❝ I didn't see
that coming. ❞

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TEN | BORN READY

"What were you thinking?" I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed, "What were you thinking?!" That was the lovely doctor Wells yelling at me as soon as I entered The Cortex. I walked past him and headed for the medical bay where Caitlin awaited, subsequently plopping myself on the bed, giving her a tight-lipped smile. Barry stood by the door with his arms crossed. The surprise of him being The Flash was still fresh within me, yet that was not the moment to freak out about how my lab partner was the mysterious man in the red suit that saved people, there would be plenty of time for that after Doctor Well's yelling. The dark-haired man drove his wheelchair towards me and stopped abruptly when he was close enough, "Have you lost your mind?!" I scoffed, then winced as Caitlin touched my burnt skin.

"Last time I checked I was helping people not to get killed," I said, observing how Caitlin applied some sort of ointment on my burns quietly. Cisco, on the other hand, stood awkwardly in the middle of the discussion as he held some bandages for Caitlin.

"Someone could have seen your face, you put your identity at stake!" Wells growled, making me sigh and scowl, "Do you think that a silly hood will protect your identity in broad daylight?"

"What was I supposed to do, then? Let people die just because I wasn't wearing a mask?" I questioned back, "I didn't get these burns in my hands for fun, I did what I had to do and that's what you're training me for, aren't you?" He took off his glasses with a stern look in his eyes, glaring at me.

"Just don't ever, ever do that again, did you understand, Harlow?" He asked, his voice dark, making me hold my eyes on him for a moment, "Did you understand?" He repeated and I limited myself to nod, not helping my jaw to clench, though. With that, the man left, wheeling past Barry and disappearing through the door to The Cortex, leaving the four of us drowning in what seemed an eternal silence.

"Well, that was intense," Cisco said, breaking said silence with a small laugh at the end and comically raising his eyebrows.

"You have first degree burns, they will have healed for the time we go training this afternoon, but you'll have to wear the bandages for a while," Caitlin said with a small smile on her lips.

"I don't think Doctor Wells wants to see me in the trainings anymore," I mumbled, "besides, I'm not in the mood today."

"Doctor Wells thinks it's better to keep a low profile when it comes to using your abilities, we don't know how people would react if they knew that there's more people with superpowers living amongst us, it's something new for everyone," she said and I sighed as my eyes landed on the bandages wrapping my hands. She was right, but still. The fact of wearing or not wearing a mask didn't mean I wouldn't help and Doctor Wells would have to accept that.

"Can you guys give us a minute?" Barry's voice made its way through the room and my eyes darted at him, quickly returning to my hands. Cait and Cisco did as the brunette asked, their footsteps gradually disappearing in the distance. I felt my heart skipping a beat, not really sure why. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Barry sitting next to me on the medical bed, surrounded by an awkward silence that only seemed to grow and I couldn't stand it anymore.

"So . . . " I coaxed for him to say something.

"So, uh . . ." he babbled, squirming in his spot and I felt myself starting to do the same through nervousness, "are you okay?" I affirmed with a hum, followed by another pause.

"And you, are you—are you okay?"

"Yeah, um—what you did out there was, good," I nodded slowly, "you were great."

"You too!" I blurted out in a weirdly high pitched voice, looking at his face and averting my eyes when we made eye contact. He thanked me quickly.

"You're not angry with me, are you?" Barry gushed out quite fast, "I was gonna tell you, I swear, it's just, Joe told me it'd be better for you and Iris to stay away from this, for your own safety, that was when I didn't know about your powers, Joe doesn't know about them, by the way," I simpered as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"No, I'm not angry with you, I wasn't completely honest with you either, though I didn't say anything because I was scared and I didn't know about your powers either. Besides, why would I be angry with you? I mean," I stared at him, giving my head a shake and shrugging a little, letting out a throaty laugh, "you're The Flash! And that's pretty cool, if you ask me," he laughed nervously, "it was you all the time, on the rooftop."

"Yeah," he stated briefly.

