I was getting ready for my first song as Miss Honey in Matilda. I had worked hard on this role. I already knew the musical well, because when I was seven, I had played Matilda in the show, during theater camp. Miss Honey was a new step up for me.

Knock on the door, Jenny
Just knock on the door
Don't be pathetic!
Knock on the door, Jenny
There's nothing to fear
You're being pathetic!
It's just a door, you've seen one before
Just knock on the door!
Look at you trying to hide, silly
Standing outside the Principal's Office
Like a little girl!
It's just pathetic!
Oh!
Look at you hesitating, hands shaking!
You should be embarrassed
You're not a little girl
It's just . . . pathetic
Knock on the door, Jenny
What are you waiting for?
Just knock on the door
Perhaps I will wait
She's probably having a meeting or something
And won't want to be interrupted
If anything, caution in these situations is sensible
One should avoid confrontation when possible
I'll come back later then!
But this little girl
This miracle
Knock on the door, Jenny
Just knock on the door
Don't be pathetic!
[knocking sound]
[MISS TRUNCHBULL]
Enter!
The show went beautifully, and I performed the song, "My House" better than I could have ever imagined. At the end of the last show, it was revealed that our last musical of the year would be Hadestown.
When I returned home, I was even still in the costume I had made for the show. A baby pink cardigan with a white dress that had a pattern, with black flats. I had practically forgotten to send invitations to my friends for the musical, due to my grief from recent events that had involved a student dying during a mass school shooting. She had been the only one that died, but I had been a friend of hers. So I ended up sending a recording for each of them to watch, that had been taken from different angles, from the audience, from the stage, for people who wouldn't be able to make it to the shows. I thanked goodness that they always did that.
When I got home, I was immediately in deep thought. I was in my room, thinking about the necessary requirements to make a device that could help me travel the multiverse, without having to ask the almighty being that personified it. Auditions for Hadestown would start soon. So at the same time, I was thinking about that too, about what song to use for my audition. Not only that, Black History Month Dinner Theater auditions would be soon as well, for next month. It was already January. I had to get together with groups to do it as well.
Before all of this, Christmas break, my family and I took a trip to Europe. We had visited England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. It was amazing. I had sent postcards to my friends everywhere we visited. It was absolutely stunning, with exception to certain historical places in Germany (aka concentration camps).
Now, in the present, that's when a the all-powerful being's deep voice came to me. "I have a new mission for you, on Earth-1."
"How long will it take?" I asked.
"As long as it needs to be. Like your previous missions, time will pause here until you get back. You will have plenty of time to brainstorm the things you need to."
"What are the details?"
The Multiverse gave me all the details. My character was an orphan, of course, but the orphanage had kicked me out, sure that I could take care of myself on my own. I was told I would be working with the Flash, Barry Allen, to defeat the Reverse Flash. I accepted the mission, and began packing my stuff. I packed everything I would need, including my super suit from the Avengers world, my Miraculous box, my sword, extra clothes, money, all the necessities. When I was done packing, a portal opened and I took my bag and stepped through.
When I landed, I was in some sort of warehouse, or storage facility. It had massive steel shelves with iron stored. Maybe it was a hideout of some sort. I was hiding behind a wall, watching as a man in a red super suit with super speed, fighting a man who's skin was made entirely out of metal. I was on the man with the super speed's side, I guessed. I watched, in fear that the Metal man would see me, or that the man in red could be evil, and I could be on the wrong side.
That's when the Metal Man knocked a really heavy shelf over, on top of the man in red saying, "There's nowhere left to run." The man in red was not fast enough to escape the speed of gravity. The Metal Man escaped, but that's when I decided now would be best to act. Even though I didn't have a mask on, without hesitation, I ran over to the shelf. I put my hands under it, and tried to lift it with my super strength. It was too heavy.
"Are you okay?" I asked. "Are you alive? Say something...Please be okay!"
"Ow..." he moaned. "Who are you?"
"Somebody who dislikes bullies as much as you do, sent to help you by an all-powerful being," I said. "Ugh, too heavy. Got to find an alternative solution."
"What all-powerful being? Like, God?"
"I can't tell you that, yet," I responded, looking at my surroundings for an alternative solution. "I've got to trust you first. If I tell you, and you betray my trust, the secret could put lives in danger, and I can't have that."
"Well, I can't argue with that. But I think I'm pretty trustworthy."
"But I don't know that." I said. That's when I spotted steel planks. I quickly went over to them, dragging them over to the shelf, and shoving their edges under the shelf, placing the other end on a large container.
