03. A New Weakness?

The team huddled with Dr. Wells in the main control room of the labs. "Cisco, please"

Cisco then started operating the computer bringing up a lot of data on the display panel, showing all the events that happened at the lab exactly nine-months ago as well as pictures of a couple of figures captured by the surveillance cameras at different angles, a lot of them barely visible.

Wells moved his chair forward and started, "After the particle accelerator accident, we went through every surveillance footage of the accident. We noticed a few new faces amongst our team of scientists. Although the faces of most of them are blurry, we've adjusted the image until we could run a facial recognition scan" then nodded to Caitlin.

Caitlin continued, "So, I ran the scan and realized that those were not part of any of our staff. And what's more…" She paused and zoomed in the images on the screen. "These people, if you pay close attention to their irises, you'll notice that it's unfocused and lighter than usual. And from the direction in which they were moving…was towards the particle accelerator"

"So, if I understand this correctly, the explosion of the particle accelerator might not have been an accident. Some…unknowns could have triggered its explosion that night."

"Correct" Wells said. "We've been getting leads on it lately and I feel like we're catching up. But before all that, I need to know how ready you are. Cisco brief him please."

Barry shifted his gaze to Cisco who brought out another image, a picture of a woman, on the display screen. "This is Layla Evans, worked as an waiter at a café. Apparently, she loved her job and her boss, because right after the particle accelerator incident where she got some superhuman strength, she sent her boss to heaven and obliterated his café."

"We need you to bring her in for us. We've been designing some sort of container for our 'mistakes'…"

"Meta-humans" Cisco added.

"Ugh…meta-humans, using the particle accelerator. We've repurposed the particle accelerator into a container to hold them, each having an electromagnetic barrier a hundred thousand times stronger than the earth's magnetic field. We'll be keeping the captured…meta-humans there as the Iron heights penitentiary does not have the appropriate facilities to contain them."

"We've also noticed that while moving at such speeds, your body generates a lot of frictional force which might lead to the combustion of your clothes, so we've created some sort of 'suit' for you. It'll come in handy."

"Thanks. So where can I find this meta-human?"

" We've tracked her down to her house at Petersburg." Cisco announced, "It's a pretty desolate area of town too."

"So, Barry, I understand that it might be a lot to take in. But do you think you can handle it?" Wells said solemnly, looking him in the face.

"Totally. I can take it."

"Alright. Let's proceed then."

A few minutes later…

Barry had donned the iconic suit of the scarlet speedster. "Keep in touch he." said, zipping away like a lightning bolt.

He speedily made his way towards Petersburg where the meta-human lived. As he neared her building, he muttered, "Well, here goes."

Using his mind, he activated quantum tunneling and phased through the walls of her house as he ran into it.

He paused; he was in the living room. He looked around for a second then zipped around the building, until he found her, in the bedroom dressed in jogger pants, trying to put on a blouse.

Hearing the sound of movement, she turned her head sideways to see a man dressed in a weird red suit staring at her…chest.

Cisco's voice came through the comms, "Barry, remember that she has superhuman strength, try not to get…"

SMASH!!!

Barry was sent hurtling across the hallway, his back crashing hardly against the wall.

'Okay…point noted. Superspeed is weak against boobies, I'll…keep that in mind.'

"What do you want" she hollered as she got into a fighting stance ready to pounce on him at any time.

"Can we just skip to the part where I take you into an electromagnetic prison? That way nobody gets hurt."

Layla pushed her legs against the floor taking a massive leap towards him, throwing a fist towards his face.

Time crawled to a standstill. Barry moved to the side dodging the incoming fist and threw a couple of punches at her abdomen. The combined force sent her gliding back against the marble flooring.

" I guess that explains how you were able to get in here without making a single sound. You're just like me. If so, then why are we fighting each other?!!"

"Look just spare me the canon bullshit" Barry went at her again, going low and pulling her leg, then leapt up, throwing a kick that sent her into the floor.

He went to grab her leg, hoping that attack that knocked her out, then she stood up like it was just a tickle.

"Uhm guys, a little help here. She doesn't seem to be taking any damage from my hits."

"Barry it seems this Meta has superhuman physique, which also means that she has insane durability." Caitlin told him.

"There is a way to weaken her, though" Cisco said, "Try hitting her in the same place continuously and that area should weaken over time."

"Got it" Barry said and ran towards her then took a sharp bend, running around her in a circle continuously instead, hitting her at the same point in her abdomen until she started to stagger backwards.

He ran away from her, putting a sizable distance between the both of them, then he zipped towards her smashing a heavy blow right into her stomach. Her eyes rolled backwards as the air was forced out of her lungs. She crashed to the floor the next second.

—Enemy defeated—

—First Meta-Human defeated—

—Rewarding Extra XP—

Total XP earned: 200XP

Level: 3

+2 Skill Points