Chapter 1

Hello, my name is Micheal Allen. Full name: Bartholomew Henry "Micheal" Allen. Yeah, it's a long name but it wasn't me that choose it. My parents did. This is my life's story. I didn't have anything going on in my life. I had loving parents and a younger brother that would have some problems with bullies sometimes. He always had a huge mouth. Trying to save people but not even have the strength to fight the bullies off. That's where my role as an older brother would come. He would try to run away from bullies toward home but sometimes they would catch him. And if I were close by, I would fight too. Nothing special there, I would land a punch or two, kick one or two in their stomach. But, we would get outnumbered and get beaten up. Though in the end, we would laugh it off with some bruises here and there.

When reaching home, our mom would take care of us. Show us care with hugs and our dad would ask if we had won the fight. Our mom would cover for us by saying we had won. Though we all knew it was just a white lie, it made me and Barry feel good about it. Time passed on like that, happy times seemed never-ending. But it had to end. Because that is life.

One night, Barry woke me in the middle of the night. Saying we might be getting robbed since there were noises coming from the kitchen. I sleepily replied to him, "well, this robber will get caught sooner or later if he doesn't die from a bullet first." He had a confused look to him but still kept shaking me to wake up and see what is going on.

Reluctantly, that's what I did. I woke up, took my bike's helmet to use as a weapon, and went downstairs sneakily with Barry right behind me. When we reached our living room there were lights coming from the kitchen and screams from our mom. Yelling something that we couldn't comprehend. When I heard that, I had truly woken up then, with my gut yelling at me to protect my mom. To beat the shit out of whoever is hurting her.

I ran towards the kitchen's entrance and that's when I saw what was making the red and yellow lights. It was a ball of a storm. There were winds and red and orange yellowy lightning separating Barry and me from reaching our mom and taking her hands. We were there, watching our mom scream and Barry yelling back at her, "Mom! Mom!" While I was silent, helplessly watching this spectacle going on. My helmet, still in my hands.

Once I realized that I put a hand in front of Barry, stopping him from going forward, and prepared a throwing motion. I didn't know where to aim. Do I aim at my mom? Do I aim at one of the walls and hope one of the flashes of lightning would collide with that and disappear? I decided that the wall would be better.

In case the lightning didn't collide with my helmet, I didn't want to hit her with my helmet. So I threw it and to my surprise, my helmet came back towards me dangerously fast. But at the last second, one of the lightning moved towards us and deflected the helmet towards the wall. Our dad then came and told us to get out of here. He told us to run away. And before I knew it, Barry was gone, the helmet stuck to the wall right next to me, putting a hole in it, and my dad passed out and me standing there dumbfoundedly.

Not a second later, I found myself staring at the source of the red lightning. It was a man. I couldn't believe it, someone that was as fast as lightning. But that didn't last long. He was screaming. He was mad and that's when he saw me.

My mom was crying, sobbing, and scared out of her mind on the floor. She couldn't move. He took a knife from the kitchen table and came towards me. I was now scared, I slowly backed off while he was walking towards me. And my mom saw that. She kept yelling "Mike! Stop! don't do this! Please! Mike! RUN AWAY!"

So that's what I tried to do. Except I tripped on my dad. I fell and the man in yellow was about to kill me. But my mom had her strength back at that moment. She moved fast, she protected me. With her back to the man, she hugged me hard. The next thing I knew, my mom was on her right side, taking her last breath with a knife poking out of her back. And the yellow man was gone.

I couldn't understand it. That night, something in me died. I slowly rose to my feet and the last thing I know, I was at the entrance of an ambulance, while Barry kept shouting "Dad!" and the police taking our dad away in chains.

That night, I couldn't describe what I was feeling. But I knew one thing. March 18, 2000, at the age of 11, Bartholomew Henry "Micheal" Allen died. And what remained was a boy that couldn't understand his emotions. So he pushed them down and locked them up. After that accident, Joe West took us in and gave us food, and a roof over our heads. He gave us everything Barry and I needed. And for a single father, that was incredible. He had enough on his plate with a daughter but now with two boys, it was even harder.

