Barry's Regret

At S.T.A.R. Labs, in the control room of the main hall.

"What? You're telling me I was struck by lightning and have been in a coma for eight months! And who is this guy? That night in the room, a vortex appeared out of nowhere, he fell through it and hit me, and then lightning struck us both, and after that, I was out cold."

Barry pointed at Elon, questioning with a mix of surprise and skepticism.

"Are you sure he emerged from the vortex and hit you?"

"YES, I was still conscious at the time, I saw it clearly."

Barry affirmed.

"Oh my God, this is real!"

"This is just too cool."

Cisco and Caitlin exclaimed in shock.

Elon, unable to understand, stood aside helplessly as he was pointed at and discussed like some kind of alien specimen.

Great, he thought, the first thing I should probably do is learn English. My brain has been struck by lightning, so it should be easier to learn, right?

Unable to comprehend their conversation, Elon just stood by and watched them talk.

Then Dr. Wells took Barry away.

About half an hour later—which is worth mentioning that during this half-hour, Elon felt like a curio being curiously observed and discussed by Cisco and Caitlin as if they were two little mice hiding in a corner—Dr. Wells came back to the control room with Barry.

Elon heard a familiar voice, Iris, and then, just like in the TV series, Barry hurried out, presumably to see his childhood sweetheart Iris.

Poor Barry, he probably didn't know Iris had a boyfriend now.

After failing to stop Barry from leaving, Dr. Wells turned to Elon and said, "Elon, you'll need to stay at S.T.A.R. Labs for a while. We need to understand your body and what's going on with your world. This is all too amazing."

Elon replied, "Okay, Dr. Wells, please could you also find me some English language learning materials? It's really uncomfortable not understanding what you're saying."

After Dr. Wells smiled in response and talked with Cisco and Caitlin about something Elon couldn't understand, Caitlin approached Elon with a small cup...

Uh...

Sensing Caitlin's intentions, Elon quickly interjected, "Please, Dr. Wells, let's start tomorrow. I'm feeling quite well right now."

"Then we'll just do a simple health check for now. Given the anomalies that occurred to you before, we can't be sure your body is fine. We'll start a detailed check-up tomorrow."

After a brief check-up which revealed no problems, Dr. Wells escorted Elon to his quarters, providing him with several S.T.A.R. Labs tracksuits and a brief introduction to the function of various rooms, including the one assigned to Elon. The room was small, with a bed and a screen opposite it.

Two hours later, Cisco knocked on his door with curious eyes and handed him a tablet, pointing to an icon for an English-Chinese interactive learning program.

"Thank you."

He knew how to say thanks in English.

After Cisco left, Elon sat on the bed and connected the tablet wirelessly to the large screen in his room, which thankfully had Chinese labels. Time flies when you're focused on something.

The hardest part of learning English is remembering the vast number of words; grammar is secondary. For Elon, this was a piece of cake, as he now had a photographic memory.

He didn't have Barry's speed to flip through a book and learn instantly, but can you believe mastering a foreign language in twenty minutes?

Elon couldn't believe it either, so to test himself, he learned French, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and German.

He could proudly claim to be a polyglot master.

————

Meanwhile, Barry left S.T.A.R. Labs to go to the coffee shop, but when he didn't find Iris there, he decided to head back to Central City Police Department. Unfortunately, he stumbled upon Iris and Eddie kissing halfway there. The sight complicated his feelings, leaving him sour inside.

Later, Iris spotted Barry and, happily breaking away from Eddie, strolled the streets with him.

When Barry learned that he had fallen into a coma and Eddie had taken over Joe's shifts to visit him, consequently getting close to Iris, Barry nearly wanted to cry.

If only he hadn't fallen into a coma...

That evening, Joe and Iris cooked a big meal to celebrate Barry's recovery.

————

Elon didn't sleep all night, nor did he study languages non-stop. After learning about a dozen languages, he browsed the news and discovered something interesting about the Green Arrow. He hadn't watched the Green Arrow series, but he knew it was a hit show from which The Flash was a spin-off, often featuring crossovers.

After watching the news for a while, he remembered his own abilities. His power was to control electricity, which was cool, but Elon was still disappointed. He felt the energy in his brain was the Speed Force, enveloping his mind, but he couldn't sense its effect on the brain. This meant that Elon's photographic memory, active thinking, and the energy ball had nothing to do with each other. Moreover, this energy could interact with Barry's Speed Force in some unknown way, which worried him.

Around nine in the morning, Caitlin knocked on his door.

"Mr. Elon, today Cisco and I will help you with a physical examination, please cooperate with us later."

Caitlin held her phone, showing him the translation on the screen.

Elon chuckled and said, "Caitlin, there's no need for that, I can speak English."

His accent was a bit strange, but that's normal for anyone learning a new language—and that wasn't the point.

"You can speak English?"

Caitlin was skeptical, recalling that just yesterday he seemed unable to speak it.

Elon pointed to his head, "Eight months ago, I got zapped right here, which unlocked parts of my brain, enhanced my intellect, my cognitive abilities. Now, I'm even smarter than Albert Einstein."

His English was flawless.

Caitlin's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Just yesterday, Elon could only say simple English phrases like 'thank you' and 'hello.' To learn a complete foreign language overnight was an unbelievable feat. Could it be that people from other worlds were all this intelligent?

After her initial shock, as a bioengineering expert, she expressed great interest in examining him.

"Mr. Elon, I think I'd like to start by examining your brain later."

Elon readily agreed, eager to understand his own body.

"Of course, you can just call me Elon."