❝ People will
be safe. ❞

───────
NINE | UNMASKED

I closed my eyes for a moment and felt how a smile started to appear on my lips. It had been a while since the last time I had danced with a partner. The last time I had done it was at prom and it didn't go as I expected to. For starters, my partner had to leave early and I spent the rest of the night alone and wishing I had bought more comfortable heels—if that's even possible. However, today I was feeling like I could dance for the rest of my life—maybe I had just realized how distracting and relaxing it was to me or maybe it was just the company.

"You're really good at this—uh, is—is this okay?" Barry's voice joined the soft music that played on his phone. He stammered at the end and I saw the struggle going inside of him, "I mean, am I going too slow— should my hands be placed here?" I had to stop myself from laughing.

"It is okay," I said for the hundredth time; waiting for DNA results had never been so entertaining, "also, there's nothing wrong with slow dancing," he smiled, looking down at his feet again; with my hand I touched his chin lightly, "your partner's eyes are up here, don't look at your feet, just feel the music cursing through your body."

"Sorry, it's just I don't want to step on you," he muttered. I gave him a smile. I was surprised when he asked me to teach him how to dance all of a sudden, I knew I had offered myself to do it yet I had thought that after the accident he had forgotten about it, well, he didn't. I felt his fingers nervously moving on the little of my back, "I'm so bad at this," he breathed out, shaking his head.

"You're doing really good actually—I will teach you and the next time you and Felicity go on a fancy date, she'll be blown up by your dance skills," I told him, wiggling my eyebrows while he laughed under his breath.

"Just for the record, it wasn't a real date, she just needed a partner for a party and I happened to be there," he shrugged, "plus, she's into someone else," I lifted my eyebrows, "I'm not surprised, though, one-sided love is some sort or curse for me."

"Yeah, tell me about it," I babbled, raising an eyebrow quickly. I stared at his chest as I my mind drifted away, thinking of nothing really, then as suddenly as I had zoned out, I snapped back into reality, "why do you have to be so freaking tall, Barry?" He let out a breathy laugh, "Seriously, your chest is all my eyes can see from down here."

"Why do you have to be so short?" He used his hand to indicate my height, then he placed it on my head and I couldn't help but glare at him, "I'm joking, Harl," he pulled me into a tight hug all of a sudden, crashing me against his chest and I didn't really know what to do. Barry's lotion filled my nose and I secretly smiled to myself, yeah, I didn't know what to do, I just knew I enjoyed being that close to him. I wrapped my arms around him and chuckled like he was doing, otherwise just standing there smiling to myself like an idiot would have seemed weird.

My ear was placed close to his heart; my brow furrowed when I heard it beating, not because some cheesy reason, but because it was beating really fast, like he had just finished running a marathon. I listened to it a bit more to make sure I was not imagining things. When I was done double checking, I looked up at him. He gave me a smile while I started to panic, his heart shouldn't have been doing that.

"Sorry, where were we?" He questioned as he returned to a dancing position, picking up where we had left off. Barry noticed my change in mood almost immediately. The grin he was wearing five seconds ago vanished and a furrowed brow replaced it, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking," he raised his eyebrows, "thinking about, how are you really doing," I gushed out, "I mean, I haven't asked you how you're feeling lately and, well, I don't know what to expect from someone who got struck by lightning," I said with a small smile. Barry smiled and this time he slowly moved around the lab as we danced, "I jus want to know, how are you feeling?"

"It's been months since that. I'm fine, I have never been better!" The brunette assured with a shrug. He kept moving around and I was too busy trying to read him to even notice the chair behind him until it was too late and he tripped over it, dragging me to the floor with him as my hand knocked a pencil case from over the desk before actually hitting the floor. A couple of groans were heard and they turned into laughs when we saw each other thrown on our bottoms.

"Excited much, Allen?" I asked, shaking my head and wincing a little.

"Sorry, you okay?" I nodded and we started to get up. As I dusted my clothes he grabbed my arm, staring at my elbow, "Told you dancing with me was dangerous," I saw the scratch on my elbow.

"It's nothing," I assured, it will have healed within an hour, I thought, "and, yeah I just learned that the hard way," I chuckled. We started to pick up the pencils and put them back onto the desk. Music still played and I found myself lip syncing one of Barry's favourite songs. As I made my way to my desk my partner in crime made his way to his. He sat down and I heard him type something in the computer.

"The results are ready," he stated almost to himself.

