Chapter 5: Multiplex

It's been about a week since my takedown of the thugs and word has already begun to spread about both a red streak and a flying lightning man saving people throughout the city.

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**Flashback to 3 days ago**

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"So what is this?" I asked while holding a peice of folded floppy metal.

"Just put a current through it." Cisco said.

I nodded and did as he said. The piece of metal instantly hardened and unfolded into a relatively large circular platform.

"Okay that's awesome." I said in awe.

"I know. It's made of Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate, also known as Mylar, It is a magnetized metal that is stronger than reinforced steel due to it's chemical composition. I also coated it with a thin layer of graphene due to his nature as an electrical insulator and it's ability to withstand heat up to 976 Kelvin." Cisco explained as I jumped on the metal platform and tested it's flight maneuverability.

"Not only is the material light as paper, with it's graphene coating, it is even stronger and can take a lot of punishment." Cisco continued as I was flying around.

I landed next to him and levitated the metal with my power and then folded it again and put it in my pocket.

"It's great, thank you Cisco." I said contentedly.

"I call it the Hover Halo." Cisco said smilingly.

"Oh, nice name man." I commented.

"That's not all, I finally finished the suit to both, the requirements needed to handle your power, and your design specifications." Cisco said as he brought out a large metal box and opened the lid.

"So, what do you think?" Cisco asked.

"Are you freaking kidding me, this is way better than I could've imagined. I can't wait to try it on." I said as I grabbed the suit and went to a guest room to change.

One of the specifications I made, was that it had the ability to morph and change it's shape if needed. Cisco left a note that said he made it with metal composite that I could control and something called memory cloth that would maintain whatever shape you gave it when an electrical current was put through it.

It was very similar to military combat gear, but had many metal plates on it that I could manipulate if needed. And a helmet with built in sensors and a HUD that I could use as I did patrols.

[AN: As you all know I'm shite at describing things, so I will put a pic in the chapter comments.]

** Flashback end**

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**Present Day**

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"You there yet?" Cisco asked Barry over the comms.

"What are you doing" Caitlin asked as she walked into the cortex to which Cisco quickly shut off the monitors.

"Nothing." Cisco replied unconvincingly.

"Who are you talking to?" Caitlin asked.

"No one." Cisco said quickly.

"Are you talking to Barry?" She asked.

"Who?"

"Barry Allen. Struck by lightning? Was in a coma for nine months? Woke up being able to run faster than the speed of sound? Ring a bell?" She asked.

"Nope, haven't see him."

"Give it up dude, she caught you." I said as I walked in.

{Okay everybody's out. What else you got for me Cisco?} Barry said over the speaker.

"Heh, well she definitely knows now." I said with a chuckle which earned a glare from Cisco.

"Barry it's Caitlin."

"Hi Caitlin... How's your day?" Barry said over comms with an inaudible grown when he found out it was Caitlin.

"Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs, Now!"

{On my way}

(Back at S.T.A.R. Labs)

"Are you both out of your minds? Who do you think you are?" Caitlin asked

"Well I'm the eyes and ears, and he's the feet" Cisco joked which Caitlin did not appreciate.

"This isn't funny, you could have gotten yourself killed. You can't go speeding around the city like a supersonic fireman." Caitlin said sternly.

"Why not? Andrew does. Besides, this is what we talked about, using my speed to do good." Barry answered.

"Hey, don't bring me into this, our situations are different." I said with a frown.

"Yes, he's right. For one, he can heal near instantaneously, and he has some actual combat experience. And this is not what we talked about. We said we would use your speed to help us catch other metahumans and except for Andrew and Mardon, we haven't found any." Caitlin continued.

"People in this city still need help, and I can help them." Barry said.

"WE can help them." Cisco chimed in.

I could see Caitlin was about to say something so I stepped in.

"Okay, I understand where you're coming from, so how about this, I'll go out and try to keep him outta trouble until I feel he can handle it himself." I offered.

"That's better, but it is still risky. Despite your experience with combat, you are still new to your powers as well and it is honestly dangerous for you out there as well." Caitlin said.

"I get it, believe me I do, but honestly can you really stop us from going out there and helping people." I said challengingly

"Can you talk to them?" Caitlin said as she looked behind us to Wells rolling in.

