Pushing the Limit

Weeks later, Barry continued to live with Parker. They had devised a pattern to make living together easy and quite enjoyable.

Saturday cleaning was a thing they both participated in, though, it usually resulted in them passionately singing into their cleaning utensils, making the cleaning go much longer than it needed to.

It was still strange in some aspects, but Parker enjoyed having someone else living with her. It gave her a distraction from herself, and in general, a buddy. She really was living with her best friend.

Barry was going through hard training. Parker had him doing weekend shifts: checking out old warehouses, following a strict set of directions (that were meant to be performed in the house.. Usually cleaning for her) and putting him through fight courses with Girder.

On top of all that, S.T.A.R Labs had Barry's goal to be tbe Fastest Man a Alive in mind. 

Everyday Team Flash trained at Ferris Airway.

Parker was the designated food person. She went to the nearest Big Belly Burger and ordered four dozen burgers.

By the time her order was ready and she was back at the airway, Barry's training was almost finished for the day.

Leaning on the back of Dr.Wells' wheelchair, she peered into the distance to find Barry.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't tell you to make him dead!" Caitlin fumed to Cisco.

Parker rolled her eyes. There goes Caitlin, probably overreacting about Barry's health again.

"Remember this is just supposed to be a training exercise to improve Barry's speed," Dr. Wells reminded them.

If he hadn't stepped in, Cisco and Caitlin would have gone off on each other again.

Four verbal fights had broke out between Cisco and Caitlin over training tactics for Barry since Christmas time.

Every single time, it was because Cisco and Parker wanted to give him a taste of ruthlessness. Bad guys wouldn't go easy on Barry in the real world was their argument.

Caitlin hadn't understood that, or like Parker argued, she didn't try to.

"Cisco! You gonna bring it or what?"

Cisco looked to a smirking Wells for confirmation.

"Bring it," he said.

Cisco clicked a few buttons on his keyboard and the drone flying after Barry responded. 'Bringing it' meant that actual missiles were going to be shot at Barry.

He could have dodged all day-- it was the actual drone he needed to take out. Barry hadn't figured that out yet.

Deciding she wouldn't always be there to be the voice of truth, Parker silenced herself and let him work that out on his own.

The first was released and it crashed behind his feet, making him trip from the force of the explosion. Instead of running, Barry faced the drone, crouched in a stance.

"Why isn't he running?" Caitlin questioned, peering through her binoculars.

"Play smart, Allen," Parker warned.

Parker's position standing behind Dr.Wells was a beneficial placement for that moment. That moment granted her access to the mystery that was Dr. Harrison Wells.

She saw his hands grip the handles of his chair, and her eyes flickered down to him for a second before trying to focus on Barry again. But she couldn't. Dr. Wells' shoe had moved. Not a significant length, but the tip of his shoe twitched.

Parker shuffled back, stunned so much that her tailbone rammed into the table.

The three turned to her.

"You okay, Park?" Caitlin asked.

Parker sucked in her nervous breath. "Um, yeah. Yeah. Just lost my balance," she said.

No more questions were asked. Cisco tapped the second missile, releasing it.

Barry leaped at the missile, twirled, then sent the missile flying at the drone before his feet connected with the ground again.

He tugged at the collar of his suit, walking away from the exploded drone behind him.

Barry looked annoyed, and if Parker was being completely honest, sexy.

She would have admitted that if the S.T.A.R. Labs workers weren't around, or if she hadn't been experiencing doubt about seeing Wells move his foot.

Ten minutes later, four dozen burgers settled in Barry's stomach, Cisco stopped the race between Parker and Barry. Not surprisingly, Barry won. Parker was only able to eat two burgers in ten minutes; Barry scarfed down four dozen.

"You suck," she pouted, her voice muffled over the chewed up food in her mouth.

Barry kicked her chair lightly. "Don't talk with food in your mouth, weirdo."

Parker opened her mouth, giving him a full view of her chewed up food. She giggled when he fake gagged.

"Very impressive, Mr.Allen. Your reaction to stimuli at super speed continues to improve," Dr. Wells praised.

"It's still not enough," Barry sighed.

"It will be. You keep working like you are, you keep focused like you are, and you will be ready the next time the Man in the Yellow Suit comes around."

