Chapitre 8: Chapter 8 - Yellow Streak
"I think, there might be a problem." Barry Allen had come back.
"Well, we did say that, and you should've stayed." Nathan smiled in amusement at the man.
...
[Ferris Air Testing Facility]
"So, how are going to do this?" Barry Allen looked around him, at all the equipments that lay around him. He was feeling oddly exited at the prospects of his newfound ability.
"You run fast, so we have prepared this for you." Cisco pointed at the red leotard with padding at the knees and elbows. There was also a helmet at the side, attached to which was a camera.
"You change into these, we will be outside." Cisco and Nathan left the trailer and headed out, leaving Barry to change his clothing.
"Are you exited?" Nathan asked the man beside him who rubbed at the lightning shaped emblem.
"Dude, this is like watching something straight out fantasy, except it's all very scientific."
"Hmph." Nathan snickered and looked around himself, finding Caitlin with her tab and Harrison Wells on his wheelchair. The later was also looking exited.
At that time, Barry Allen left the trailer and Nathan took a look at the man. "How's it feeling?"
"It's a little snug."
Nathan smiled and Cisco directed the man to his take-off site. He looked at his own modified sneakers that Cisco had made to last longer. Apparently the bottom part generated the bare minimum friction and thus saved it from melting into polymeric goop.
Barry and Caitlin seemed to be having a talk, so Nathan moved toward Dr. Wells and asked, "Shouldn't we tell him about others, like me, for example?"
"In time Nathan," Harrison Wells smiled. "Let him adapt a little bit, before we can introduce him to bigger world."
"He's a good guy," Nathan tore his gaze from the man in leotard and looked at the man in wheelchair. "A CSI at that, pretty sure he will get upset if he finds about it himself."
"Alright, Nathan you won. But let's wait until after this test is over."
Nathan nodded and the two focused on Barry who took his position. For an odd second, Nathan felt his heart beat a little quicker when Barry exhaled and then ran off.
A sonic boom sounded and gust blew the trampoline they hung above. Nathan watched in stunned amazement at the man who left them in a dust.
"He just shot past 200 miles." Cisco informed the team while grinning in wonderment.
"Incredible." Nathan let out a sigh and watched the red blur streak across the highway. A cluster of water barrels lay in the middle, and just as Nathan expected for the man to stop or dodge, he ran straight trough them.
A spray of water launched in the air and Nathan ran right after. Arriving at the accident within minutes, he stopped to find Barry holding his twisted wristed as he winced in pain, but more than that the man was looking at him with mouth wide open.
"What the -? You are like me?"
Nathan sighed. Even if the man said that, Nathan was barely able to run past 150 miles, and that after the three month juice up period. Compared to him, Barry Allen was way faster.
"Let's get you to see the doctor. We can talk at the lab." He helped the Speedster on his feet and the two met Caitlin and Cisco halfway who had ran over in hurry.
...
"What happened there?" Harrison Wells asked as Barry sat on his bed.
"I... I remembered something." He hesitated to say further but under their inquisitive gaze, he relented. "When I was young, my mom was murdered..."
Nathan looked at the man in sympathy. He didn't remember his own parents but he had always wondered what it would've been like if they were with him. Or maybe they had, just that he had forgotten.
Barry Allen recounted his childhood nightmare and the four of them listened with rapt attention. When he mentioned a ball of lightning and a man in that lightning, Nathan paused. 'Was there was some sort of supernatural even before this?' Thinking of Star City and the rumours that he collected, he realised that might actually be true.
"What if the man who killed my mom was like me?"
Harrison Wells looked at him and said, "Well I think, I can say unequivocally that you are one of a kind."
Barry looked back at him in doubt, then pointed at Nathan and asked, "Then, what about him?"
Nathan stood from his chair and looked at others. "There's no point in hiding anything from Barry, why don't we just show him."
Harrison Wells looked at him and put a hand to his mouth. "Alright." He agreed and pressed something on his wheelchair, the monitor hanging on the wall suddenly displayed an animated graphical representation of the Particle Accelerator incident.
