Ch - 29 Felicity Smoak?

It had been a few days since Barry captured the metahuman, The Mist. Since then, there hadn't been any incidents involving metahumans. There were occasional robbery attempts and accidents, but Barry handled them with his super speed.

Today was Barry's day off from his work at the CCPD. If the lightning hadn't struck him and made him a metahuman, he would probably be at his lab or at home, chilling. It would likely have been a long and boring day. But since the lightning, his days off had become completely different and not so lonely.

The lightning completely changed his life. In addition to giving him super speed, it led him to meet some amazing people who became his friends.

Today, S.T.A.R. Labs seemed a little unusual. Caitlin, Swayam, Cisco, and Harrison Wells were all doing odd things and playing different games, but not by themselves. They were playing against Barry to train him to multitask with his speed. In short, they were testing his mind's speed by pushing his multitasking abilities.

While they were all training Barry, Cisco's citywide surveillance system buzzed, indicating a crime in progress.

Cisco immediately pointed it out and informed everyone, "Armed robbery at Fourth and Kolins."

When Barry heard about the incident, he stopped his multitasking training and headed towards his super suit, saying, "For the record, I crushed it in Operation and Ping-Pong. Only Dr. Wells was able to defeat me. As for the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with Sam, our match ended in a tie." After which, he donned his suit and headed for the incident site.

When Barry said that he easily defeated Cisco and Caitlin, Caitlin pouted and said, "It's not as easy as it looks."

Barry had a tendency to underestimate his enemies, which often resulted in them overpowering him or causing casualties. This time, it was the latter.

Although he arrived at the robbery site on time, he didn't handle the situation smartly. If he had taken the weapons from the robbers, there wouldn't have been a casualty.

It being mostly his fault and him being a good Samaritan, he couldn't just ignore the injured person, so he took him to the hospital, allowing the robbers to flee.

***

The next day, Barry, who was at the CCPD, was visited by a friend, Felicity Smoak. Felicity came to check on Barry and see how he was doing after waking up from the coma. She was also interested in learning about the changes that made him run super fast.

Barry, being a blabbermouth and not good at keeping secrets, told her everything about the team. Thankfully, Felicity didn't have any ill intentions towards him or his team; otherwise, he would have been in big trouble.

He took Felicity to S.T.A.R. Labs and started showing her around. "This is where my team monitors the police bands for criminal activity. We can track anything that's happening in the city. And check this out, we've got our own satellite."

Admiring the place, Felicity said, "I know. I've hacked into it from time to time." Being technologically gifted, especially in computer science, it wasn't difficult for her to hack into it.

Cisco, a fellow tech enthusiast, was impressed with her feat but couldn't outright show it, so he could only say, "Rude."

Caitlin, who had previously met Felicity, walked towards her and greeted, "It is, of course, so wonderful to see you again, Felicity." After greeting her, Caitlin looked at Barry and asked, "I'm just wondering how much of our operation she needs to know about."

Felicity, being smart, immediately understood what Caitlin was trying to say, "I'm really good at keeping secrets."

Just as she said that, Barry, who was standing near her, blabbered about her working with the Arrow. Upon hearing this, she looked at Barry with an incredulous face and said, "And you, apparently, are not good at keeping them."

To save Barry from getting reprimanded by Felicity, Cisco intervened, "Now it's all making sense. You know who the Arrow is." He pointed his finger at Felicity.

Then he abruptly stopped and redirected his finger towards Barry, asking with a questioning look, "Wait. Do you know who the Arrow is?"

Being questioned by Cisco, Barry, being bad at hiding secrets and lying, refrained from speaking, making an awkward face. Thankfully, he didn't have to do that for long since Felicity came to his rescue, "Let's just say that my team has a similar setup but with more pointy objects."

Just as she finished speaking, Harrison Wells greeted her while entering the lab. "Welcome, Miss Smoak."

Felicity, being a science nerd and a big fan of Dr. Harrison Wells, at first, couldn't believe her eyes, so she questioned, "Dr. Wells? The Dr. Wells?"

Eobard Thawne, portraying himself as Dr. Harrison Wells, showed a gentle and humble persona and spoke, "Please call me Harrison, Felicity."

Felicity, astonished to hear her name from Harrison Wells, asked in amazement, "You know who I am?"

Harrison Wells, remotely controlling his wheelchair, spoke while moving towards them, "Ranked second in the National Informative Technology Competition at age 19, graduated from MIT with a master's degree in cybersecurity and computer sciences. I know who you are because I keep an eye out for promising talent in the scientific field, and that's what brought me Cisco and Caitlin. Although, Swayam was a complete surprise. And honestly, I foresaw great things from you."

Barry, who was listening to them converse, looked at Felicity and said, "Speaking of great things, wanna see something cool?"

After suggesting he show her something cool, Barry took her to the room where the modified treadmill was placed. Swayam, Caitlin, and the others also followed them there. Caitlin, Swayam, Cisco, Harrison Wells, and Felicity all went to the observation room and saw Barry becoming a blur as he started running on the treadmill.

Felicity, who hadn't seen anything like this before, was surprised to see something so impossible. In her astonishment, she asked, "How fast can he run?"

Harrison Wells, who was silently observing Barry running, replied, "He hasn't reached his top speed yet, theoretically speaking."

Felicity, being Barry's friend and a kind-hearted person, although not understanding how he was doing it, became worried and questioned, "So is he really okay?"

Caitlin, being the medical expert, replied, "His heart rate is within the normal range for him."

Although Felicity was amazed by Barry's speed, her question was more about Barry's well-being. "No. I mean, the lightning bolt changed him. Do any of you really know how much?"

Cisco, who was previously busy observing the condition of the treadmill while Barry ran on it, immediately replied, "We know a fair amount."

Felicity watched Barry intently, a flurry of thoughts swirling in her mind. Unable to contain her curiosity, she blurted out, "If everything about him is sped up, does that mean he ages faster? What if he runs too fast? Would he just… poof? Dust in a red costume?"

Seeing Felicity's concern, Harrison Wells turned to her with a reassuring smile. "Everything we do here at S.T.A.R. Labs is to protect Barry Allen," he said. "Trust us, Felicity, he's in very good hands."

Only one person present knew the truth: Harrison Wells was actually Eobard Thawne, Barry's arch-nemesis. Swayam scoffed internally at Thawne's blatant lie. He marveled at how deeply Eobard could bury his hatred for Barry, seamlessly interacting with him without arousing suspicion.

Lost in his thoughts, Swayam barely registered the world around him moving in slow motion. Even Barry's super speed appeared like a child's crawl. Suddenly, Barry spoke up with a childish proposition, "Wanna see how fast I can run backwards?" Before anyone could react, he'd already implemented his ill-advised plan, crashing into the temporary cardboard barrier.