The Line Between Living and Dying

Cosplay Party

After Barry called an uber and changed into some sweats, Caitlin had him get on the treadmill to test his speed or lack thereof.

"He runs slow even for a normal person," Cisco commented. Dani elbowed him in the side, sending him a glare that made him shut up immediately.

Barry slowed down, hopping off the treadmill since he had proven that his speed was gone.

"You can't just lose your powers, okay? Your DNA was transformed by the particle accelerator blast. There's no way to untransform DNA." Caitlin ranted with lots of hand gestures.

"Yeah, tell that to the Uber driver who charged me sixty-five bucks to take me here. I had to tell her I was coming from a cosplay party." Barry sassed.

"So we were wrong." Dr. Wells wheeled forward. "This meta-human doesn't electrocute people; he siphons electricity, thereby removing your power."

"All right, do we think this is temporary or--" Barry had to stop to catch his breath. He had gotten tired from running in the treadmill.

"We have to run tests." Dr. Wells said.

Barry nodded. "Yeah. I've got to warn Joe." He stood up, leaving the room.

"Barry, we will find a way to restore your speed," Wells assured. "I promise you that."

Barry just nodded again, actually leaving this time.

"You know, there is someone here who might stand a chance against this meta with Barry being down for the count," Cheyanne spoke up, eyeing Dani.

Dani noticed her gaze, catching on to what she was inferring. "No. No, I'm not ready." She shook her head.

"Oh, come on, Dani. It's been two weeks. The longer you wait to get back out there, the harder it will be to do it." Cheyanne reasoned.

"I don't care," Dani said, in a surprisingly loud voice. She took a deep breath, calming herself. "I'm not ready. And you're just gonna have to accept that." Dani shrugged, walking out.

* * *

Without even thinking, Dani drove to her father's gym. It was just before closing so a few trainers were wrapping up with their trainees.

Dani walked behind the main desk, taking her jacket off and grabbing a pair of boxing gloves. She strapped them on, making a bee-line for the nearest punching bag. Dani stormed right up to it, punching it as hard as she could. She did that over and over again, punching the bag with all of her strength, making it swing toward the ceiling.

"Want something more solid to hit?" Michael asked from behind her.

Dani turned around, panting. "You want me to punch you?"

Michael chuckled. "No, but I figured you'd probably want someone on the other side of that bag, steadying it."

"Sure." Dani accepted her dad's offer, walking around the bag so that he could hold it steady for her.

"So, what's wrong?" Michael questioned, once Dani had a good rhythm going.

"What do you mean?"

"Zander told me about how you're seeing a therapist about your anger. I'm assuming this has something to do with that?"

"This is how I get my anger and frustrations out. I've been so shutdown after Mom died that I mask everything with anger. I get it out physically so that I'm more comfortable talking about my feelings." Dani explained between punches.

"Smart." Michael nodded. "You wanna tell me why you're angry now?"

Dani stopped punching, taking a look around to make sure no one was close enough to eavesdrop. "Barry lost his speed. And it looks like the only way to defeat the meta who took it is for me to suit up again."