It showed how the accelerator was stable at one point and then the next boom. A wave of unknown particles and energy washed through the centeral city, releasing unknown energies from the breach.
"We call them [Meta-Humans]." Harrison Wells pointed at the graph that represented a drastic increase in the criminal activities, all stating reasons unexplainable. "We don't know how many were affected exactly, but probably a lot. For the past few months we have been collecting data on these meta-humans and so far we have managed to identify one."
"Wait a minute, that's Clyde Mardon!" Barry exclaimed seeing a familiar face that he instantly recognised.
"You know him?" Cisco asked looking up from his own computer screen.
"Yeah, I mean he's a criminal. But Iris said he died in that plane crash the night... the... Omg, he's a meta-human, isn't he?!"
Nathan went to his side and handed him a tablet. "We call him Weather wizard, a meta-human capable of controlling weather. We suspect that the recent bank robberies are related to him."
"Then why didn't you alert the CCPD?" Barry looked at all of them before resting his gaze on Dr. Wells.
Harrison Wells sighed, "Even if we had, there's hardly anything they could've done; presuming that they believe us, the man they are up against is capable of controlling weather."
"This guy has killed before, and now he's robbing banks. There's no telling what he would if left unchecked, he needs to be stopped." Barry was insistent, his voice forceful.
Nathan shook his head and said, "Even if we believe that, what can we do?"
"That's right, Mr. Allen. This is a job for police." Harrison Wells pointed at him and said, "You, Barry Allen, are important. I have lost my everything in that accident. But you Barry, you have everything that we could nead for this new world. A cure to every illness."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your regeneration." Caitlin moved from the side and showed him another graph. "Barry, you have superhuman metabolism. Your cells are in constant flux, never staying still. Everytime you injure yourself, where it would take a normal man weeks or months, it takes you hours to heal."
Barry looked at the X-ray of his fractured arm and already it had healed to a certain extent. "But this doesn't mean anything if the world itself dies."
"You are not a hero, Barry." Harrison Wells had a hard and cold look on his face. "We are not here to catch criminals. We are scientists, we search for truth, not fight it."
"How can you say that?! This whole mess is your responsibility, and you should take it!" Barry pointed his finger at Dr. Wells in indignation and stormed out of the lab.
Harrison Wells also turned around and left through the Cortex leaving the three of them behind.
"Well, that didn't go as expected." Nathan sighed and went back to his seat.
"Barry is right." Suddenly Cisco stood from his seat and looked at them. "We need to help him."
"You're serious?" Nathan looked back at him in doubt.
"Look, at this rate Barry will go after the Weather wizard by himself. The least we can do is provide external help."
Caitlin nodded her head in approval, "Cisco is right, we need to help Barry."
"Aw man." Nathan let out a long sigh and reluctantly stood from his seat. He wasn't getting any rest today.
Cisco called Barry who agreed to meet within an hour, so he asked Nathan to tag along for a coffe at jitters.
...
"What's this?" Cisco asked while pointing at the cardboard boxes that lay at the table.
"I've been going over all the cases of robbery and murder for the past nine months and most of them remain unsolved."
"Other meta-humans?" Nathan pointed out and Barry nodded.
"Look, I need your help in catching Clyde Mardon and others like him." Barry looked at all three of them.
"That's what we are here for dude," Cisco smiled. "And I have just the right thing that might help."
Cisco led the trio into his workshop where he showed them a full body red suit. "Designed to replace the turnouts the firefighters usually wear. I thought if the S.T.A.R Labs could do something for the community, people would stop getting so angry at Dr. Wells."
"How would this help me?" Barry moved to examine the suit as he asked.
"It's made of tri-polymer and is heat and abrasive resistant."
As Cisco explained, Nathan suddenly interjected and asked, "The one, you made the soles of shoes with, right?"
"Yes." Cisco pointed at Nathan and smiled.
Barry also looked at him and asked, "Are you also going to wear a suit?"
"What?" Nathan frowned in confusion and looked at others.
"I mean, you are also a meta-human, so I was asking if you would come with me?"
"Oh." Nathan lifted his brow in understanding. It was no wonder Barry had misunderstood his question for the man had also seen him run at inhuman speeds. "No, I'm afraid I'll not be coming with you. I am different from you, Barry."
