Chapter 17: The New Meta-Human

The S.T.A.R. Labs group as well as Iris and Eddie were all at a bar just hanging out on our day off. I was killing it at Darts, but I was kinda cheating by using my power to subtly move the metal to hit the bullseye every other time. The thing that frustrated me was that Eddie, despite having no powers, was doing just as good as I was.

'How can he be so good at this? And he has a hot girlfriend like Iris? Man I wish Felicity said yes to going out with me. I know we didn't know each other very well, but it's not like I'm unattractive, not to toot my own horn but, I think I'm pretty hot. Regardless, I couldn't seem to get over my last life's terrible luck with women.' I thought to myself.

Iris then walked over to talk to Barry.

"I'm glad you invited Caitlin, Cisco, and Andrew." Iris said

"They're cool right?" Barry asked.

"Caitlin and Cisco saved your life, Barry. That makes them the coolest people I've ever met. Also where did you find a hottie like Andrew, he could even give Eddie a run for his money?" Iris asked.

Barry frowned 'Great, yet another guy she probably would like that isn't me?' Barry thought self-deprecatingly.

"Andrew was a new hire for S.T.A.R. Labs, he joined the team after I came out of my coma, he is into Biochemistry just like Caitlin." Barry replied, going with the story they agreed on to explain how they met Andrew because they couldn't tell Iris about Barry's being the Flash.

"It's nice that you became friends. To friends, old and new." Iris said as she lifted a shot glass and clinked with Barry's glass.

"Ooh, I'm up, wish me luck." Iris said as she groaned from the alcohol and left to the dart board.

After Barry took the shot he realized something. He dragged a couple shot glasses over to Cisco and Caitlin.

"Guys, I have a problem." Barry said.

"We all do when guys like them exist." Cisco said alluding to Eddie and myself.

"Yeah, they are so hot... Uh, I mean genetically, because I'm a geneticist of course, oh my God do I sound like Felicity?" Caitlin said then questioned due to her floundering like Felicity often does.

I had heard what Iris, Cisco, and Caitlin said and smirked to myself. It was a good ego boost for me that I needed.

"I'm not talking about Eddie and Andrew. I'm talking about this." Barry said as he quickly downed 5 shots with super speed.

"I can't feel anything!" Barry exclaimed.

"Yeah that tends to happen when you drink too much." Cisco joked to which Caitlin grinned.

"No, the alcohol is not affecting me, I literally feel nothing."

"It's your hyper-metabolism, I need a sample.

"I'll get more shots." Cisco said as he rushed to the bar.

"I think I have a vacutainer in here." Caitlin said as she started to look in her purse.

"You carry a blood collection kit in your purse?" Barry asked surprised.

"You have your hobbies..." Caitlin replied essentially saying that it's her business and he should just roll with it.

I had heard this as well and was just glad that my powers didn't affect my metabolism the same way. I could still get drunk if I wanted to I just had a high tolerance.

......

(Meanwhile at building off of 8th and Pass)

"GET DOWN!" A women who if Andrew was there, would've known to be Bette San Souci said as her bag exploded.

I had been listening to the Police band so I knew about the bombing before Eddie.

........

(Back at the bar)

Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin toasted their glasses and Caitlin looked at Barry in anticipation.

"Still nothing, I can't get drunk. I mean I'm only 25, and my drinking days are already over." Barry replied sadly.

"Come on Allen, you're up." Eddie said and then his phone vibrated and he took it out from his jacket pocket.

"There was a bombing on 8th and pass." Eddie said before turning back toward Iris and the group instantly got serious.

"I gotta go babe." Eddie said as he kissed her goodbye and turned back to the group.

"Sorry guys." He said as he walked out the bar.

"I have an early shift at Jitters so I'll see you guys later." Iris said as she left.

Barry and I made our own excuse and left as well.

........

(At the building)

Barry had just arrived at the bottom of the building and saw a window washer about to fall. He asked for help from the others still at the bar and asked how fast he'd need to go to run up the building.

I arrived a little after that and had heard the conversation over the comms. I was floating next to Barry as I said.

"You grab the window washer, I'll take care of the fire!" I told him quickly and we both made our way up the building.

Barry was running up and I had an aura of protective electricity surrounding me that looked like a large sphere of electricity. I used the electrical aura to protect me from the flames as I made my way inside the building.

Unbeknownst to Barry, and I, who had been too focused on what I was doing to remember, Iris had arrived at that time via a cab. She saw a 'Red Streak' running up the side of the building and an 'Electric Man' flying up to where the fire was on some sort of circular disk with a sphere of electricity surrounding them.

I had made it inside the building and saw the fire raging. I knew I would have to deal with the fire and was working out a way to do that. It finally clicked as I remembered one of the lectures from a physics class I had in college in my last life. It involved using an electrical field to put out flames.

Using an electric field to put out a fire works by charging the carbon particles, or soot, produced by the fire, which creates a flow of charged particles within the flame. The electric field exerts force on these charged particles, causing them to move quickly in opposite directions. When the flow of charges is strong enough, the particles hit stationary particles in the gas, causing them to move and dislodge the flame from it's fuel source. Now the fire didn't strictly have a "fuel source" per say as it was made from a bomb of kinetic energy, but the fire itself still works the same as any other on a scientific basis.

Using this method, Andrew safely put out the fire and flew out and up into the sky to head back to S.T.A.R Labs. He made sure to fly high enough that he was covered by the clouds that were thankfully in the sky.

He made it back to S.T.A.R Labs just in time to meet with Barry and the rest of Team Flash where they discussed what happened. They then decided that since there were no deaths and the fire was put out, they could deal with it tomorrow and they all went home.

.......

(Next day)

Barry and the rest of the CCPD team had arrived at the site of the bombing, now considered crime scene, and Barry did his analysis of the site and discovered that there was no sign of an oxidizing agent, so the floor appeared to have just exploded on its own. Eddie was able to discover that there was an issue with one of the files and Joe recommended that they let barry take care of it. Barry was able to use his super speed to find the area where the file was and planned to bring it back to his lab for further testing.

.......

(Back at CCPD)

Joe and Eddie had just arrived at the station and they discovered that the Army was taking over the investigation. Joe was surprised to also see Andrew at the station and walked up to him to see what he was doing there.

"Hey, what are you doing here, you know this is a police station, and you don't work here. Is something wrong, did something happen to Barry?" Joe asked confused then concerned.

"Uh, no. I came to look for Barry to see about a possible internship as a forensic assistant. What's going on over there?" I replied then asked gesturing to the soldiers.

I was actually going to try to get an internship, but I also wanted to see what was going on with Eiling. I always hated that pompous prick.

"Oh. Well Barry's not back from the crime scene yet, so you can wait by the front desk for him. And as for what's going on?, that's what i'm going to find out." Joe replied.

Joe went to talk to one of the other officers and then had his confrontation with Eiling.

"You heard him, give me what I want Joe." Eiling said in his dickish way.

Joe simply nodded, but I could tell he wasn't happy. I walked in front of Eiling and stopped him before he could say more.

"Excuse me sir, I know I am just a civilian and don't know anything about the army and how it works, but what gives you the right to treat Detective West like that? I always thought that members of the armed forces were men and women who acted with honor and dignity, guess I was wrong." I said with a sneer.

Eiling frowned and then turned to Captain Singh.

"Do you know this kid?" He asked.

Joe stepped in, "Sorry General, he is a friend of my son's and has a habit of speaking without thinking, i'll have a talk with him." Joe replied while giving me a pointed look.

"See that you do Joe." Eiling replied as he turned back to talk to Singh once more not forgetting to sneer at me as he turned.

'Pfft, fucking prick' I thought to myself annoyed.

As Eiling was still waiting for the rest of the information pertaining to the caee, Barry walked up carrying the file and other information from the crime scene in a bankers box, a box often used in a police station to hold files.

"Hey, what's going on?" Barry asked.

"General Eiling is taking over the bombing case, hand over anything that's relevant." Joe said, stressing the word relevant so that Barry knew to keep the file.

Barry nodded and handed over his box of all the Information that he collected from the bombing site to the soldier standing next to Joe, but before the soldier passed, Barry quickly grabbed the file he discovered at the bomb site and hid it behind him.

"You and a few civilians from S.T.A.R. Labs might want to take a look at that. And take Andrew with you, he already caused a scene with General Eiling." Joe said gesturing to the file and then at me who looked over innocently as if I didn't just call out a 2 Star general in front of the entire precinct.

Barry looked confused but nodded and said "I think we might. Now come on Andrew, and you can tell me what happened on the way."

I nodded and Barry and I walked out the station and headed over to S.T.A.R. Labs.

.......

(S.T.A.R. Labs)

"You should've heard the way he talked to Joe, for one, he called him by his first name, as if they were on a first name basis, which they weren't, and he had this smug smile on his face as if the world revolved around him and we only had the benefit of being a part of it. He's such a pompous prick" I exclaimed in an angry tangent.

Team Flash looked at me and I could tell at least Cisco seemed impressed.

"I'm surprised you actually told him off, that too in front of the entire precinct." Cisco said.

"Pfft, so what if he's a General. He has no jurisdiction over civilians and he certainly isn't my boss, why should I show him any respect if he won't show it to others. *deep breath* Sigh.... Look, I know I let my anger get the best of me, but I just hate bastards like that." I explained, my frustration dissipating near the end after I took a deep breath.

"General Wade Eiling. We've had dealings with General Eiling before, about ten years ago General Eiling contracted S.T.A.R Labs to come up with enhanced gene therapies for soldiers. I was interested in the potential medical benefits for civilians. General Eiling really wanted to develop mind reading capabilities for interrogation purposes. I stopped the study when I saw his techniques up close, but our split was less than amicable." Wells interjected effectively putting an end to my tirade.