Life with Joe was good. Barry slowly but surely got over our mom's death. And I guess Iris helped with that. Since he had a huge crush on her, the fact that she would console us would have a much better effect on him. Me, I was fine but I wasn't and Joe took notice of that. Slowly, I would turn expressionless and keep a straight face. I would have a monotone voice.

Something that crept the hell out of Iris. Joe would handle me more compared to Barry and have late-night talks with me regarding life. And I would just look at the living room table and nod. Not showing emotion on my face or my voice. Often, he would sigh and tell me to go and sleep. And I would do just that after saying goodnight to him from the stairs leading to the rooms upstairs.

Though I was thankful to Joe, I couldn't always burden him. So after a year of staying at his place I had taken a job. Newspaper delivery. I would wake up super early and deliver newspapers on my little bike. Even during the weeks, I would do the job and my school grades slowly went down. My work had me sometimes fall asleep in my class since I would wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning to do my job and try to finish before 9 since that's when our school started.

I remember the first time Joe find out that I wasn't in my room and searching for me like a madman everywhere made me super happy. Happy that I would at least matter to him. Happy that if someday, I was killed like my mom, someone would feel sad about it. Unlike me, who didn't feel a thing that night. Anyway, from what Barry and Iris had told me in school, he had come up late after work and had checked upon us.

When he didn't see me in my bed, he checked the whole house and when I wasn't found. He freaked out. He woke my younger brother and Iris and asked if they knew where I was. When they said no, he straight-called his work. Had the whole station and police on patrol search the streets for me. Thought that I had run away. And that's how I was found. His colleague radioed that he had found me delivering newspapers to the neighborhood. When I say, he was mad, it is an understatement. To this day, I haven't seen him that mad. Time moved on and I could convince him to let me work. He wasn't happy with it but he knew I was stubborn as hell.

Each month, I would leave at least 90% of my money in Joe's room. Usually, that would be from 1500$ to 2000$ (Read author note). As a thank you for taking care of Barry and me. The first month, he was super surprised. Asking me what that money was and why I had put it on his nightstand. Barry and Iris of course were attracted to the commotion and found out what I had done. They were also surprised that I would do that kind of thing. And I could understand that.

Since I had started to act like an ass towards both Barry and Iris. But more towards Barry. Anyway, the first month, Joe gave me my money back, telling me to spend it on what I liked. I took it back without much complaint. The next month, I had given him back the amount for the first month and the second one. Again, he kept telling me that I didn't need to do it and I should focus more on myself. But I gave him a nod and walked away with the money again. And I think he knew that next month, I would return again with money worth 3 months of my news delivery. Because when I did it again, we negotiated.

The result was that I would stop working in the middle of the week and only work on weekends. Though the money coming in took a nosedive, my grades went up. But even those 400$ per month had taken a huge load off of him and he seemed less tired compared to when he first took us.

Another thing that slowed down was my relationship with Barry. I had pushed him away. I would make fun of him in front of Iris while at home when I would see him and her enjoying their talks. At school, I wouldn't help with dealing with his bullies problem. He would yell my name whenever he would see me, asking for help. And I would just look at him with no emotions and turn away. After when we had come home, he had told Joe of what happened and Joe was mad at me, kept yelling why I hadn't helped Barry. And I would just look at him. What was I supposed to answer? After a couple of times, Barry stopped asking for my help with the bullies and stopped talking to me.

I had decided to stop caring about people after that fateful night. And this was my plan. To keep everyone away from me. To stop getting attached to people. Though it hurt too much at first, slowly the pain decreased. But it was always there whenever I would see him come home with bruises.

One day, he badly hurt his arm. Almost broke it. Joe asked him how and he had answered fallen down the stairs in school in accident. But both Joe and I knew that something was up. The next day at school, I found out. One of Barry's and Iris's classmates, Tony had pushed him downstairs. So he wasn't lying about the stairs part. When I heard him make fun of Barry with his group. I couldn't take it, I snapped. I took my science book from my bag. Its cover was as hard as wood.

I walked up behind him and called him out. His friends confusedly staring at me.