"Yes, you did say that, what does it mean, exactly?"
Nathan sighed. "My powers are different from yours. You can run at insanely fast speed, but me I can't do the same."
"I saw you do exactly that." Barry pointed out.
Nathan looked at Cisco and later took his cue and explained, "Nathan doesn't have a speed related meta-human ability. The reason he is fast is because he can absorb the dark matter from meta-humans and adopt their properties to a certain extent."
"Wait a minute." Barry stopped the man from explaining further and looked at them. "Then his speed, did he get that from me?"
Nathan shrugged his shoulders and Cisco smiled wearily.
Caitlin sighed and said, "Nothing too drastic. We needed to know the reason behind your abilities and it was thanks to Nathan that we were able to roughly gouge the time of your awakening. All in all, we didn't do any experimentation like you are thinking."
Barry nodded his head and looked at them for a moment before turning to look back at the suit.
"Try it, then we catch Weather Wizard." Cisco patted the man on his shoulder. Barry nodded and took to suit to change into.
Nathan looked at them and said, "Still not sure we should be doing this, I mean, this is a job for police. It would only get us in trouble."
"It's totally cool, dude," Cisco waved a hand at his worries. "Not to mention the fact that no one would recognise Barry with that mask on, that's if he gets spotted. And that weather tracker I made months ago could finally come in handy."
Nathan nodded his head but his thoughts were entirely different. To him, S.T.A.R Labs was somewhat of a home and the only place where he had friends whom he could confide to. And, although they had been searching and looking for meta-humans these past months, he had no desire to go play hero.
Sure, Clyde Mardon was evil and needed to be stopped but that was what police was for, wasn't it? Why must he risk his life for some stranger he didn't know. But if Barry wanted his help without his practical involvement, then there was no need to be aversive towards the offer.
After all, no matter his decision Clyde Mardon was a threat. Last time he had gotten lucky with that relatively weaker meta-human, if it were someone like Weather Wizard, then Nathan was sure he would've died.
"Besides, if we bring Mardon here, then I could..." Nathan stopped his line of thinking and turned to his engineer friend.
"Hey Cisco, if we do catch this Weather Wizard, what's the plan afterwards?"
"What do you mean?" Cisco looked at him quizzically. "We catch him and then imprison him. Sounds easy enough."
"Except the part, where the said prisoner is a Meta-Human." Nathan pointed out and that got Cisco thinking. It was true that he hadn't thought much of it. Put him in a container? Or an extremely durable carbon-fibre prision? But what if they couldn't hold the man, what then?
"Guy's emergency." Caitlin suddenly voiced after taking a look at her phone. "It's the satellite, it's picking up atmospheric discrepancies near an old farmhouse."
"Clyde Mardon." A voice sounded from behind them and the three turned in surprise to find Barry standing there in his red suit.
"That looks good." Cisco complemented but Barry waved his hand.
"Later. First we need to catch Mardon."
The trio nodded and Cisco handed Barry an earpiece. "Wear this, we will direct you and be able to keep contact."
Barry nodded and ran out.
...
Author's Note: This chapter came out a little underwhelming than I would've liked, but I didn't want to rush the plot with setting the background, so, there you have it.
With this chapter, we have officially stepped past the prologue part. Already the timeline is diverging what with Barry coming to know of Meta-humans before finding about them himself. Wells still tried to dissuade the Speedster–like hell Barry would quit being a hero, good try though–but plot is plot.
Finally things are moving. Nathan will start getting more active starting next chapter, and we can finally steer then plot as we want.
Good news, update rate will increase to 3/week for this month. I thought about it and realised that it was about time I sped up for good measure. So expect a steady update of three chapters on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
If things kept going as is, then I will soon be realising my Original Fiction [Heaven's Decree] in the coming week after the next (approx ~ 22 Jan). For that novel, I intended to update daily, under the pretext that my contract does go through. If not, I will post it on my Patreon and it be will available for free on RR and Scribblehub.
Expect another update on Saturday. And please support this book if you like it.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone