Molasses

[run_barry]

After an electric showdown with a new metahuman results in Barry being robbed of his powers, the S.T.A.R. Labs team works on the problem.

Gathered around observing Barry and spitballing, Dr. Wells, Caitlin and Cisco are at a bit of a loss.

"He runs slow even for a normal person," Cisco observes astutely, watching Barry plod along on the treadmill at a dismal top speed of six miles an hour.

They've already taken blood samples and Barry's vitals, and at the moment all signs point to his powers being gone.

Caitlin though, refuses to believe it.

"You can't just lose your powers, okay? Your DNA was transformed by the Particle Accelerator blast. There's no way to untransform DNA," she says archly.

With a stitch in his side and completely winded Barry gives up, slowing up on the treadmill, then plopping down in a sit on the edge; trying to catch his breath and get his heart to quit trying to beat it's way out of his chest.

"Yeah?" he gasps up at her. "Tell that to the Uber driver who charged me 65 bucks to take me here. I had to tell her I was coming from a cosplay party."

Dr. Wells brings his chair around to look at Barry, musing, "So we were wrong. This metahuman doesn't electrocute people; he siphons electricity, thereby removing your power."

That observations matches what it felt like. The question now is, is this temporary?

*****

More tests are scheduled, but for now Barry has to get back to the precinct and tell Joe.

Joe takes the news about as well as Barry did, which is a touch surprising.

Up in Barry's lab Barry sits while Joe paces around him.

"Barry, you have to get your speed back. People in this city need protecting, and if you don't get your speed, how the hell are we gonna keep them safe?" Joe says when Barry tells him that Dr. Wells is working on fixing things.

Barry listens to Joe and frowns. Joe's words contain a quiet urgency that reminds Barry of Joe's behavior earlier in the day. Agitation with no explanation. Joe denied it then, but Barry still feels there's something wrong, and he doesn't think it all has to do with just his speed or this new meta.

There are priorities right now though above Joe's weird behavior and Barry tries to focus.

"Joe, the meta who stole my speed, he burned up the body we saw in the alley today. You need to tell the police not to confront him. He's dangerous."

"Who's dangerous?" The question comes from Iris over in the doorway, her arrival startling both men.

"No one, just some thief," Barry covers lamely.

"Well, criminals better watch out," Iris declares confidently. "Cops in Central City are the best there are, and if you can't protect this city, dad, I know The Flash will."

Barry and Joe exchange a worried glance, and in his gut Barry feels the fear churning around, 'What if the Flash is gone?'

*****

With his job taken care of at the precinct for the night, and things quiet there (minus some weird dude who's on his way out on a prison transport), Barry heads back to S.T.A.R. Labs once more, hoping there are answers waiting.

The team is working still when he gets there, so Barry hangs out in the Cortex; alone with the suit up on its mannequin, waiting for him.

"You think I'll ever wear it again?" Barry asks when Caitlin enters the room.

"I hope so," she says softly, giving him a sad smile.

Barry looks up at the suit; the red fabric, the lightning bolt and mask.

"I didn't have my speed for very long, but now that it's gone, it feels like part of me is gone too," he says, frowning against an ache that's been in his chest since the moment his powers were stripped away.

Caitlin tries to reassure him. "With or without your speed, you're still you, Barry."

"But I'm not," Barry replies, shaking his head. "I'm not the best version of me. I love being The Flash. I love everything about it: The feeling of running hundreds of miles per hour, wind and power just rushing past my face, being able to help people. I'm not sure I can live without it, Caitlin."

What would he even do? Who would he become? It feels too late to go back to who he was before, and impossible to move forward as someone else.

Before he can mull that too deeply Cisco arrives with an announcement.

"Farooq Gibran," Cisco says.

"Who?" Barry and Caitlin ask near simultaneously.

"The powers vampire who jacked your speed," Cisco clarifies. "I hacked into the surveillance footage from the Petersburg substation. Once I got his face, it was easy to find a match. He climbed an electrical tower the night of the accelerator explosion."

That explains the man's powers.

It's also reason enough to explain why the man is suddenly outside the building now, screaming for Dr. Wells and trying to batter his way in.

Blaring alarms alert the team to the threat and they all watch the security feed together, anxious and afraid, as an overpowered metahuman storms the Lab.


[ooc: dialogue taken from episode 1.7]