I'm Not The Flash

How To Send A Message

Barrys POV

As I was speeding into the cortex, I heard Cisco's voice in the background. "Barry!" I slowed to a stop and turned to face the disappointing and concerned stares.

"Barry, what did you just do?" Iris asked. 

"Well," I said, trying to find the words. I wasn't really sure how to go about explaining my reasoning. 

"Since when do you go around letting the bad guys walk!" Joe said cutting in.

"She's not a bad guy," I said trying to reason with them. 

"Because you know her so well," Iris said with an eye roll.

I was getting annoyed. "At least I know more than you," I said. I was starting to see which side they were on. They weren't even trying to understand the situation. They just see a meta who did a bad thing, and they lock them up. 

"Dude, she robbed a bank and tried to cut the power lines. That's only the beginning of what she's done," Cisco said with a calm voice. 

"Look, I know Em has done some bad stuff in the past, but you didn't even give her a chance to explain," I said. I knew if I could appeal to their humanities, I could get them to back me up.

"Em?" Caitlin said with a questioning voice. 

"You're on a first name basis now?" Iris asked. Clearly, I had misspoken. 

"It's short for Emerald," I said. "You would know that if you let her explain."

"Well she was going to get a trial anyways," Joe said. "She could have shared her story then."

"To the same people that took her away from her family? To the same people that locked her up and experimented on her? Do you honestly think she'll be safe there Joe? They'll just do the same thing all over again." After those words escaped my mouth, I could see they hit everyone deeply. That was good. They were all being unreasonable about this. 

"What do you mean locked her up?" Caitlin asked. 

"She saved her little sister from an oncoming car and someone filmed it. The video went viral, the government deemed her a threat, and took her away to experiment on her." I didn't look at anyone when I said this. I knew it wasn't my story to share, but they would just keep going after her if I didn't.

"Everyone has a past Barry," Cisco said. "You know that better than most." 

"Yeah, I do. Which is why I'm not gonna sit here and watch more people suffer." 

Joe took a few steps toward me. "We're not asking you to do that bear. It's different though." He paused, not really sure what to say next. 

"Why? Because I'm a hero? That could have easily been me. Or Wally. Or Cecile. Or any one of us they deemed a threat," I said. I think I was yelling, but I wasn't really sure. My emotions were on like hyperdrive. 

"You don't know that," Joe said taking a few steps back.

"The only reason they haven't come after us is that we wear a suit. The minute I take that off, I'm a target." I wasn't sure what else I could say to convince them.

"How can you even trust her?" Cisco asked. 

"I don't know. But right now, I trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust you guys." After I said that, I threw my suit on and I just walked out. No one tried to follow me or stop me. Either because they were in shock or didn't care. When I got outside I sped back to that field, hoping she wouldn't mind if I came a little earlier. 

I stood around for a few minutes like a complete idiot. I called her name, but nothing. I was about to give up when I heard a gust of wind behind me.

"You're a little early Flash," Em said. I could sense she was smirking. I turned around to see her there in more comfortable clothes. 

I gave her a smile back, but it quickly faded. I couldn't hide how I was really feeling. My emotions were in overdrive. 

"Flash, why the long face?" she asked taking a step closer. 

"It's just," I said. I wasn't really sure how to word it. "You were right." My head was hung low now. I didn't want to believe that my friends didn't believe in me, but it was the truth. And I had to accept it and move on. 

She didn't rub it in my face. She gave me a nod, but then looked me up and down. "Get rid of it."

"My suit?" I asked feeling a little uncomfortable. 

"They can track you with it on. I calculate that there are at least three different trackers in all different spots. We can't risk it and we can't trust you unless you get rid of it," she said. 

I sighed, but then sped away. I sped back into Joe's house and got a change of clothes, leaving my suit on the couch for everyone to find. I guess you could say it was a little dramatic, but it sends a message. I sped back over to the field in my classic sweater and converse. I wasn't really sure what to expect next.

She tapped her watch two times and came up to me and grabbed my arm. The next thing I knew, we weren't in the field anymore. We were in some base of operations. It reminded me of the arrow cave, but a little brighter. I looked around in amazement. Everything in me wanted to superspeed around as I did at the DEO, but I thought it would have been rude.

"This is," I said. I couldn't find the words to finish. Everything looked to be state of the art. They had a nice training area, but my eyes drifted towards the technology. What can I say? I'm a nerd. The only thing missing was people. Em must have read my mind because she let out a whistle and three other people came out of the shadows. I must have missed them while I was geeking out.

They all appeared to be tired, so I assumed they must have been training. There were two guys and another girl. I had never seen any of them before, but I guess that makes sense. I couldn't help but notice they each had the same scars on their arm as Em. That made me feel worse. I didn't even know this was happening. I must have been staring because my attention snapped back up to them when I heard Em say, "Barry, meet the team."