run_barry | Just Another Tuesday

Well, today has been an interesting day. Which is saying something when highlights from yesterday include an explosion, Barry running up the side of a building, finding out he can't get drunk except in Milliways, and oh yeah, Iris now knows without a doubt that the Streak actually exists.

Barry knows the last is bound to complicate things, but mostly all he keeps thinking about is the expression of awe she had on when she saw him save a man from falling to his death.

Today though, has just started and already it's full of the strange. For one, Barry can't find anything on scene to explain last night's explosion. There are no bomb fragments or ignition traces to collect. The best, and honestly only, clue he finds is an empty file folder from the office building.

Things get stranger when he returns to the precinct and finds the Army waiting to claim what little evidence he was able to gather. On orders Barry turns over everything to the group of soldiers crowding the bullpen. Everything, that is, except for the empty folder which somehow ends up back in his hands after a little superspeed snagging.

The whole thing is weird, and both Barry and Joe think it's worth having their S.T.A.R. Labs friends look into it.

*****

Back in S.T.A.R. Labs Barry explains the situation to Cisco, Caitlin and Dr. Wells.

When Barry mentions the man in charge who took over the case from CCPD, Dr. Wells recognizes the name straight off.

"General Wade Eiling."

"You know him?" Barry's surprised to find that out. The guy really hadn't seemed like a nice man.

"Yeah, I know him," Wells replies, then confirms that Eiling isn't a good guy. Wells had worked with him and the Army in the hopes of developing gene therapies to help people, but when Eiling sought to misuse the science Dr. Wells broke from him.

Bad guy general or not, Eiling taking over the case doesn't stop Barry and his friends. With the help of the file, which turns out to be from the V.A., Cisco tracks down the information and they have their suspect.

Bette Sans Souci. An ex-EOD specialist for the Army.

And, although the file is full of redacting information, there's an emergency contact address.

*****

Bette is on her way to leaving, hurrying through an alleyway behind the address Cisco gave Barry when Barry arrives, masked and eager to find out what her deal is.

She runs, of course, and Barry sighs, speeding to cut her off with no effort.

"I need you to come with me," he tells her, reaching for her before she can run again.

Bette dodges with a startled, "Don't touch me. Please!"

That's enough for Barry, and he snags her arm only to have her react and shove him back. It isn't hard enough to push him away, but something curious happens; the lightning bolt emblem in the center of his chest begins to glow purple.

"Get whatever you're wearing off of you!" Bette shouts at him.

Barry throws her a skeptical look and she comes back even more urgently as the purple starts to spread and grow brighter. "Hurry!"

It's the fear in her expression that makes Barry realize she's serious and he might be in trouble. Without wasting another second Barry takes off down the alleyway shedding the suit as he goes and just managing to get it off before it explodes.

That was completely unexpected and now Bette is gone and Barry is left behind in his underwear.

Great.

*****

The name 'The Streak' has never been more apt and Barry is supremely grateful that no one can really see him when he's running.

Arriving back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry finds Cisco and Caitlin are on the comm urgently calling for him. Barry speeds through the Cortex into Caitlin's medical space and locates a pair of sweatpants to don. He's tugging on a t-shirt when he joins them and the pair give Barry surprised looks and all Barry can do is shake his head.

"Don't ask."

That statement doesn't satisfy Cisco, and he replies with a false calm, "I'm gonna ask. Where's my suit?"

Barry frowns and shakes his head. "It's… gone."

Agitation rises in Cisco's voice and he responds, "What do you mean, it's gone? What did you do with my suit?"

Barry explains what happened with Bette Sans Souci and how the woman isn't carrying around bombs, she's a metahuman who can turn things into bombs. Including the suit.

Cisco is mad, Dr. Wells, though, is fascinated. He arrives and while they discuss Bette, Cisco gets to work trying to track her down, vengeance for his tech driving him.

"I don't think she meant to hurt me," Barry notes, watching Cisco and thinking over the encounter. Bette tried to avoid the confrontation, and she certainly didn't have to warn Barry about the danger after she'd touched him.

The most troubling part of all of this really is Eiling, and his interest in Bette as a metahuman. Wells warns that Eiling doesn't give up assets without a fight, and Barry knows that they need to find Bette before the General does.

[ooc: dialogue taken from episode 1.5]