Stepping Up

[run_barry]

Barry wakes up and finds his world has changed.

While Barry and the science nerds are trying to wrap their heads around what's happening to him, the police are trying, and failing, to wrangle a bank robber.

The bandit is Clyde Mardon, a man who had supposedly died the night of the Accelerator explosion. Not only did Mardon survive, but that night also changed him; while Barry got fast, Mardon became a weather wizard bent on using his newfound abilities to hurt people and steal.

Their first disastrous confrontation ends with Mardon getting away and leaves Barry slapped by the icy open palm of reality.

Maybe Barry isn’t a hero.

Maybe, as Dr. Wells lectures him, he’s just a young man who was struck by lightning.

The possibility cuts deeper than a scalpel.


*****


His mind a chaos of confusion, doubts, memories, and regrets Barry tries to pound it out on the open road, running to Starling City some 600 miles away.

He has to talk to a real hero, someone who knows something about what Barry’s trying to do.

He has to talk to Oliver Queen.

“All my life, I’ve wanted to do more, be more, and now I am, and the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up,” Barry says as they stand on a lonely rooftop, Oliver in his hood and Arrow garb, wearing the mask that Barry made for him and listening to Barry's story. “What if Wells is right? What if I’m not a hero? What if I’m just some guy who was struck by lightning?”

As Oliver regards Barry, any intimidation Barry felt the first time they met is gone. He respects the man and trusts in him.

"I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Barry," Oliver says evenly. "I think it chose you."

Barry hesitates, not sure how much he believes that.

"I'm just not sure I'm like you, Oliver. I don't know if I can be some... vigilante."

“You can be better,” Oliver says, “because you can inspire people in a way that I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference. Saving people — in a flash.”

Something straightens Barry’s spine. It might be hope. It might be unexpected confidence. It might be both.

After he watches The Arrow take a fearless swan dive off the edge of the building, Barry runs back to Central City; he has his own work to do.

But not alone.


*****


Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry talks to Cisco and Caitlin and makes them see that although they aren't to blame for what happened, they share a responsibility to help fix it.

They have to stop Mardon.

Caitlyn is reluctant, but she agrees; Cisco is on board completely, and even has something to help with Barry's mission.

It’s less of a costume, and more like a uniform, really, made for one purpose but seemingly destined to serve Barry's now. Built by S.T.A.R. Labs, the red suit is advanced from the outside in: friction-proof, aerodynamic, with built-in sensors, and, possibly most importantly, a comm-link that'll allow Barry to keep in touch with Cisco and Caitlin as he runs into the inevitable storm.

And it is a storm — a tornado, conjured by Mardon.

Joe is there, having tracked Mardon down, and he isn't the only one in danger. Barry watches, stunned, as the twister picks up speed and heads for the city.

He has to stop this thing. If he can race it, maybe he can unravel it.

"Your body may not be able to handle those speeds," Caitlyn warns over the comm, and Barry feels her fear in his own chest. "You'll die."

Barry swallows his own uncertainty.

“I have to try.”

Barry takes off, cutting through screaming winds and whipping debris, racing round and round the base of the twister while Mardon sneers at him from within the funnel.

The storm howls all around him, and Barry struggles to keep up. He can feel himself slipping, losing ground against the furious winds.

From the eye of the storm, Mardon raises a hand, and gestures; a violent burst of Mardon’s powers knocks Barry clean off his feet.

"It's too strong!"

In shock, Barry watches the tornado grow, raging with pure destructive force.

He can't stop it.

"You can do this, Barry." The voice of Dr. Wells is in his ear, and Barry listens as Wells admits that Barry was right, and that Wells was wrong before. "And yes, I created this madness, but you, Barry, you can stop it. You can do this. Now, run, Barry — Run!"

Like a shot, Barry's off again. His heart pounds and his arms and legs blur as he races around the maelstrom.

Mardon lashes out, drawing more energy with his power, trying to defend himself and fight back.

Barry meets Mardon's lightning with his own, the sizzle of electricity sparking out in his wake as he races, ramping up, moving faster, and faster, and faster…

Mardon and his twister roar in desperation. Barry lowers his head and barrels on against the punishing winds, and with a sudden crack of force and energy, the storm comes undone.

The tornado dissipates, and Barry is flung to the side.

On his knees, breathing hard and trying to recover, Barry watches as Mardon approaches. Mardon forgoes his powers in the name of the tried and true, raising a gun and sighting on Barry.

"I didn't think there was anyone else like me," Mardon says from over the barrel.

Limbs like lead, Barry couldn't move out of the way if he tried. Lifting his chin high, Barry replies to Mardon, "I'm not like you, you're a murderer."

Mardon sneers and his finger tightens on the trigger.

Two shots ring out and Mardon jerks back, landing in the dirt, two slugs in his chest courtesy of Detective Joe West.

Barry looks up, unmasked and spent out, as his foster dad stares at him, dumbfounded. Joe drops down beside him, and there are simply no words.

The storm is over, Mardon has been stopped, and Barry Allen's life — and the lives of those around him — will never be the same.

[dialogue taken from episode 1.1]