"Hey Tony" As soon as he turned around, without letting him say a word, I told him "Time to get smart you shit for brains" and hit him on the face with my book. He was surprised. His friends were surprised. The entire hallway was surprised and silenced. But I was done yet. I grabbed him from his hair and threw his face on one of the lockers right next to one of his friends. The noise from his face hitting the locker woke up his friends from their stun and one of them threw a punch at my face. I didn't have powers like that man in yellow. I couldn't see in slow motions or move fast. So I just took that punch to my face. Though I was dazed, I had enough willpower to grab his wrist and turn it.

That resulted in his arm also twisted and he gave me his back without struggling. Now, I had a human shield. Tony was still stunned from a locker having a print of his face but his group, 2 staring me down and 1 in my arms. A cliche line spewed from one of the bullies.

"Let him go you shit and fight like a man!" and I was surprised hearing that. And I chuckled.

"awww, Would you look at that? Shit for brains number 2 wanting to fight fair. When all they've done is fight someone weaker than them." I twisted the arm of the guy in my hands a little more towards the end of my sentence. Though he grunted and kept saying to let him go, I didn't listen instead, with the science book that was still in my hand, I slapped on the side of his head hard and told him to shut up.

He almost went down because of that. And I didn't want that. And I knew that a teacher or someone would stop this fight pretty soon. So I did what a big brother was supposed to do at that moment. I set a target on my back. And Tony was awake enough now that he could hear me.

I twisted the guy's arm a little more and he raised my emotionless voice a little. "Let me tell you, brainless idiots, something."

"From now on, you won't mess around with Barry Allen or Iris West anymore. If I hear anything, even a tiny whisper that something happened to them at school, I will do to you, what I am about to do now to this dear friend of yours. And Tony, take a good look, cause this will be you very soon if you do not listen."

When I had finished my little speech, everyone's eyes were on me. My little action had made a big circle around me, tony and his friends just standing there like idiots. So I did what I planned. I tossed the science book away and placed it on top of my hand holding his right hand by the wrist. I think the human shield realized what I would do. So he kept saying, "Oh! please, I won't do it anymore. Forgive me! Please let me go" While grunting a little from my preparation.

"Too late buddy. EVERYONE! THIS IS SELF DEFENCE! THIS IS SO THAT THEY WON'T ATTACK US ANYMORE! I AM SICK OF THEIR BULLYING" I moved his arm a little towards my chest and he increased his volume, screaming sorry! Till this point, I was filled with rage and without thinking any further. I rotated his right arm beyond its limit and I heard two different pops from his arm and his scream filled the hallway.

When I was done with his arm, I let it go and the human shield fell on his butt while crying hard and holding his right arm. At that moment, when I saw that, I felt empty. There was only one change in my expression. I had gone from a frustrated and angry look to a neutral one. I kept my gaze on his sobbing form for a while before looking at the remaining two bullies with tony on the floor with his eyes wide. As if he couldn't believe what just happened. I needed his two friends to attack me before a teacher comes and expels me.

I have to make it look like I was defending myself. So I walked towards Tony who was on the floor. He was always impulsive. And so, I figured out that out of three of them, he would be the first one to attack me again if I could make him mad again. Anger always won over fear in the end. So I walked and crouched in front of him. I could see the fear in his eyes but at the same time, he was angry. For a 13 years old, he got over his fear fast when I started insulting him.

"So, what do you think Tony? Would you listen to my request and stay away? Or would you prefer I come to your house tonight to have a talk with your mother? I bet she would love our talk." I whispered to him with a smile. That's when he truly overcame his fear and attacked me. And that was the signal for his buddies and come and kick the shit out of me. And I took them. I curled up into a ball and let Tony punch my stomach and my sides while his two other friends kept kicking my body. I just rolled on my side, curled up, and took the beatings. Everything was going according to the plan. I just had to wait for a teacher. And as if on cue, someone did come. The science teacher. Funny.