"Well he took all the evidence I collected on the bombing. Everything but the folder." Barry said as he handed Wells the folder.

"Well... Lucky for us the VA finally joined the new millennium and digitized their files. There's a lot of redacted info, but our girl's name is Bette Sans Souci, and EOD Specialist for the Army." Cisco said as the VA file number he was given by Barry finally gave back results.

"EOD?" Caitlin asked.

"Bombs." Cisco replied.

"Is there an address?" Barry asked.

"Let me see, yes, one person, an emergency contact, Cameron Scott, Inglewood." Cisco said.

Barry got there faster, but I wasn't far behind. He arrived and saw Bette making her way down the fire escape of an apartment building. I arrived moments later and I saw Bette trying to run away and Barry just kept speeding in front of her.

"I need you to come with me." Barry said as he grabbed her.

"With us both." I said as I made to grab her other arm. As soon as I did that I realized.

'Ahh fuck how could I be so stupid?, human bomb maker here!' I lamented to myself.

"Don't touch me, please!" Bette pleaded and she touched Barry's emblem and one of the metal plates on my uniform.

"Get whatever you're wearing off of you, hurry!" Bet said urgently as my and Barry's suit started to glow purple

Barry rushed off to make sure Bette wasn't caught in whatever would happen. And I created an electrical field around my suit and used an ability I discovered I could do recently, I turned into pure electricity and jumped into the nearest electrical source.

Barry's suit exploded and he was able to outrun the explosion but his suit was destroyed and he was practically naked in just his briefs. It was the same with me except my explosion was contained in the electrical field and I was now inside the city's electrical grid. I made my way through the grid and followed from electrical source to electrical source until I reached S.T.A.R Labs. I went to my locker that I had there to grab spare clothes. Barry had run back and done the same.

Barry and I walked in, finishing putting on our shirts from our spare clothes, both of us frustrated but for slightly different reasons and said at the same time.

"Don't ask"

"Don't ask"

"I'm gonna ask, what happened to my suits?" Cisco said.

"They're gone." I replied.

"What do you mean 'they're gone?' what did you do to my suits?" Cisco asked frustration rising.

"They blew up dude." Barry answered.

"Yeah, we managed to get out of them before they went "Kaboom." I added.

"My suits went "Kaboom?" Cisco asked

"Fun fact about Bette Sans Souci, she isn't carrying Bombs, she touched the emblem on my suit and the metal plate on Andrew's and they turned into bombs, she's a Meta-Human." Barry explained.

"With the ability to cause spontaneous combustion upon tactile contact." Wells interjected as he rode into the room.

"She blew up my suits!" Cisco said still upset.

"You have like three" Caitlin commented.

"Okay I have two, and i loved that one. And I only had one of Andrew's." Cisco argued.

"We're gonna find this girl and we're gonna stick her butt into the pipeline, no one blows my tech to smithereens and gets away with it....." Cisco said before he finally pulled up her profile and paused.

"Unless she looks like that." Cisco said as he sat down and started to "admire" her photo.

........

(Mini Flashback- At the West House)

"Hey Dad, you're home early" Iris said surprised.

"What were you doing at the bomb site last night? And don't say you weren't, Officer Vukovich saw you." Joe said as he walked into the house and saw Iris getting ready to leave.

"It's...Complicated." Iris replied.

"Look you can't be coming to every crime scene because you're worried about Eddie, he's a big boy Iris." Joe said.

"I wasn't there because of Eddie, I went there to see the Streak and the Electric Man." Iris said.

"The Streak, and the Electric Man. Hmm. Why is that?" Joe asked as he sighed.

"My blog. I've been collecting internet posts about The Streak and Electric Man and writing about them." Iris replied.

"Baby, there's no Streak, and certainly no "Electric Man" Joe said putting air quotes around Electric Man to show he believed it even more nonsensical than the Streak.

"Yes, there is. I saw the Streak last night, Dad, I looked right at him. And I saw the Electric Man flying into the building where there was a fire and a few minutes later, the fire was put out. Something incredible is happening in Central City and i'm gonna write about it. Now if you'll excuse me, i have to get to work, blogging about supernatural events doesn't really pay well" Iris explained.

.......

(Present)

"I don't think she meant to hurt us." Barry said.

"Well, her being a Meta-Human explains Eiling's interest in her." Wells said.

"And why he stole the case from us. He didn't want anyone to know what she could do." Joe said as he walked in.

"Detective." Wells greeted Joe.

"Doctor." Joe reciprocated.

"So..Human bomb. Must be Tuesday in Central City." Joe said sardonically.

"Yes, and General Eiling is not the type to give up a potential asset without a fight." Wells said.

"We have to find her before he does." Barry said.

"Hey, Barry, can I talk to you for a second." Joe said as he walked off with Barry to talk about Iris and her blog.

After Barry tried and failed to convince her not to continue with her blog, he received a call from Cisco.