Always Running

Break

"So, Mr. Garrick, how long have you been the Flash on your world?" Caitlin asks, looking at him out of the corner of her eye while reading the results of some tests on her computer.

"Not long enough for you to call me Mr. Garrick. Please, call me Jay." He laughs. "I've been the Flash for about two years."

Caitlin looks at him intensely for a moment then turns back to her computer. "How did you get your speed?" She looks out of the corner of her eye again.

"Not really sure. I was at my lab one night, trying to purify heavy water, when there was a blinding light. Next thing I know, I'm waking up from a coma with the ability to run almost as fast as the speed of light."

"You're a scientist?" Caitlin asks skeptically, turning to look at him.

"Part-time chemist, part-time physicist." Jay jokes, smiling at her. She nods and turns back around, mumbling something he can't quite hear. "What was that?" He asks.

Caitlin shakes her head, trying to think of something else to tell him, turning to face him. "Uh you have a low heart rate. There are signs of regenerative capabilities."

He nods. "But?"

"No sign of the speed force ever having been in your system." She finishes. He nods. She gives him a weak smirk and walks out of the lab to inform Barry and Cisco who are now standing and talking in the center of the cortex.

"Anything?" Barry asks, turning to face her.

Caitlin shakes her head, turning back to look at Jay who is staring at the ground, still sitting in the med bed. "His heart rate is low, like yours. He has signs of regenerative capabilities, like you. But no sign of the speed force." Caitlin says, sounding both skeptical, but almost disappointed.

"But?" Barry asks, noticing her hesitation.

"He was in a lab." Caitlin says as if to herself.

"So?" Cisco asks.

"So...so was Barry. He's a chemist, so he would've been surrounded by chemicals very similar to those in Barry's lab. He said there was a blinding light, which could've been lightning. He was in a coma."

"Like me." Barry finishes for her.

"I'm not saying he's telling the truth about everything, I'm just saying that...look no one else really knows what happened to you except us. He couldn't have made that up based on your story. As far as the rest...I tested his heart rate, blood pressure, and motor responses while he was talking."

"You gave him a lie detector test?" Cisco asks, sounding impressed.

Caitlin nods. "I don't think he's lying about that part at least. We know it's possible to lose speed. You have before."

"And what about this whole 'other earth' theory?" Barry asks, sounding annoyed.

"I don't know, Bar." Caitlin sighs.

"What if he's not a good guy? What if he just wants to find our weaknesses?" Barry asks, running his hands through his hair.

"Then we don't show them to him. We keep him at a distance." Caitlin suggests.

Barry nods, sighing. "Run more tests. Both of you." He looks to Cisco then back to Caitlin. "When you're not with him, he goes in the pipeline.

The two nod and watch as Barry walks out of the cortex, his hands in a constant motion through his hair. Cisco looks in at Jay.

"Think he'll go willingly?" Caitlin asks.

"I hope so. I don't think either of us could force him into the pipeline."