"What are you doing?"
"Using the science of simple machines," I said. Once I got them under, I put my hands on to the other end. I pushed down with all my strength on the other end, and the shelf began to lift off the ground. It wasn't enough for him to wriggle out though.
With my telekinesis, I got one of the cans and lifted it onto the end of the planks I was pulling down. That definitely helped, lifting it even more.
"Can you wriggle out?" I asked.
"Nope. I think I broke a bunch of bones." He groaned.
"Got to find another solution," I said. I used my telekinesis to put more cans on the other end, just enough weight to keep it where it was at. None of my other abilities could help with this, except, creation. I could create a new Miraculous that could help. It was risky making an entirely new one that didn't exist in the show, so I would just have to make one that was already canon.
I made the illusion of a panjas bracelet. My current panjas bracelets that helped me control my powers were now matching regular bracelets, that went with my Miss Honey costume. I made a tiger kwami, naming it Roaar. I clasped them in my hands, and blew onto them. They were real. I put on the panjas bracelet and said, "Roaar, stripes on!"
The tiger kwami got sucked into the jewel, and a tiger-like supersuit appeared on me, dark purple with some lighter purple stripes, with a mask. My hair turned a dark blue color and was put into a pony tail. A bolas was formed as my tail, which was a whip-like weapon with three weighted, striped balls on one end. It was the Miraculous of Elation.
"Clout!" I yelled. Purple energy formed in my fist, and I used it on the bottom on the shelf, lifting all of it upward, and back standing.
"Oww," he groaned.
That's when I heard two other voices running in, a man and a woman.
"Barry?" The woman called. "Where are you?"
I gasped. The Multiverse didn't tell me who these people were, and I had to be careful.
I grabbed my duffel bag and hid. I put the new Tiger miraculous in the Miracle box.
I watched as the man and the woman revealed themselves. The woman had light brown hair, a soft diamond face, with brown eyes, and pale skin. The man had tan skin, dark eyes, and long black hair up to his shoulders.
"There you are," the man said. "How did you manage to get this off of you?"
"It wasn't me, Cisco," Barry said. "There was a girl. Very powerful, also very smart. Might be a meta-human, I don't know. She was just here. I think she hid when you guys came around."
"Maybe she's still here," the woman said. "Did you get a glimpse of her?"
"Barely, Caitlin," Barry said. "She looked quite young, about thirteen, like just starting puberty."
"Okay, the real question is, what is a girl of that age doing in this area at this hour?" Caitlin asked.
"Don't know," Barry said. "She said she was sent by an all-powerful being to help, but she couldn't reveal what all-powerful being at the risk of lives, and the fact that trust is involved."
I peeked my head out of my hiding place a little more to get a good look at what was going on. I put back on the miraculous of Elation, the Tiger miraculous, and transformed.
"This is impressive," Cisco said. "The use of simple machines here is incredible! She must be really smart to think of this, and very strong to be able to lift these."
"Look!" Caitlin spotted me, peeking my head out.
I yelped. "Please don't hurt me! I beg you! I don't think I did anything wrong! Don't experiment on me either! I don't need to be poked and prodded by needles and wires! I'm only out here because people are cruel! The orphanage kicked me out because apparently I had the capability of taking care of myself already, although I'm a minor with several medical conditions which they were too impatient to handle! I just used my abilities to do something good! I never mean to hurt anyone!"
On an instinct, I snapped my fingers twice in a row rapidly and turned invisible.
"Woah," Cisco said, "invisibility too? Awesome!"
"Cisco, stop marveling at her like she's a specimen," Caitlin scolded, then she turned to me. "It's okay, we're not gonna hurt you in any way."
"No hurt, no experiments?" I asked.
"No, none of that," Caitlin said. "We're here to help. I'm Caitlin, that's Cisco, and as you probably already know, that's Barry."
"Hey." Barry said. "Thanks for getting this off me."
"There's no point trying to keeping his identity from you, since you saw all that." Caitlin said. "You don't have to hide. You did a good job, we have to give you credit for that. You did nothing wrong, you did the right thing."
"I'm not on the wrong side?" I asked.
"No, not at all," Caitlin said. "You're on the right side of things."
I snapped twice in a row rapidly, and made myself visible again. I was on all fours, and I began to crawl towards them, carefully, still being cautious.
I sniffed towards them. From Caitlin, I smelled the scent of a meringue coming off of her, and from Cisco, the smell of chocolate came off of him. Barry smelled something like honey.
I got onto my two feet. "Stripes off."
I detransformed. I was back in my Miss Honey outfit, my hair was back to normal a brown, as Roaar exited the jewel.
"Why don't you come with us?" Caitlin asked. "It seems you don't have anywhere else to go. What's your name?"
"Isabella, or Isa," I said, nervously.
"Well, Isa, why don't you help us? It seems that you're a good ally to have," Caitlin said.
I nodded. "Okay. . ."
So, we got into a van, getting Barry's injuries treated, that he had sustained from the huge metal bully. I was informed that was even Barry's school bully. Well, that had to feel deja vu for him. I ended up telling them that my powers not an accident, they were genetics from a god, which seemed to fascinate them.
Finally, we got to a laboratory building that looked kind of like a satellite. I was nervous at the fact that I was entering a laboratory, even more so, because it seemed almost abandoned, but I managed to work up the courage to keep following them. Inside it even seemed abandoned, because there was barely anybody inside. That's when I smelled something else, or rather, someone else. We walked into the main room, and there was a man in an electric wheelchair. He looked to be about middle-aged. But something didn't seem right with him. He smelled like. . .something being burnt after getting struck by lightning, like an electric fire. Not a good smell. Because of that, I knew not to trust him immediately.
Caitlin brought Barry to the med-bay, while Cisco stayed with me.
"Dr. Wells, this is Isa, we found her by where Barry was, trying to help him get out," Cisco says. "We don't really know exactly what she is, but she seems to be very powerful."
The man turned around in his wheelchair. He looked a lot like the actor Tom Cavanagh, with glasses, middle-aged, brown semi-curly hair, light skin.
"Well, if she has powers, she has to be a meta-human," Dr. Wells said. "And she's a kid. How do you think she might help us, when she's a kid, with barely any control of her abilities?"
"Actually, pardon me," I said. "Do you mind if I interrupt? Firstly, I have decent control over my abilities because I've been training them. Secondly, what's a meta-human? Is that what Barry is?"
"It is in fact what Barry is," Dr. Wells said. "Tell me, were you in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded, a few months ago?"
"Particle accelerator?" I asked. "I don't even know what that is. But I do know I wasn't here during that time. I was actually out of the country with a few friends."
"Interesting, then how did you get your abilities?"
"I was born with them. I discovered them in the summer," I shrugged. "I'm an orphan. I don't know my parents. But I was told I was the daughter of a goddess, and a man blessed with abilities from the gods for being a hero, with a royal bloodline. I'm supposedly the only heir to his throne, since he was king of those heroes, and every other heir is dead, and I'm supposed to take it on when I'm eighteen. I was also supposedly blessed by a star goddess at birth, Virgo, I believe. I was told that was how I got my abilities."
"Interesting," Dr. Wells said. "Very interesting. And how do you know all this?"
"It was in a letter my father left me," I said. That was partially the truth, so I technically wasn't lying. "I was out on the streets because my orphanage kicked me out, saying I had everything I needed to survive on my own. Also it might have been partly to the fact of all my medical conditions that they got fed up with. But just like Barry, I like to use my abilities for good."
"Well, you did a good job getting Barry out of there," Cisco said. "I haven't even seen your abilities in action, but you must be pretty powerful if you were able to get that off of him."
"Oh, I have a lot of abilities, I could be considered overpowered," I shrugged. "It's no big deal. Now, to other matters, if I'm to join your team, I'll probably need a place to stay. I was kicked out of my orphanage after all."
"We'll have to discuss that matter," Dr. Wells. "So, thank you for saving Barry. You did the right thing."
I felt proud of myself in that moment. I was already off to a great start to this mission.
But things soon turned on Barry, and Dr. Wells was scolding him for going after the metal guy on his own. I didn't like the sound of his scolding at all, so I put in my earbuds and listened to music at full blast to block out the noise. But it didn't seem to be enough so, I covered my ears too. Even that wasn't enough to tune out the noise from my super hearing.
"What were you thinking? What were you thinking?" Dr. Wells scolded him. "I told you we would figure out a way to deal with him."
Barry was rubbing his head. "I'll heal."
He had brown hair, lights skin, and dark colored eyes. He looked like the actor, Grant Gustin, from the show Glee. He was about twenty-four.
"You can't heal when you're dead," Dr. Wells said. "He could have killed you. You're lucky Isabella was there to help."
Barry got up. "I know, all right? I know! In the past 36 hours I've had my ass handed to me twice by the guy that tortured me as a kid. I couldn't stop him then, and I can't stop him now! Even with powers I'm still powerless against him!"
I let out a whine, trying hard not to curl up into a ball and hide.
Caitlin noticed my distress. "You two need to calm down. You're really stressing Isa out. Look."
The two men looked at me.
"Why do you look like you're about to curl up into a ball?" Barry asked.
"It's an instinct," I whimpered. "The instinct was formed to protect me from harm, although it didn't do much. . .you think you had a worse bully. Well, I had not one, but three. I had one in school. He would tease me, and he almost destroyed the only thing I had left of my biological family, the last gift they gave me. I had to fix it myself. The other two were my old foster parents. They only fostered me for the money the government was obligated to give them. It was supposed to be to spend on me. Instead, they made me work for money, make my own clothing and food. The money they were supposed to spend on me was spent on mainly four things. Cigarettes, alcohol, fancy and expensive stuff, and lastly a whip that was used to punish me. I got punished a lot because they hated me. I didn't do anything most of the time. They would often argue, just like you just were, but they would be arguing about whose turn it was to punish me. It would always be so loud. I went through this since I was five, up until several months ago, late June, when I got them sent to jail. Seven years. The scars from the abuse are still visible. The wounds may not be there, but internally, some wounds never heal. When I first escaped their wrath, I didn't have anywhere to go, with a suicidal alter ego that would appear when everything seemed hopeless. Then, I met my current friends. They were on vacation when I met them. They all live in different states. They showed me all these new things. Then summer ended. One of them offered that I could stay with him and his mom. But assure him I had somewhere to go, I lied, just so he wouldn't be worried. The orphanage took me in after my foster parents were sent to jail. In fact, during that trial, I had thought there was a chance that I could have a loving parental figure in my life at last. Because I had found out the attorney that I had been given was actually a blood relative of mine. I had some hope. But then it took a turn. When I went to testify for myself, my foster father was enraged, and he snatched the whip that was evidence during the case, and lashed it at me. But just before he could lash it at me again, and the security could get control, my attorney got in front of me, protecting me with his back. Unfortunately, the first lash had only been a warmup for the second. In fact, the damage done to him by the whip during the second lash, was worse than any damage I had ever gotten from the whip before, because the hook had been rusting, and there was more momentum. After that incident, his injuries were so severe that he wouldn't be able to take care of me as well as himself for a couple years. I wasn't eligible to take care of him either. I never saw him again after that. And I won't be able to until he recovers from his injuries. My lawyer and I had been planning for him to take me in. He was planning to adopt me, get a bigger home for us. He lived alone, so he was ecstatic to have somebody brightening his life. Before all this happened, he hadn't even known I had survived all these years, so he was joyful. Then the incident at court happened, and ruined everything. So the orphanage took me in. And as you know, I was kicked out. Sometimes I wish that I had accepted my friend's offer. I would have had a better life than I do now, listening to you argue. . ."
Barry's eyes widened. "Okay, now I feel bad."
"Yeah, you should," I grumbled, crossing my arms. "Life never seems fair until you meet somebody has had it worse than you, doesn't it? The problem is, I've never really met anybody who's had it worse than me. Absent parents, one of them you watched die, and the other never came home one day. The person taking care of you ends up being cruel, and you can't do anything but be a victim to their abuse for years. And when you finally find someone who will be able to love and take care of you, they're ripped from your reach. Then you're kicked into the streets with almost nothing. True, maybe you've had a similar experience in the first part, but at least you had somebody willing to give you loving care right from the get-go. Now I'm questioning why I am even agreed to help you people."
"Well, you're not necessarily powerless against the enemy," Dr. Wells said. "Isabella has so graciously agreed to help us, and Cisco found a way we can defeat him. Cisco?"
Cisco went over to his screen as Dr. Wells continued to explain. "Any material, if struck at a high enough velocity can be compromised."
"We ran an analysis on the metal in Tony's footprint." Cisco said. "Based on its density and atomic structure, if you impact it at just the right angle, at just the right speed, you could do some serious damage."
"How fast would I have to go?" Barry asked.
Cisco started typing on his keyboard. "Factoring in the metal's strength, estimated dermal thickness, atmospheric pressure, air temp, you'd have to hit him at approximately. . .Mach 1.1."
"That's 843.996 miles an hour, if you do the math of the Mach equation," I said. "You multiply the speed value, 1.1, by the number 767.3, which is the speed of sound."
Cisco grinned at me. "Looks like we've got ourselves a very smart one."
