was...affected,"

"Mm-hmm,"

"Hey, Joe...I was never looking to become a senior member of a secret crime-fighting unit. You and I both know we are the only ones equipped to protect Central City,"

"Maybe I'm more interested in protecting Barry." Detective West argued. "But of course, he's all set to fly into the fire right along with you,"

"No, he's not." Clara spoke up, "Not anymore. He quit,"

Dr. Wells tilted his head as he observed Detective West's reaction. "He didn't tell you?"

Detective West shook his head. "I haven't seen him,"

"Well, I'm sure it's only temporary. From what I know of Barry, when he sets his mind to something...no one's gonna talk him out of it. But the next time he suits up...Fshh! Runs headlong into danger...he will fail. Why? He doesn't think he's capable. Doubt...is his real enemy. Joe, not whatever's lurking out there. And as long as you continue to doubt him, he'll keep doubting himself." Dr. Wells patted Clara's hand to let her know he was ready to leave.

Clara gave Detective West a parting glance before following her father over to the elevators. "For the record..." she said, "we care about him, too,"