"It only took two songs and a scratched elbow," he spun his chair around, flashing me a smile and then fidgeted with the Newton's cradle on his desk. I saw how the balls at the edges moved by themselves. I continued to grab a file and thumb through it. I was minding my own business, thinking of what I was going to do when I got home after my visit to S.T.A.R. Labs that day—everything was going great with the trainings and I had progressed considerably.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Barry broke the pause we had created. When I turned around to face him, he was not looking at me, his eyes were focused on the metal balls swinging by their own.

"I do, yes," I croaked, almost inaudible, though. I saw him stop the Newton's cradle with his fingers, "Barry, I—"

"Harlow Gideon Steel!" A voice cried out, making me turn and flinch at the name. Iris walked in, her heels tickling on the floor and with her signature smile on her lips. I met Barry's eyes.

"Gideon?" He questioned and I could feel the embarrassment dripping from me as I rubbed my forehead and my cheeks turned red.

"Did you just ignore my texts?" Iris continued. I threw the file back on my desk and my feet stomped her direction.

"Did you just said that awful name out loud?!" I bellowed and she smiled sheepishly.

"Don't be so melodramatic," she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, hugging me, "it's your name after all."

"I always thought the 'G' stood up for Grace," Barry chimed.

"Grace sounds much better," I babbled.

"Well, I like Gideon," Iris beamed, "I might start calling you Giddy," she said with a giggle at the end.

"Please don't. Plus, it's easy for you to say, your name is Iris," I grumbled and she rolled her eyes.

"Try Bartholomew, that is not a good name," Barry sneered and Iris sighed.

"Are we done complaining about our names?" She questioned. I noticed the notebook pressed against her chest and the pen between her fingers, "I sent you like a million texts, I need your help with something."

"I haven't checked my phone in a while, I was—" I looked over to Barry, who was paging through a book as he leaned on his desk, "—busy, but sure, what do you want me to do?" Just when she was about to tell me, a police officer walked into the lab. He told us to leave for a crime scene, I saw her sigh quietly, "I'm sorry, I have to go," I said. Everything became frantic in the room, Barry rushed to get his stuff and he slipped into his coat at the same time and I realized I had to do the same, "I'm so sorry, can we meet tonight?" I wondered as I grabbed the black hoodie from the back of a chair and put it on.

"Sure!" She chirped and smiled, "I'll see if I can find Eddie before you guys leave," the tanned girl said as she swirled around, making the skirt she was wearing float smoothly in the air. By the time she exited the lab I was grabbing my stuff. I saw Barry being almost ready to leave and I bit my tongue as I wanted to tell him about my powers, I came to the conclusion that it was about time.

"Barry, about what you asked earlier—" his head snapped up at me, his lips slightly parted and looked over to the door where the officer was still waiting for us. Barry cut me off, "there's something important I've been meaning to tell you."

"Oh—um, we really should be leaving," he said, sprinting to the door.

"Yeah, um—you know what? I'll see you there," I blurted out, winning a confused look from him, "I just remembered I have to deliver a carbon dating report," I lied.

"Okay. You tell me later, okay?" I nodded and I saw him smile, disappearing through the door along with the officer. I sighed, dropping my arms, clenching my jaw as I shook my head.

"I have powers," I said to nobody. I made my way to his desk and my eyes fixed on the Newton's cradle, I lifted one of the balls and then I released it. I observed how the mechanism worked for a couple of seconds and then I made it stop just by using my powers. I knew telling him was necessary and it had to be easy, he was my best friend, but I couldn't, I got stuck every time, "I have powers," I muttered to myself.

With that, I made my way out the precinct and got in a taxi. Ten minutes later I was still sitting in the back of the taxi wishing to have super speed to be on time for everything for the rest of my life.

"Could you drive a little bit faster?" I asked to the driver. His eyes darted at me through the rear view mirror. I felt how the taxi increased its speed just a little, with a sigh, I returned to my phone. My thumbs tapped on the keyboard repeatedly as I replied to Joe —who had just texted me asking the reason why I was late. I nibbled my lower lip, lifting my gaze and watching the cars pass by and let out a quiet sigh, I had to tell him too, he was the closest thing to a father I had.
I looked down at my phone and hit send. Scratching my forehead, I put my phone away and looked at the road, there were not many cars, so I hoped to be at the crime scene within five minutes tops. That's what I thought, however, not a single second later chaos was unleashed. The taxi, along with some other cars came to an abrupt halt when the ratchet straps that secured a fridge on a pick up truck gave up, creating a chain reaction with cars crashing into each other, piling up.