I grinned back. "I'm a prodigy on all levels of intelligence. Both in arts, and other academics."
"You want Barry to hit something at 800 miles an hour?" Caitlin cried.
"844, actually," Cisco and I said, simultaneously.
"That's faster than the speed of sound," Caitlin said.
"I know," Cisco grinned, in awe. "He would create a sonic boom, which, as I've said before, would be awesome."
"I've never gone that fast," Barry shook his head slightly.
"Yet," Dr. Wells said.
"I can't believe we're actually entertaining this idea," Caitlin said. "I mean, he'd need a straight shot from miles away."
"Yeah, 5.3 miles, theoretically," Cisco said.
"Do it right, you'll take him down," Dr. Wells said.
"Do it wrong," Caitlin said, "you'll shatter every bone in your body."
"Well, I'd like to pitch in an idea that might make it a little easier," I said. "I could always rust this guy's metal, if that's possible. I can control the elements as one of my powers."
Barry looked at me. "Good pitch, thank you. Now let's settle the situation of where you're gonna stay."
Barry brought me with him to the CCPD building, Central City Police Department, to meet his foster father, Officer and Detective Joe West, as well as help him with his day job, so that I wasn't sitting around all day. Barry explained to me that when he was young, there had been a speedster man in yellow, who had killed his mother in their own house, and another speedster had gotten young Barry out onto the street, away from the danger. Since there was nobody left, the police blamed Barry's father for the murder, although he was wrongly accused, and no one believed Barry, so, Officer Joe West, the father of Iris West, a friend of Barry's at school, had taken him in. But Barry had never forgotten what he had seen that night, and believed with everything that his father was wrongfully convicted. Now his father was in jail, since there was no evidence that wasn't against him.
I went with Barry, with my stuff.
"Barry!" A voice called when we walked in.
A bigger man, with darker skin, a goatee and dark eyes came up to us, wearing a formal shirt, tie and long pants. I assumed Joe knew about Barry being a superhero, seeing how Barry talked to him.
"Joe, I've been beaten up enough for one day," Barry told him. "I gotta—"
"Hey wait," Joe said. "An anonymous tip led us to Tony Woodward's hideout. The place was trashed. What happened?"
"He showed up at Jitters to see Iris," Barry said. "I had to go after him."
"Iris, where is she?"
"She's fine, she's fine. Eddie put a detail on her to be safe. I thought I could handle him this time. I tried."
"Look, I know what this punk put you through," Joe said, "but you can't let emotion cloud your judgment."
That was pretty good advice, he seemed to be an intelligent man, a good father figure. After all, I sometimes let my emotions get the better of me too. Maybe Barry and I weren't that different. I was hiding behind Barry the whole time, just to be safe, so I wasn't sure if Joe saw me yet.
Barry nodded.
That's when another man game up to us, he seemed a little younger. I assumed this was Joe's officer partner. "The tollbooth camera got a shot of Woodward. Stolen car headed out of town. State police are taking over. We lost him."
"Don't worry Eddie," Joe told him. "They'll get him."
"I wanted to take this guy down," Eddie said. He didn't seem to notice me either.
"Not half as much as I did," Barry said.
"Wait, who's that hiding behind you?" Joe asked.
"Oh, her?" Barry smiled. "Oh, this is Isa. She was alone on the streets when I found her. She's an orphan, supposed to be in foster care. Apparently the orphanage kicked her out because she already had the capability to take care of herself, although she's not legally an adult. She's only thirteen, although she is a prodigy. She learns mostly from her own devices. She's got several medical conditions they didn't want to handle anymore, and she wasn't getting fostered because nobody wanted to handle it either, especially after her first foster family abused her in a way I think is incredibly cruel. She had somebody who volunteered, after her first foster parents were arrested, blood-related, but after an incident that happened with him getting severely injured, he wasn't eligible to take care of her anymore. Then the orphanage kicked her out. So, I've just been keeping her with me for now. She's not exactly the most trusting type, and it's pretty understandable, knowing what's she's gone through. She doesn't trust many people. As of right now, she's grown more attached to me. She doesn't really want to leave my side at the moment. Do you think it's possible that she can stay with us?"
"Well, hello there," Joe kneeled to my level. "Don't worry, you don't have to be afraid. You're safe with us now. Of course you can stay. You can trust us. Did Barry tell you how I fostered him?"
I nodded. "Yes. But trust should be earned, not immediately given. That way, if they betray you, it hurts much less."