"I, almost peed myself when you ran me from the lab to that roof that night," we both chuckled, "all this explains a lot, why you acted so weird or why you disappeared all of a sudden, I knew you were hiding something. It all makes sense now."

"I should have told you, I was struggling to get the courage to do it," he said, his eyes glimmering under the bright lights in the room and a smile dancing on his lips. His back straightened up at the sound of his phone on the bedside table. He quickly reached for it and stared at the screen, "Singh called a meeting in thirty minutes," he said with a sigh at the end.

"We should be leaving then."

"Why? We can get there in three seconds," he teased and I chuckled.

"I'll have to hide my hands during the entire meeting."

"I'll get you a pair of gloves in a flash, don't worry."

"Oh, gosh, don't say that ever again, Barry."

"You know what the best part of all this is?" I observed him with expectant eyes, "We can take our pranks to another level," he grinned, the corners of his eyes wrinkling as he did and I shook my head, slightly rolled my eyes, "also, I won't have to use this voice with you anymore," he said, doing that weird thing with his voice again.

"You had me every single time, Allen," I grumbled, nudging him, pushing him to a side playfully and he did the same. There was a feeling of relief and calm inside of me just by knowing I didn't have to hide my powers from Barry and something told me he was probably feeling the same about his powers. I liked that sensation, I felt like I was free in some way and I wouldn't hesitate to tell Joe the next time I ran into him. Barry was right, it was better for Iris and others not to know about our powers, specially since we learned there was not just one speedster in Central City, there was this man in a yellow suit. And now that I knew that my best friend was in fact The Flash, I understood why he had been acting so weird since Christmas, which is when this evil speedster first showed up. Back to the moment at hand;  we were off to Central City's Police Department with just five seconds prior to the meeting. If I'm honest, I didn't even pay attention to Singh, my mind seemed to be everywhere but in Singh's small office. It kept wandering off and just returning to randomly nod at whatever the director said and making eye contact with Barry—who smiled at me before looking down at the file in his hands, yet his eyes flickered back at me again.

That afternoon, I returned to S.T.A.R. Labs for the training and after Caitlin checked on my burns and confirmed what she had said earlier—my hands to be healed by that time—we headed to at an abandoned Ferris Aircraft testing facility site. Barry said that the place had been shut down after one of their test pilots disappeared. I stood by Caitlin in the chilly weather from that day, my arms crossed over my chest, preventing my coat to open and the cold wind to filter through my clothes. My eyebrows furrowed and my eyes paying close attention to everything that was happening across from me. Caitlin put the binoculars that allowed her to see the Barry fighting a drone down when a rainfall of bullets chased his tail. Her pony tail bounced as she strode towards Doctor Well and Cisco, who controlled the drone.

"That was too close," Caitlin told him, slowly shaking her head.

"Yeah, dying is not part of the new training methods, or is it?" I asked, joining them.

"He told me to make it hard," Cisco replied as the drone flew over our heads, turning around and flew back to Barry's direction.

"Pretty sure he didn't tell you to make him dead," Caitlin stressed.

"Remember, this is just supposed to be a training exercise to improve Barry's speed," Doctor Wells stated, taping on the screen on his wheelchair.

"Cisco, you gonna bring it or what?" Barry's voice came through the speakers, his voice reflecting the adrenaline running through his body. Cisco didn't answer as he basically waited for Doctor Wells's approval, which made me think.

"Bring it," the dark-haired man said briefly and I saw the same confused look on my face displayed on Caitlin's face.

"Bring what?" I asked, by this time we heard the missile attached to the drone whistling as it was released. I stared wide-eyed and saw how it hit the ground, a grunt coming from Barry was heard through the speakers. We saw him thrown on the ground when the smoke from the explosion vanished. The drone had already flown over our heads again and was making its way towards Barry with another missile ready.

"Why isn't he running away?" Caitlin questioned worried.

"What the hell is he doing? He's just there not moving," I blurted out.

"Barry, run away," I heard the tall woman say. The missile made its way straight to its target and Barry finally got on his feet, running right at the missile and jumping to get hold of it, turning his body around and changing the missile direction at Cisco's drone, exploding as soon as both objects made contact and making us all let out a gasp.