"I think you mean the Reverse Flash," Cisco corrected. He bounced on the tips of his toes, nervous and excited to try out the new name.

Parker rolled her eyes and slurped down the remains of her Sprite. "Boo, you whore."

Cisco actually laughed at her reference before returning to his explanation of the name. "Okay, but think about it. Yellow suit, red lighting, evil-- the reverse of Barry."

"Meh," Caitlin said.

Dr.Wells gave a single head nod. "Actually, I kind of like it."

Barry jogged up the steps to the trailer. "All right, I'm ready for another round. How many more drones you have left?"

"Two! And the best part is, we've built them with.." Cisco paused, running to Parker and throwing up jazz hands beside her. "Lasers!" The two chorused.

Monotone and in sync, Dr.Wells and Caitlin both denied with a flat, "No."

>>>>>

Someone had broken into a garage with cars worth millions of dollars. Apparently, nothing had been stolen.

There were no witnesses, so Parker's help wasn't needed.

In Barry's absence, Parker retreated to Cisco's man cave. She had two mysteries to solve: one about Dr.Wells intentions, and the other about what Caitlin was doing researching a burning meta-human.

In a Google search, all she came up with was Iris' posts and random Twitter posts about a certain fictional man named Johnny Storm.

Parker settled for Iris' posts for information. If she was going to confront Caitlin about it, she needed to have evidence and know what she was talking about.

"Parker!" Cisco called. "Your lover is back!"

"As well as Leonard Snart!" Caitlin chimed.

Parker slid the paper filled with notes of the Burning Man and connections to Caitlin Snow into her laptop. Closing the lid, she hid it under her coat. 

Parker walked into the Cortex, completely casual, like she hadn't just been researching a coworker. Totally casual.

"For a human, Leonard Snart is proving to be quite the nemesis."

"And he's still got the cold gun he stole from us. The one I built," Cisco said shamefully.

"Did anyone figure out what he wants?" Caitlin tried.

Her eyes lingered on Cisco to check if he was okay, but it was obvious she was trying to move the conversation away from his guilt.

Barry raised his shoulders. "The Flash, probably. If Snart wants a fight with the Flash, then I'll give him one."

Dr.Wells made a noise of objection.

"You don't think I should?" Barry asked.

"Well, I didn't say that, but as fast as you are, you cannot be everywhere at once. And it becomes then, a question of priorities. In the last month, you have made a commitment to improving your speed, and enhancing your reflexes, and it's working. You're finally faster."

"You can't just let him ignore Snart," Parker objected.

"The last time he had a fight with Snart, a train derailed. He was lucky to get those people to safety. Now, if you don't give him that fight--"

"--he may just back off," Barry finished.

His eyes met Parker's and in that single glance, Parker knew his mind was made up.

"Or he'll keep coming back!" Parker said, getting them to imagine the more likely scenario. "Time after time, hurting more people until Barry decides to take him on. Whatever happened to cutting off the head so it won't grow?"

A priority to Barry was beating Reverse Flash, and though he wouldn't admit it, there was a part of him being poisoned by his idol.

If Barry was too blind to see that, then Parker would happily make a fool of herself in order for Barry to understand that Wells' words weren't always the right ones.

"S.T.A.R. Labs will work with the CCPD and devise a plan to catch Cold--" Dr.Wells stopped as he heard what he had said. "Yes, Cisco, I said it. I heard it as soon as it came out of my mouth.."

Proudly, Cisco grinned. "Yeah, we can definitely come up with ways to neutralize Snart."

"Listen, Barry. Whether or not you decide to go after Cold, that's your decision-"

"Really?" Parker interrupted, narrowing her eyes at the back of her boss' head. "Because it sure sounds like you're using your influence to withhold him from-"

"Parker," Dr.Wells said sharply. His voice was strong; it echoed the room and caused everyone to fall silent. He tried to continue."After the events with the Reverse Flash, I believe he poses a greater threat to all of us."

Unknowingly close to end of the line, Parker continued. "That does not mean that any other threats are to be ignored. Seriously, Doc, you can't--"

"Ms.Sylas, I think it's a good idea for you to leave," Dr.Wells said.

Whatever Parker wanted to retort with, she needed to save if she was going to find a way to rat out Wells. The first thing she needed to do was find someone to trust with the information.

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