"I believe what Caitlin is trying to say, in her own angry way. Is that we are just scratching the surface of what your bodies are capable of. I don't mean to sound like a broken record Mr. Allen, but I do caution restraint." Wells explained.

"I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today?" Barry argued.

"In a wheelchair and a pariah, lack of Restraint, is what made me these things. Know your limits." Wells said as he turned to me.

"As for you Mr. Anderson, Caitlin makes a good point, while you are more experienced in combat, you don't know how your body is changing and adapting to the world around you, so how can you claim to have everything under control." Wells said as he turned away in his wheelchair.

"Don't expect me to fix you up everytime you break something." Caitlin said to Barry as she walked away as Cisco took Barry to ask why his vitals had shown weird signals, because of Barry's dizziness.

Caitlin then looked at me.

"If you think that just because you heal means that those that know you, don't worry, you're wrong." After saying that she walked away.

Just then two phones rang, mine and Barry's. Barry had to go to the crime scene of multiplex's first crime. Whereas I had my courier job to go to, which has been making me a lot more money as I have doubled my rate of deliveries by using my powers. We both left, Barry ran out, whereas I simply walked out, took out my Halo and flew into the sky fast enough so no one saw me, and high enough to not be seen easily.

The suit Cisco made me, had a portable function, the helmet specifically was useful to still receive information about crimes that may happen while I'm just out somewhere. I quickly landed in a nearby alley to put my Halo away and walk over to grab my packages for the day. I then started my deliveries. I flew into the air, and as I flew and passed the delivery locations I marked on my HUD, I carried the packages with my power and dropped them in front of the doors of the intended recipients.

'All in all, I love my job' I thought to myself.

'I don't plan to stay doing the college classes i was doing while on autopilot as it doesn't really interest me. I'll see about getting a degree in chemistry'

Alright down to business. I knew the robbery at Central City University was going to happen as Simon Stagg was going to get some big award 'Man of the Year' or something. I was in my full new suit waiting on top of the adjacent building and I saw the van parked outside. I then heard gunshots and I knew the robbery had started. I waited a few minutes and sure enough, Danton Black and his clones were running to the car, as soon as they got inside I lifted the car in the air and magnetized the doors so they couldn't open them. I then flew them toward CCPD I dropped the van about a block away from CCPD and opened the van doors. At that moment 6 guys rushed out and shot at me, I simply put up my polarity wall and then used my 'static cling' to stick them on the van, with their guns stuck on the back of the van out of reach and placed the bag of stolen jewels on the ground next to it.

I then used my power of wavelength tuning to essentially turn myself into a cellphone and I called CCPD to put in an anonymous tip about seeing the van and some electric guy and left them the license plate of the van as I flew up to another building where I watched the police come and arrest Black and his clones.

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(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"How could you not tell us you were experiencing dizzy spells? We're your doctors, God knows what could be happening inside your body? You could be experiencing cardiopulmonary failure, or a transient ischemic attack!" Caitlin said angrily. To which Barry looked confused at what a Transient Ischemic Attack was so he looked at Wells.

"Mini-stroke. Probably not." Wells explained.

"You of all people should know that in science we share, we do not keep secrets!" Caitlin said as her voice rose more.

"And where we're you, you said you'd watch him, make sure he doesn't get into trouble? They said the people who robbed the event were captured by an electric man. So you were out saving the day, while Barry's life could have been at stake?!?!?" Caitlin asked.

"There was no way for me to know what was going on with Barry, I saw some thugs in masks and I took care of them. I can't be everywhere at once and I am not responsible for Barry's choices or mistakes." I defended.

"Wow, I haven't seen anyone make Caitlin this angry since Ronnie?" Cisco commented as he walked off

"Ronnie was Caitlin's fiancé? The one that died the night of the particle accelerator explosion?" Barry asked wells.

"Yes, he is... Missed." Wells said with a somber tone.

Wells then started to head to another room as he said to Barry. "Now, let's see why this is happening to you." Wells said as Barry and I followed him.

We head into what looked like a training room, if the treadmill in the center was any indication. And Cisco explained that he upgraded it to handle Barry's speed so they could figure out why he kept passing out.

They had Barry get on the treadmill and for the first few minutes, everything seemed fine. But then I acted like I realized something.

"Oh my god, Caitlin, look at the glucose levels." I said taking the words our of Wells' mouth who seemed shocked for about a split second that I almost didn't notice if i wasn't looking for it.

Caitlin had a look of realization as well.

"Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

{Barry, we think we know why you've been.... Passing out.} Wells said over the speaker pausing mid-sentence as Barry had passed out and was sent flying backwards into the boxes that Cisco set-up for safety.

As we were waiting for Barry to wake up, I was in the cortex and I was listening to the the news with my powers when I heard something not so good.

{This just in, the assailants responsible for the robbery at Central City University, that was hosting an award ceremony for Man of the Year, Simon Stagg, have escaped custody. They escaped before being able to be processed. The unknown assailants escaped from the Central City Police Station, injuring multiple officers who tried to stop them. It is also believed that there were others who had aided in their escape.}

'Dammit I should've known the police couldn't contain him without Meta Cuffs I guess I should wait until S.T.A.R. Labs gets their prison set up to actually try and capture any Metas'

Just then I heard groaning sounds from where Barry was resting. Cisco, Caitlin, and Wells explained his issue and the fact that he needed 40 IVs just to satisfy his body that was being affected by not eating enough. They said they would have to fashion a diet for his new metabolism.

Cisco was talking about how many tacos he'd have to eat to satiate his new metabolism when Joe walked in recommending a Mexican place as a sardonic joke.

"When I didn't find you at your lab, I started to do some research. Turns out there has been reports of a red streak and an electric man circulating around. They have been stopping muggers, rescuing people from burning buildings. I'm guessing the "electric man" is him?" He said pointing to me.

"How'd you...." I started only to be stopped by Joe.

"I'm a detective, although to be honest it wasn't that hard. A new guy with electric powers shows up and it happens to coincide with after you got out of your coma, and now you're here at S.T.A.R. Labs, the only place that could help you learn about your powers. That's too many coincidences for my taste." He explained succinctly

Just then, in perfect timing, Wells gestured from Joe to Barry and asked Barry.

"You didn't tell him we were working together?"

"Joe, I can explain I..." Barry started.

"You already have a job in law enforcement Barry, I suggest you get back to it." Joe interrupted saying.

"Mm-hmm." Caitlin said to which Joe looked at her.

"Don't look at me, I'm on your side." She replied.

"Detective. We all want what's best for Barry." Wells said.

"If you wanted what's best for Barry, you'd try to talk him out of this lunacy, instead of encouraging him to go out there risking his life." Joe said before looking at me.

"And you, why don't you go play hero instead, or have you been out there and just let Barry get hurt because you don't care?" Joe asked angrily.

"I don't know what you think you know about me from your so called 'research' but there is so much more going on than you could possibly understand and, I am not going to be held responsible for the choices Barry makes. He is a grown man, he can make his own decisions and he will live with the consequences if need be." I replied.

"He's right Joe, besides you saw a man control the weather. What are the police going to do against someone like that? Since the particle accelerator explosion we believe there may be more like him, similar to how we found Andrew" Barry said.

"And what are you going to do when you find them? Catch them? Are you insane? You think just because you can run real fast you're invincible? You're not! You're just a kid. My kid." Joe said to Barry and looked at Wells when he said the last line.

"I'm not your kid, Joe. And your not my father. My father is sitting in Iron Heights, Wrongfully convicted. You were wrong about him. And you're wrong about this. Now I may not be able to help him, but if I can save someone from a burning building or stop some armed thieves, I'm gonna do it. And you can't stop me. So don't try." Barry said to Joe with some bite to his voice as he said "Wrongfully"

"You think you're so smart, all of you, but you don't know what you don't know. I just hope you can figure it out before someone gets killed." Joe said, gesturing to Barry when he said 'someone' before he walked out.

That evening, if everything stayed the way it should, Simon Stagg's head of security would be murdered. I'd actually try and stop Black from killing him if not for two things, one, I have no idea where they meet, and two, Stagg's head of security was scum because he gave out Intel that would get Stagg killed so he obviously is a bad guy.

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(CCPD Next day)

Barry was in his lab when Joe walked in followed by Iris and told him about Stagg's head of security being murdered and gave him skin samples to test. Iris asked why Joe was mad at Barry and then glared at Barry.

"He's mad at me for some work stuff." Barry said without turning around as he was inputting the skin sample into his machine for analysis.

Then Barry turned around and saw Iris's glare.

"Why are You mad at me?" He asked.

"You were supposed to meet me at Jitters to give me some scientific background for my article..." She started.

"Sigh...And I didn't show up."

"And now I have to find a new topic for my article in 24 hours or I fail the assignment." Iris continued.

"Iris I..." Barry started to say.

"Don't say that you're sorry Barry, I know that you are. What I don't know is what is going on with you. We grew up one bedroom down from one another, do you honestly think I don't know when you're sad, or depressed, or lost? I am going to ask you one last time Barry Allen, and you'd better be honest with me. What the... Hell is going on with you."

Iris paused as Barry started to move at super speed and practically pour his heart out when he knew she wouldn't be able to hear him before moving back to where he was and letting time move at normal speed again. Iris was waiting for Barry to respond when his machine, which was analyzing the skin sample, beeped to show it was done.

"We're not done talking about this." Iris said frustratingly as she walked over to the machine with Barry.

"This doesn't make any sense. There was a murder last night, these skin samples came from the murderer, but these cells are naïve, stem cells they can replicate into any cell the body needs. They only come from babies." Barry explained to Iris.

"So our killer is what, a new-born?" Iris joked.

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(Stagg Industries Warehouse)

"You honestly think someone's trying to kill me?" Simon Stagg asked Joe and Eddie who were interviewing him.

"We're not sure Mr. Stagg but the event you were being honored at was robbed at gunpoint." Eddie said.

"And your head of security was found dead this morning." Joe added.

"I am a scientist and a philanthropist we're not often the targets of Assassins." Stagg replied.

"Well....What about lawsuits? You have about 20 of those pending against you." Joe said pulling out some paperwork.

" It is a sad fact of life Detective, that when you earn a lot of money those who haven't, try to take yours." Stagg replied.

" People like this guy for example? Danton Black?" Joe asked showing Black's photo.

" Danton Black." Stagg said as he took the photo

"You fired him. And now he's suing you." Joe said.

During this conversation Danton Black himself was getting into the elevator to go down to the warehouse and kill Stagg.

"Unfortunately our working relationship was not successful, but I can assure you both of one thing, Danton Black... Is not a killer. He's a clinical researcher, not a criminal mastermind. If there's any way I can help you please let me know. I want these people caught as much as you" Stagg defended.

"Well here we are." Black said as he and his clones pulled out their guns and shot at the group.

"Down!!" Joe said as he and Eddie grabbed Stagg and hid behind some barrels.

Barry was walking downstairs from his lab and he saw a whole lot activity with cops running around in full kit. He asked Captain Singh what was going on, to which he said that there was a shooter at Stagg Industries and Barry knew that Joe was there.

I was already on my way because I had been listening to the police band, waiting for confirmation that the attack had started. Barry had gotten upstairs to where he had his suit and made his way to Stagg Industries.

I showed up a little after Eddie had left and stood Infront of the clones who were shooting at my Polarity Wall unsuccessfully. Just then Barry ran in and saw Joe.

"Get outta here!!" He said.

"No." Joe replied firmly, to which Barry just relocated him outside.

Barry then ran and grabbed the guy's guns.

"Whoever you are, give yourself up."

"Sorry, we're not going anywhere until Simon Stagg is dead." The clones said in unison.

Barry then used his super speed and attacked only two of the guys, before stopping and he saw that Black made two more clones. Barry then ran over and attacked at normal speed again like an idiot. This obviously left him open to his attack making two more clones, all of which started to attack him.

I used my Electromagnetic(EM) Shockwave and sent all the clones flying to the end of the corridor while at the same time magnetizing their gun to the metal scaffolding.

"What the hell are you doing?!? Why the fuck are you attacking them at normal speed, you have super speed for Gods sake!!" I said angrily to Barry.