"I didn't see that coming," Cisco uttered, making the three of us smile. Since everything seemed to be okay, I went inside S.T.A.R. Laboratories' mobile unit to get the crazy amount of food we had brought for Barry. I grabbed the plastic container with nearly a hundred of hamburgers and struggled to lift it, when I raised my gaze I saw Barry at the back of the unit changing into regular clothes; myself not sure whether to avert my eyes or keep staring as I caught a glimpse of his naked torso.

"Like what you see?" He said suddenly, making my mind freeze, unable to even formulate a coherent sentence for a couple of seconds as he had started to make his way towards me while putting his shirt on and with a smirk on his lips.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I gushed out, "I came to get your food, and I was just leaving," I told him, rushing down the steps and quietly sighing in relative relief, Barry behind me. But I did like the view, to be honest.

"Very impressive, Mr. Allen," Doctor Wells said while Barry munched on a hamburger and I put a stolen french fry in my mouth, smiling sheepishly when I got caught, "your reaction to stimuli at super-speed continues to improve," he added.

"It's still not enough," Barry said, standing up and walking over to Doctor Wells with his arms folded.

"It will be. You keep working like you are, you stay focused like you are, and you will be ready the next time your man in the yellow suit comes around," Wells assured him.

"I think you mean the Reverse-Flash," Cisco told us and I lifted my eyebrows at the name and the others gave him weird looks, "what? He said it, not me. And he's right. Yellow suit, red lightning, and evil—the reverse of Barry."

"Meh," Caitlin uttered, walking away.

"I like it," I said, shrugging, "Cisco is right," the brunette in the sage coloured beanie smiled.

"Actually, I kind of like it," Doctor Wells stated, making Cisco's face light up.

"All right," Barry announced, "I'm still ready for another round. How many more drones do you have left?" He asked as he walked away, stopping briefly as he waited for Cisco's answer.

"Two. And they've got lasers," that was his answer, to which the two Doctors and I blurted out a no in unison.

"Actually, I think this is Harlow's turn," the piercing pair of blue eyes observed me now from behind the pair of half rimmed glasses and soon everyone else's eyes were on me, "let's see if you are as ready as you claim to be," he said, making my bad mood lurk. He was still angry with me.

"I am," I told him, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, put this on," Cisco said, handing me an earpiece.

"I won't wear that, not today."

"How will you know what you have to do or what will come next?"

"I won't. Surprise me," I told him with a small wink before making my way into the test field. I was tired of Wells always trying to find fault in whatever I did; I fixed the leather gloves that protected my hands from cold and when I was away enough from them, I turned around, waiting for Cisco to get the drone in the air. I saw Caitlin giving giving me a small wave as she stood by Barry, who gave me the thumbs up. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous and secretly praying for Cisco not to use the goddamned lasers. I inhaled deeply when I saw the drone in the air, humming in the sky, "What are you doing, Cisco?" I mumbled to myself when I noticed the drone was barely moving forward, "Oh, God," I gushed out when I saw it approaching quite fast and readying the missiles once again, "Cisco!" I cried out when I saw and heard not one but the four missiles being shoot with little time in between. I clenched my jaw as I tried to come up with an idea, I wasn't going to outrun those things like The Flash had, so I just waited. When it was close enough, I quickly raised my hand, reaching at the the fast approaching projectiles, however I just got to send three of them up to the sky, still gripping at them, leading them as high as I could. 

I let out a sharp gasp when I saw the fourth one flashing at me. I gripped at it with my free hand, feeling how it pushed my hand with its force, just as a magnet is repelled to another with a different pole. The missile came to a sharp stop, the object itself levitating in its spot as the others kept going up and up into the sky until I wasn't able to see them, though I could feel them in the palm of my hand. I closed my fist tightly, the leather wrapping it squeaking lightly in the process as the missiles exploded above and away from us as I crushed them, subsequently doing the same with the remaining one.

I heard Cisco whooping in the distance and short after I saw the drone flying on the opposite direction, obviously it'd come back for more. It turned around, flying past S.T.A.R. Labs' mobile unit and towards me again. As soon as I noticed it I began to run in its direction with my fists curled up. I noticed the light blue hue surrounding my hands again, I gasped when the drone began to shoot again, I had to throw myself to the ground and roll to a side, "Gosh, Cisco—" I mumbled, this time louder enough for him to hear me.

I quickly got on my feet and reached out to the drone, freezing it in the air. I could feel it humming and buzzing the drone produced, every single electric vibration and impulse, every inch and piece of metal unable to escape my grip; sparks came off of the drone all of a sudden and with a swift move of my wrist I crashed it against the ground after crushing it by closing my hand in a fist. I turned around, making my way to the small crowd that observed me. Caitlin and Barry clapping and Cisco lifting his fist up in the air.

"I don't even know if I'm happy or upset because you destroyed another drone," Cisco was the first one to approach me, "but, girl that was fantastic!"

"I think you finally accepted your powers as a part of you now," Caitlin told me with a big smile as she held one of their weird gadgets to monitor vitals close to me, "that gives you more control over them," she said and I returned the smile.

"Just, please, wear an earpiece the next time, you had us worried the whole time," Barry added.

"I will," I told him with a nod. Our happy moment was cut off by someone else clapping. Our heads snapped at Doctor Wells, who applauded slowly and vigorously.

"Bravo," he said, a smile spreading on his lips before repeating the word, "you did a great job, yet there are some things you did out there that we haven't taught you yet. Like affecting the electric system of the drone for instance; how'd you fry the drone's system?"

"I've done research and practiced a lot," I said flatly, "I told you I was ready."

"I believe you. I only have a question for you; your hands, has this glowing thing happened before? You didn't seem surprised by it," he asked, my eyes looked at my hands briefly.

"Yes, this morning at the bridge, is it bad?"

"No, it isn't."

"Then what does that mean?" Barry asked curiously.

"It means, Mister Allen, that she's becoming more powerful than she can even imagine. Not a bad thing unless she loses control, then it could be something bad."

"How bad could it be?" Cisco asked.

"She could affect the earth's magnetic fields, crack its nucleus and kill us all," he blurted, making me press my lips together and blink, honestly shocked by it.

"Okay, that's not going to happen, that's why we are training and everything is going great," Cisco said, stepping in and placing a hand over my shoulder, "Harls has some serious control already, so don't freak out about things that won't happen, stop being so apocalyptic, yes, the world will end someday but she won't be the responsible for that, it will probably be something like the 2012 movie," he shrugged.

"I'm just saying that control is a priority," the man said before driving his wheelchair close to the table under the canopy, leaving us a bit shook by his words. I felt a hand tenderly grabbing my bicep.

"Just ignore him," Barry whispered.

"I know," I told the three of them with a smile, "I can control it, just look how far I've gotten," I shrugged and I saw Cisco zoning out for a second as he stared at my face with squinted eyes, which made me grow a little uncomfortable to the point of chuckling under my breath, "do I have something on my face?" I asked him, touching my cheek with a hand as I smiled nervously at him.

"Your face is fine, I'm working on a name for you, how about," he paused dramatically, "Allure."

"Allure?" I echoed him, absentmindedly looking at Barry, who shrugged.

"Yeah, you don't sound convinced, me neither. We can change it anyways," Cisco added.

"I'm sure she will change it when she discovers she can do more than just alluring metal," Doctor Wells interrupted, "Barry, suit up now, it's your turn," he ordered and Barry headed to get his suit. Cisco and I, both looking at each other with a knowing look in the eyes.

"Do you want to control the drone this time?" Cisco questioned at me, joining his hands together, "I will talk you through it," he added and Caitlin stared at him, narrowing her eyes and then crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don't even think of making her use the lasers!"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
it's been approximately 354,792 years since i updated and for that i apologize. i've been sick, loaded with college stuff and to make things worse my internet connection was crap. i hope you liked this chapter, barry and harlow are so cutE I CAN'T EVEN.  any ship names?