Flashes of Life (Barry Allen/The Flash Fanfic)

The Beginning of Something

just felt like a picture would be nice :) words from "here comes forever" by r5 ironic bc he's the flash haha
this is my edit and here I am like a proud mama to it lol
--

Unlocking the door to my apartment for the first time in 10 months was like stepping through time; nothing had changed much, except for the thick layer of dust coating the surfaces of my furniture. Ugh, I'd have to sort all my stuff some time. Too bad the particle accelerator didn't give me telekinesis or something.

The first thing I did was fall onto the couch and turn on the TV. All this vigilante business was draining. Scrolling through the channels used to be a daily habit for me, until the STAR Labs particle accelerator exploded. One particular news channel, Central City Television Network, had a fairly eye-catching headline: CLYDE MARDON DEAD.

I sat right up, turning up the volume to hear the reporter.
"Clyde Mardon, a wanted bank robber has been found dead in an abandoned barn in the west of Central City. No physical conditions were identified, with the exception of skin colour change. His cause of death is still unknown, but detectives Joe West and Eddie Thawne have reportedly seen a hooded figure leaving the crime scene. Updates will be broadcast as they arrive. Meanwhile, I'm Linda Park, for Central City Television Network."

Huh. A smirk grew on my face. I replayed the night over in my head, from when I entered to barn, to when I left. Would I do anything differently? Could I do anything differently?

--

"Hey boss!" I walked into King Subsidiaries' warehouse where I saw Snart fiddling at the computer.
"Ah Shea. Nice of you to join us."
"Great! So, what am I doing here?"
He handed me a pair of gloves, which I stared at, confused.
"We need to do some training, get you up to speed if or when your targets decide to put up a fight."
I frowned. "But I could just touch them and they'll die."
"What if they also had powers like you?"

I froze. I hadn't thought of that, I hadn't thought of the possibility of others out there like me. With my powers. Clyde Mardon's face flickered in my mind, and I realised that this particle accelerator could have done a lot more damage than anyone realised.

"Okay, I'll train," I agreed. "But how am I supposed to train when everything I touch dies?"
Snart pondered for a bit, before speaking. "I was thinking, we could practise using your powers without touching things directly. The act of channeling emotion into an art makes it a thousands times more valuable." He paused. "I notice the anger, the resentment, the slow burning in you. You can harness that, and become better than you could ever imagine."
Deep, Snart. Very deep, I thought.
"So you're saying, if I get angry everytime I do it, I'll be better?"
"Precisely."

"Because we don't want to harm beings without reason, I can't get you to practise your powers unless you're out. Last I checked, you can't drain life energy from inanimate objects."
"Wait, am I going out again?"
Snart handed me another file. "Danton Black. Your next guy. He can clone himself, so that may prove to be a challenge for you. Or is that too much?"
Bah! No way. "Nope. Carry on briefing."
"To stop him, you will have to find his actual body and do what you do then."

A ping! came from the computer, which displayed a red dot at the corner of Riven Road and Dell Avenue.
"There he is. Want to head out now?" Snart asked me.
"Sure. Can I have my earpiece?"
Handing it to me, I noticed the dot beginning to move down the street.
"Hurry, Shea," Snart urged. "If you want to get him, you should start moving soon. Take the motorcycle outside."
"Motorcycle...?"

--

Kicking up the stand on the motorcycle, I made my way into the glass building where Snart informed me of Black's whereabouts.
"Boss, how do I tell who the prime is?" I said into my headpiece.
"It would cost him energy to produce the clones, right?" He replied. "Look for someone who seems to be tiring."
"Got it, sir."

I turned a corner only to be punched in the stomach, causing me to double over and clutch my middle in pain. I looked up to see a foot come into contact with the side of my thigh. Hissing in pain, I flailed around, hoping to come into contact with the person. I managed to grab onto their pant leg, so I struggled around until I touched his skin. I did so, but nothing happened. He didn't crumple down, or die. I figured he must have been a clone. It just looked down at me, raising one eyebrow, before kicking me again and again.

"Say bye bye," the lookalike said to me, as I braced myself for the final blow. I wrapped myself into the fœtal position and shut my eyes. But the hit never came. I peeked one eye open to see the figure above me gone. Sitting upright, I winced at the bruises forming. Looking around, I caught sight of a red blur. I shook my head and blinked my eyes; the red streak was gone. Eh, must have just been my eyes playing up.

After a long gruelling time, I managed to isolate the founder, Danton Black, from his clones.
"Black!" I called out to him. He whirled around and saw me standing a few metres away.
"Prepare to die," I stepped towards him.
"No thank you," he replied. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"You're going to die soon, so I might as well tell you about me," I smirked.
He scoffed, saying, "Go right ahead."

"So many things I could say. So, so many things. I'll start off with this: you're a bad, bad man. Who do you think you are, trying to run Central City? Mate, news flash: you're petty, irrelevant, and downright idiotic if you think your army of clones can achieve anything." Woo, what a rant.
"They achieved in slowing you down, did they not?"
"Slowing down? Perhaps. Stopping? No chance."
His right lip curved up. "You work for Leonard, don't you?"

That shocked me. "How did you know?"
"The earpiece. That's his signature thing."
I frowned. "And how does this affect you?"
Black chuckled. "Oh man, he's just using you." He looked at my stony expression before continuing. "He wouldn't send you out to try stop me if he knew you couldn't. Also, let me ask you this: if he's your boss, what does he do exactly? He sends you out to do his job, but he stands there in his warehouse. Is that a good deal to you? What do you get in return?"

I shut my eyes, trying to keep the questions out of my head. I trusted Leonard, I trusted he knew what he was doing. All Danton Black was trying to do was buy time.
He said one final thing that got me bubbling in anger: "Does he even truly care about you?"
I clenched my fists, screaming at him. "Don't you dare say that kind of stuff to me!"

I felt a tingling sensation in my hands as I said that, and I watched as Danton's body thumped to the ground. I instantly felt rejuvenated, despite the bruising I'd gotten from the beating earlier. It just sunk in then: I'd just drained Black without touching him. Huh. Perhaps I could become better than I could ever imagine.

--

I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I've been brainstorming how the rest of the story should/will go, and hopefully you guys will stay around for that :)