He separated them from me. I couldn't move because of the beating. My whole body hurt. So I just lay on the floor. Gazing at the roof of the hallway. From the corner of my eyes, I saw two people that I had recognized. I turned my head towards them. Barry and Iris. Looking at me their eyes widen to the limit. Too shocked from seeing what I had just done. Barry didn't know what to do. He looked like he wanted to come and check up on me but at the same time, Iris was holding his arm tight because she was too scared. So he just stood there with her. After seeing that, I just turned my head back to its initial position and closed my eyes.

Long story short, my plan did work a little. Though I was almost expelled, Joe mentioned something about Barry's accident and how they never did anything to the point that he was pushed off the stairs. I was banned from school for a couple of weeks and the bullies as well. And when we did resume our school, the school made sure that there wouldn't be another event like that by having more teachers survey the hallways. So the bullying decreased a considerable amount. For that, most kids were happy but no one tried to approach me.

Joe send me to a shrink again. At first, it didn't go well since I kept quiet. But after a week, I started talking to the psychologist. And not even three months in when she shared her results with Joe. I had become a sociopath in short. But in long term, I was suffering from what was called anti-social Personality Disorder. In summary, people can in fact become sociopaths later in their life. The equation for that is negative relationships, check, plus negative circumstances, check, plus negative perceptions of things, check. Add this with time and you get yourself a sociopath. Joe wasn't surprised by this diagnosis. He was rather heartbroken and he had the face of "I knew it. I could have done something sooner". He was blaming himself.

Time passed on and Barry, Iris and I graduated from high school and went to college. While Barry had a clear goal, and so did Iris, kinda, I didn't. I didn't know what to do with my life. So I took to traveling jobs. I wanted to see what was so beautiful in this world. So after a year in college, I dropped out and worked as a travel agent.

After graduation from high school, I would visit my dad as much as I could. Though I couldn't use all 4 visitations per month, I visited him twice per month and at least once if I couldn't twice. Even when I worked as a travel agent, I would include the visitations in my planning. My relationship with Barry and Iris wasn't as icy as before.

Joe had a talk with them after I went to the shrink and he told them something along the lines of I am still grieving and go easy on me. After that, they always tried to talk to me and include me in their activity. Sometimes I liked them, sometimes I didn't. Especially the summer camp with Barry, I hated that.

Now, 13 years after the event of my mom's death, I am returning home from work. To visit dad and company Barry to the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator opening. Joe had called me during one of my works on telegram, telling me that Barry was very excited about that and wanted me to join him. Though I had reluctantly agreed, I was looking forward to it.

"Are you done yet?"

"What? No...? I haven't reached the point till we met"

"I know about that already! I just want to do this job and stuff myself with chocolate! So shut up!"

"Nope! he asked about me! And it's rude to not explain the rest!"

"I DON'T CARE!!! I WANT CHOCOLATE!!"

"WELL, YOU HAVE TO WAIT THEN! you know what, I'll speed up this process ok? Now, where was I? Ah... Right the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion!"

So I visited my dad and had a chat with him. Some laughs here and there, him asking about my non-existential love life and social circle and I asked if he had found a lover inside yet and he laughed at my joke. That's how I spend my afternoon. After the visitation hour was over, I wanted to drop by the cemetery before going to barry's place. Surprise him before going together to the S.T.A.R Labs together from his place.

"Hey, mom... It's been a while..." I stood in front of a stone. Written on it was 'beloved Wife and Mother, Nora Allen.' I stood with a real smile on my face. feeling super calm. I sat down and rested my back in front of the stone. "I miss you a lot mom," I told to nobody still with a smile on my face.

I looked at the clear afternoon skies slowly turning to evening. I didn't say anything after that for a long time. My back still resting on the stone. The only thing that I had done, was close my eyes after a couple of minutes of looking at the sky. The event of that night came to my mind, but this time, there was an emotion to this memory, it was filled with calmness hiding something far dangerous behind it. Every time I visited my mom's grave, I would sit down and rest my back on the stone.

This, without fail, always reminded me of the last hug she gave me. Her last strength, her last breath was used to protect me. And this always warmed me up. Before I knew it, the sky was darkening and I received multiple calls from Joe and some texts asking if I had landed yet. There was also a text from Barry asking me to text him back when my plane landed and he would come over to get me. No text from Iris, maybe Joe or Barry didn't tell her that I was coming for a surprise I bet.

