Aflame: The Flash (1)

7.1

7.1 top priority

—REWRITTEN—

I walk in the Cortex to see Barry alone standing in front of his suit. I walk up next to him and look at his suit. He turns his head to me, then back at the suit, "You think I'll ever wear it again?"

"I'm not sure," I say, honestly.

"I didn't have my speed for long, but now that it's gone, it feels like a part of me is gone too," Barry tells me. I hook my pinky into his for comfort, just like he did for me this morning. He gives me a small smile at the action, a smile I return.

"I know, Barry," I tell him. I pull away from his pinky and put my hand on his shoulder. "But... with or without your speed....You're still that dorky, clumsy, forensics scientist I met in Starling. The one that couldn't even form a sentence without stammering. The adorable guy and purest soul I know. You're still- you're still you."

"But I'm not. I'm not the best version of me. I love being the Flash," Barry says. The passion in his eyes, makes me smile. "I love everything about it. The feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people. I'm not sure I can live without it."

"I know. I know that. And we will find a way to fix this," I say, sliding my hand down his arm to his hand, holding it. "I promise you that."

"Farooq Gibran," Cisco says walking in, making us snap our heads in his direction. We pull our hands away from each other's and Caitlin follows behind Cisco.

"Who?" Me and Barry ask in unison.

"The powers vampire who jacked your powers. I hacked in the surveillance for the sub station. One I got his face, it was easy to find a match," Cisco says handing Barry a tablet. I move closer to Barry to see what's written on the tablet, my chin resting against the side of his shoulder.

"He climbed an electrical tower, the night of the accelerator explosion," Barry says.

"Not a surprise where his powers came from," Cait says. Suddenly, something starts beeping, causing Cisco to run to the desk. I pull my head away from the tablet to look at Cisco.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Cisco says as me and Barry walk over to him, looking at the screen to see Farooq. "This is not happening."

"Dr.Harrison Wells! I need to see you! Come on, I know you're inside. Open the door. I just wanna talk. If you're not willing to talk, I'll talk to your daughter! She's a gem isn't she! Would be a shame is anything happened to her! Come on! Listen to me!" Farooq yells. When no one answers, he yells, "LET ME IN!!!!"

We watch him burst open the electrical systems. He then siphons all of the electricity in S.T.A.R. Labs. All of the energy everywhere, because the electrical system at S.T.A.R. Labs was directly connected to the city. S.T.A.R. Labs completely powers down, nothing but the light of a window shining through. Suddenly, the building starts shaking and I stumble, grabbing onto Barry's arm. Barry's hand grabs my arm, like this morning and helps me stand. "He's inside," Barry says to everyone and turns to me, "Go! Hide. Just don't be here."

"What? I don't need to run and hide. Barry, I can handle myself. He can't even take my powers and we're not even sure I'll get cancer," I tell him.

"I am not taking that risk! And you are his top priority if he wants to get to Wells," Barry says.

"I'm not going anywhere," I say.

He sighs and then tries to call Joe. When he doesn't answer, along with other officers, he calls Captain Singh, "Captain Singh, I've been trying to get in touch with Joe, or anyone at the precinct." He listens to something Captain says and then hangs up. "Joe and Iris are in trouble."

"I'll go to them," I say. "That way, I won't be near Gibran and I'll be able to help."

"Ok," Barry says as I go put on my suit.

"Good luck," I say and then teleport outside the precinct.

I then teleport inside and slowly walk to the hostages. Iris and Joe see me and I put a finger up to my mouth so they can be quiet. They nod and then Joe starts distracting him as I try to get behind him. He turns around my way and then I quickly teleport behind a desk.

Eddie then comes up behind him and shoots him. Tockman immediately turns around to shoot Eddie but I put my force field around him. I can see everyone shocked, but I ignore it. With how weak it is, it only manages protect Eddie from a few shots but he manages to get shot once and falls back. He says something in the Wilkie talkie and then turns to me.

"And who are you?" Tockman asks.

"Someone who's about to kick your ass," I say, through a voice modulator. He tries to shoot me but I teleport away. I use my pyrokinesis to create a rope of fire and grab his gun to point it back at him. He immediately puts his hands up. He moves his hands behind his head and then takes out another gun, from nowhere and points it at Iris.

"You shoot me, I shoot her," He says. I keep the gun up, and he starts pulling the trigger. I then put my hands up and slowly put the gun down on the ground. "Good," He says and points the gun at me. "Let's see this hero everyone loves so much, die."

I quickly grab his gun and then point it directly at him. He then puts his hands up and you can see the fear in his eyes. He doesn't have anymore guns. I knee him in his private parts, causing him to fall to the ground and then I throw him against the wall. I grab the walkie talkie and say, "Captain Singh!"

"We are getting it. Just don't hurt anyone!" He replies.

"Captain, Tockman has been taken down. You can come get him," I say and then start untying Joe and Iris. "I'll take E- Mr. Thawne to the hospital. Get there as soon as possible," I tell them. They nod and I go to Eddie.

I'm about to teleport there when Iris says, "Wait! Who are you? Are you with the Flash?"

"Yes," I say and then take Eddie to the hospital.