The taxi driver unbuckled himself and got out of the taxi, suggesting me to do the same. I immediately unbuckled myself and swung open the door and as I did, I saw the uproar going on; people frantically getting out of their cars, some people ran past me, many of them bumping into me in their desperate attempt of escaping, some others remained as onlookers. It took me just a second to know why. Some of the cars were catching fire and a gasoline truck was near. The driver told me to run and get away as fast as possible, but I couldn't.

As I scanned the place, I saw that the crash made one of the cars crash into the railing, ending up with its front hanging over the edge of the bridge and its occupant was petrified and nobody seemed to notice. The taxi driver told me to leave again, I did the opposite.

I ran, making my way to the car bumping and crashing into people. I felt angry that no one seemed to stay and help that man out, but I wasn't going to leave him there, I couldn't.

When I was close enough, I stopped dead on my tracks, I couldn't let that man or anyone see my face if I used my powers; soon I realized that it was perhaps too late for that, I just pulled up the hood and snuck my way through the collided cars and to the railing, keeping an eye on the spreading fire. I stood there, at the very edge, trying to figure a way to get him out of the car without making things worse.

"I'm gonna get you out of there," I told him, keeping my face down so he wouldn't get a good look of my face, "where's The Flash when you need him?" I said softly. A loud bang made me flinch, when I turned around, I saw how flames engulfed completely the car that had just provoked that explosion. Said explosion made the floor tremble, making the car slip forward. I mentally gripped onto the metal of the car, trying to drag it back, but it was too heavy. My breath got caught in my throat when it slipped all the way, somehow I got to get hold of it. I gritted my teeth as I struggled not to let go of it and tried to bring it back onto the bridge.

The driver was totally having a mental breakdown and people kept running and screaming in the background, making the situation more stressful. I knew I had to hurry. A familiar whooshing sound made me feel a bit calmer. I looked over my shoulder and saw The Flash running people away from danger and into safety. It certainly took a weight off my shoulders. As he continued to run back and forth with people in his arms, I returned to my own predicament. I took a deep breath, gripping onto the metal again, feeling every single inch as if I was actually touching it, trying to lift it, letting myself go and believing in myself, that's all I had to do. Then it happened, I felt as if an emergency energy source or whatever had switched on in me, I saw a light blue hue surrounding my hands, it spread to my arms and shimmered as something like electricity bolts jolted every now and then, making me feel tingles on my skin. I was both scared and excited, it had never happened before. A smile spread on my lips and a soft laugh left my throat as I lifted the car in the air as if it had been made of paper. I slowly turned round to place the car on the bridge and as soon as I did, the man inside the car stared at me before running away.

"Cisco, I can't stop the fire," I heard The Flash shouting from behind to the team at S.T.A.R. Labs and waiting for an answer. An idea crossed my mind, but it was too risky, I had never tried to do something like it during the trainings, I had to try. Without even thinking, I strode closer to the gasoline truck, my hands outstretched towards it and my fingers curling as I struggled to lift it; my jaw clenched tightly and my hands trembled, "You won't be able to contain the explosion," I heard the man in the red suit say to me, "there will be a lethal blast range of 100 feet and a falling-glass hazard range of 1250 feet."

"It will reach the people back there, but if I put this thing up in the air for another 100 feet at least it won't," I told him.

"But it will reach you," he stressed.

"I can't back down now, Flash. People will be safe," with a grunt, I sent the truck up in the air, engulfed in flames, just a couple of seconds later the red flames turned brighter as it exploded. The brightness of it blinded me for a moment and the very sound of it left a ringing sound in my ears, disorienting me just a second. My hands were still outstretched towards the pieces of metal that threatened to escape my grip, pieces which I successfully stopped from showering down. However, I couldn't do anything with the thousands of pieces of glass rain falling at high speed, some of them scrapping my face in the process. The image of a great gush of flame, a fist of orange flame punching its way out filled my vision as I felt the temperature around me rising. Then, I felt an arm being wrapped around my waist, next thing I knew I was being thrown onto the lithic sand in the beach, laying on my stomach and my lungs trying to get as much oxygen into them as they could. I saw The Flash skidding to a halt a few meters in front of me, panting and taking his mask off. He turned round and my eyes grew wide as they observed the man under the mask.

"Barry?"