I took my phone and dialed Joe's number, letting him know about me already being here.

"Hello? Miky?"

"heyy! uncle Joe! How are you."

"Hey buddy, I'm good. Did you just land? Want me to come to get you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I had already landed a couple of hours ago. Had a visit with my dad and mom"

"I see, I am happy for you son" He sounded a little relieved while saying that.

"Anyway, where are you? Barry was waiting for you till now to go together to S.T.A.R Labs opening. He just left with Iris." he told me though I heard some background noise hinting at the fact that he was in hurry.

"Yeah, I kinda fall asleep at the cemetery. I'll meet with them at the Labs later then." I told Joe.

"Listen, I gotta go, got to catch some criminal brothers. Let's meet at my place tonight ok? It'll be good to have everyone together again after years. Bring Barry and Iris with you after you guys are done there."

"Ok then, I'll meet you later then. And take care Joe, come back alive." I told him with a voice filled with love. And I guess he understood that because he chuckled and answered "I will son. see you later."

Then I got up from my sitting position and turned towards the stone again, I looked at it with a smile and said "I'll be back mom."

I started driving towards the STAR Labs with the radio on.

"I'm Linda Park, and we are live outside S.T.A.R Labs. Despite the weather, which will only get worse. The torr-"

"Wow, I am late for that huh." I chuckle and took my phone from my pocket, wanting to call Barry and get an update from him. Like where to meet with him.

Though The rain was heavy, I didn't see any cars in the way. I looked at my phone for a second or two and when I found 'nerdy brother' i clicked on it and waited for Barry to answer.

I look back towards the road, and there was a huge explosion from the direction of the Lab. I got worried so I stopped the car on the side of the road. But I shouldn't have, because when I looked up, a small meteor was heading towards me. I didn't stand around and started running away from my spot. Getting wet from the storm and rain. But I didn't have space to worry about that. The meteor, though it was small, when it collided with the ground, made a small crater. And the shockwave send me flying, face first towards the ground. But I had enough reflex to protect myself by curling up and protecting my face and head with my arms. Good thing I landed on the dirt and not on the concert road. I stood up without any problems and patted off the dirt that was on my light blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

"Now, this is a real surprise... I might have lost another family member in the S.T.A.R Labs and a meteor trying to kill me" I told to myself with an emotionless tone. I took a glance at the spot the meteor landed and walked towards it. No matter what I would do now, it wouldn't change anything so far. Joe might still be busing with his bad guy and Barry and Iris were at the lab. My phone still in my hand, wet and surprisingly working. Barry hadn't answered my call and that just pushed me towards my early days of the fateful night again. An emotionless person. So I tried my luck with Iris. After two rings, I heard a voice that relieved me a little. But she was shaken a little.

"Hello Mike?"

"Hey Iris, are you and Barry ok? Were you hurt in the explosion? Where are you?" I fired question after question at her. Though I had tried to give my voice some emotions, it was almost empty.

"Umm, we are at the police station, Barry had gotten hurt by a robber. What about you? Where are y-" CRACH

"Iris? What was that? what happened?" I increased my voice a little

"I don't know, there might be an accident in the forensic lab. I'll check it out and call you back ok?

"Yeah, thanks, listen, take Barry and go to Joe's house later tonight. I'll see you guys over there"

"uh? Oh ok! ok, see you in a bit Mike." and she ended the call.

At the end of the call, I was in front of the crater formed by the meteor and walked towards it. It wasn't anything huge. Just a 1-meter hole deep and about 3 meters in diameter.

What I had thought was a meteor turned out to be a steel-like ball with some marks over it. I got too curious and as soon as my hand was near the steel ball, it opened a hatch, and a slimy black and red thing jumped on my chest.

"What the heck?!" I yelled and tried to get it off me, but when I touched it, it spread from my chest to my arms and slowly, expanded itself till it devoured me hole. From head to toes. Before I knew what was going on, I had a sudden headache with memories that didn't belong to mine and a deep but gnarly voice begging me to help it. And I had passed out.