speed ↯ barry allen

Flash-Gas Attack

Wether you're the slowest guy in gym class or the fastest man alive, every one of us is running. Being alive means running. Running from something. Running to something. Or someone. And no matter how fast you are there are some things you can't outrun. Some things always manage to catch up to you.

"Regular movie scale, that was a seven or an eight. Zombie movie scale, it was, like, a four. Tops." Barry, Mariana and Iris walked out of a movie theater while having a conversation at the same time.

"Did you know that zombies exist in nature? There's this species of fungi that infects ants causing the ants to attack plants that can release spores, which in turn infect new hosts --" Barry stops and stares at Iris, and continues to talk, "I'm going full nerd again, aren't I?"

"Yep." Iris says with a laugh as Barry slumps and keeps walking, "It's okay though. You are still the cutest nerd that I know."

Iris smiled as they kept walking, nearing Iris' car.

"Anyways, I am a lot more interested in the amazing as of late."

"Because of the Streak thing?" Barry questions.

"He's out there. People are talking."

| | | | | |

Barry walks into a crime scene, followed by Mariana and Joe.

"So, tell me, what have we got?"

"Signs of histotoxic hypoxia."

Joe looked lost as Mariana gave a simple explanation.

"The cells in their bodies weren't able to utilize oxygen. It's consistent with exposure to poison gas."

"What kind of poison?"

Barry and Mariana answered at the same time, "We don't know."

"I need to take a lung sample, see if I can narrow it down."

Eddie walked inside the room, immediately going straight to Joe.

"The only other exit was bolted from the inside. They were trapped. I was thinking someone pumped gas in from the outside.. but witnesses say the street was empty."

"So it was from the inside?" Joe asked, curious, That means there should be a canister or a container left behind. The gas didn't just come in by itself."

"Unless it had a mind of it's own." Mariana stared in shock at Barry, not believing what he just said.

"Eddie, would you mind canvassing again? Somebody had to have seen something suspicious."

He nodded and walked away. Joe immediately turned to Barry and Mariana as she stared in shock.

"What are you talking about?" she asked as Joe looked suprised.

"You didn't tell her?"

"Uh... no?"

"Alright, talk."

"The boss collapsed by the table. This guy made it 10 feet away. That guy had a chance to move, and fire shots into the window trying to break the glass. But they all started in the same spot. They should've been affected by the gas at the same time. But it's as if-"

"They were attacked one by one." Mariana said.

"My gut feeling, if we're gonna solve this one, you and me are gonna need backup."

Joe kept talking to Barry as he took glances towards Mariana every once in a while to see if she understood.

| | | | |

"Fascinating. A metahuman that can manipulate poison gas." Wells said as he moved his wheelchair right infront of a computer.

"Is it just poison gas or can he control all aerated substances?" Cisco walked inside the Cortex followed by Caitlin mere footsteps behind.

"How is he able to formulate the connection? Is it physiological or psychological?"

"The individual can create a mental nexus using gaseous substances."

Barry looked at Joe, making sure he was following along with what his team was saying.

"Connect with gasses on a molecular level? That's ridiculously cool." Cisco said with a laugh.

"They get excited about this stuff." Barry explained as Joe sighed.

"The only thing I'm excited about is putting criminals behind bars. Except Iron Heights isn't exactly equipped to handle metahumans."

"It's pretty noticeable."

Everyone turned as Mariana walked straight into the Cortex. She put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"Mariana! What - what are you doing here?" Barry tried to keep his cool in as he walked over to her.

"Well, I was waiting for Joe to call me about how he needed my help, but I never got the call. So I decided to look for you guys, maybe you guys were in trouble, but no. I find you guys here, At S.T.A.R. Labs, where.. I didn't think I'd find you.." Mariana sighed, in sadness as she looked around.

"What - what do you mean?"

"I - nothing."

"Hello, gorgeous." Cisco said with a flirty smile as he looked at Mariana.

"Um.. hi."

"Cisco, get back on track."

"Sorry." he shook his head as he turned to look at his computer, sending Mariana a couple glances during the process.

"It's fortunate the ones you've encountered so far are no longer with us." Wells continued as he addressed Joe's problem.

"Unless we're planning on executing every super-criminal we stop, you geniuses are gonna have to come up with some place to hold them."

"A metahuman prison. Sweet." Cisco smiled.

"Until we figure out a way to remove their powers."

"There is one place here that might hold them..." Cisco trailed off as he thought of the one place at S.T.A.R. Labs.

Both Wells and Caitlin turned to look at Cisco with pure shock.

"You can't be serious." Caitlin sighed, "We haven't been down there since -" She held in her breath, trying not to burst into tears, "It's cordoned off."

"Cisco is right. It could be modified to act as a makeshift prison."

"What could?" Mariana and Barry asked at the same time.

"The particle accelerator."