Barry nodded embarrassingly and then started using his speed to attack the original clones and all the clones that were being created, while I was doing the same and zapping as many clones unconscious as I could. I even used my electricity to make a net and grabbed one of the guys and swung him side to side and used him to knock out other clones while not worrying about Barry because he had super speed. But that was where I went wrong, I forgot Barry was an idiot, he didn't think to dodge with his speed and he got hit by the clone whip. The other clones started to gang up to attack him and he ran away like a coward and even though he could've just come right back, when I used my EM Pulse to sense his brain's electrical signal, I found that he was gone.

'Urgh, that little coward.' I said to myself before refocusing on the fight.

I knew I needed Black to kill himself as I can't kill him as I'll be seen as the bad guy, so I'll just have to make him run away just like Barry did

"Alright I've had just about enough of you guys." I said as I started to charge up a Nova Blast.

While I was charging, some clones thought that it meant I was an easy target, how wrong they were. As they rushed me, I attached a positive EM charge to the clones and a negative EM charge to the metal in the room. This caused all the metal to suddenly rush towards them and knock out multiple clones. This gave me enough time to fully finish charging my Nova Blast which I threw into the large group.

The blast took out all but 3 at the very far end, one of which was the prime and he knew he was no match for me, in such a small space where he couldn't grow his army, so he absorbed his clones and ran. After Black left, I looked around and saw an open skylight which I then flew out of and made my way to S.T.A.R. Labs.

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(S.T.A.R. Labs 10 minutes ago)

*pant pant pant*

"Barry, what happened??" Caitlin asked as Barry rushed in and was covered in cuts and bruises.

"There were too many of them, Andy and I couldn't take them." Barry replied as he got most of his breath back.

"What are you talking about, Andy is still fighting them, we can hear it from his comms." Caitlin said as she gestured to the speaker where many grunts of pain were heard.

"Did you just ditch him to fight a clone army by himself??" Cisco asked incredulously.

"W-ait n-no, he was right behind me, I could've sworn." Barry said anxiously.

"Barry, you need to get back there!!" Caitlin said worryingly.

"Oh, right, I'll....." Barry started, but before he could finish they all heard Andrew's voice on the speaker.

{"Alright I've had just about enough of you guys."}

After that, all the heard was a bunch of static with the intermittent sounds of clanging metal after that, the static was gone and they didn't hear anything for several minutes and were about to say something when all of the sudden they saw a EM shockwave smacked into Barry and send him into the wall on the other side of the cortex.

"Andrew!! What are you doing?!?" Caitlin asked as she ran over to Barry who was still getting up.

"YOU LEFT ME, YOU JUST UP AND LEFT. I HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM ALL BY MYSELF, IF I HAD BEEN WEAKER, I COULD'VE DIED!!!" I screamed at Barry as I watched him get up.

*groans*

"I thought you were right behind me, there were too many for us to fight." Barry defended.

"Oh really?!? How would you know that!?! You have never been in an uphill battle where the odds are against you!?! Do you know that we would've lost without a doubt? No, you don't. If you had any clue whatsoever you could have seen that we could've taken them out!! I'm not mad that you ran when you were being ganged up on, I would've done the same. I'm mad that once you escaped from them, you didn't come back, they weren't hitting you enough for you to be too injured to come back." I said most of my anger dissipating by the end.

Barry had a look of remorse on his face before he walked up to me and gave me a hug which surprised the hell out of me.

"I'm so sorry Andrew. I know it's no excuse, but I have never been in that kind of situation before and I had no idea how to handle it. I never expected that someone who received their powers at the same time as me would be so different, not just in their power, but in how they handled situations." Barry said.

I nodded and had fully calmed down by now and chuckled to myself.

"Its alright, i know you are not used to being in these type of situations and are still new to your powers, but I'd suggest that you definitely train more and for future reference, unless you see absolutely no chance, just keep fighting. There is no shame in running away, but to abandon your allies, thats something that one should be ashamed of. Don't worry, we're good though." I said

Barry nodded seriously and started to talk to Wells about how he couldn't do it, how it was a mistake and i could tell his confidence was obviously shaken. He then ran out the room. Caitlin and Cisco looked concerned and looked like they wanted to try and find him but i interjected.

"Let him be, this is something he needs to work out by himself, or maybe getting some advice from a friend, of which none of us are, at least not yet, not fully, we have only just met him." I explained which made Caitlin and Cisco a little sad, but they understood i was right and went on to do their own thing.