"Barry's right about you not being very trusting. No worries. You can take your time. But just know, you're safe."
I nodded.
"Come on, Allen," Eddie said, starting up the stairs. "You too, if you want, Isa. You can come and watch."
"Go where?" Barry asked. "Watch what?"
"Blow off some steam, I need to hit something," Eddie said, taking off his blazer.
I let out a little whimper.
"What?" Barry whimpered at Joe.
"I don't think he meant hit you," Joe said. "Go."
Barry hesitated before following up the stairs, and I followed close behind, also with a bit of hesitation.
Up in Barry's lab, Eddie was boxing a punching bag, while Barry held it in place. I was sitting down, reading through one of my school textbooks, so I could at least know something when I headed back to school. But I couldn't help but overhear their conversation.
"So I heard you and this Woodward guy have a history," Eddie said. "Hey, Allen, it's okay. Trust me, I had my fair share of bullies at school."
"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," Barry said.
Eddie growled. "I was short, fat, and the son of a politician who closed the factory in my school district, so, not so popular." He began to launch punches in a rapid pace at the punching bag.
"So what'd you do about it?" Barry asked.
"I got my ass kicked." Eddie said. "A lot. Until my gym coach took pity on me, ha. She said the key to fighting is patience. Here. A lot of guys waste energy on trying to land the most punches. All it takes is one. But you gotta make it count. Choose your spot and drive through it. Like it's six inches behind the target."
Eddie held the punching bag steady, and Barry began throwing punches at it, one by one.
"Harder." Eddie said.
Barry punched again.
"Harder," Eddie encouraged with a slight growl in his voice.
Barry punched really hard, which sent Eddie backward, wheezing, and broke the punching bag, which let out sand.
Barry made an excuse as he took his fist out of the punching bag. "The seam was starting to split."
They both chuckled.
They continued to box each other, while I had taken a break from reading through the textbook, and had gone to drawing. I was drawing an exotic love story within the pages, to go with one of my songs.
At one point, Barry came to check on me. "You doing okay?"
I nodded, and went back to drawing my two characters.
"What are you drawing?" Barry asked.
"A love story," I said. "It's to go with one of my songs, that I wrote. The girl is a human, named Asha."
"And what, the boy isn't?"
I shook my head. "He's a star, quite literally. She made a wish upon a star, and he appeared before her eyes. I call him Star Boy. They fall in love, as they try to stop an evil king that keeps people from wishing. This is just a sketch of them. I'm gonna color it after."
"Well, let me know when you're done, so I can see."
I nodded.
Then, they went back to boxing each other.
That's when another officer came in. "Thawne, Allen, the unit watching Joe's daughter, they've been attacked. Iris is missing."
I looked at Barry.
Barry looked at Eddie. "Go, all right? I'll call Joe."
Barry looked at me when Eddie left the room, "You wanna come with me on this mission, or you wanna back out?"
"Come with," I said.
"Alright then," Barry smiled. "Let's see what you've got."
I followed Barry as he called Cisco and Caitlin to find Iris, as we went down the stairs.
We went into the main office.
"Eddie, anything yet?" Joe asked him.
"We have roadblocks on every major artery. Units are searching." Eddie said.
"We will find Iris, Joe," the captain said.
"You don't think he'll hurt her, do you?" Joe asked Barry.
"Sir, sir," one of the officers told the captain. "We got a fire alarm at Carmichael Elementary"
"Dispatch the fire department, we'll send backup," Captain Singh said.
"That's the school you and Iris went to," Joe said.
"And Tony," Barry added.
"Go."
Barry took my hand, and we went out of CCPD. We suited up, and I got into my super suit too. It felt like a long time since I had put on the thing. But now, I was helping Barry. Then, we raced to the school. I followed Barry with my own super speed.
Then, we finally got there.
". . .because I'm not going down without a fight," Tony was saying.
"Good," Barry said in a vibrating voice. "Because you just found one."
I raced in behind him. "Get ready to get your butt kicked!"
"That's cute, you didn't think you could defeat me on your own, so you brought a sidekick," Tony said.
"I'm not a sidekick," I said. "Nobody calls me a sidekick!"
"You really shouldn't have called her that," Barry told him. "She's a lot more powerful than you think."
"You just won't stay dead," Tony said. "Come to save your little fan girl?"
Barry clenched his fists. "This is between us. Let her go."
Tony launched Iris to the floor.
"Oh, I could," Tony said. "But I'd rather make her watch while I break every bone in your body, and your little sidekick's body."
"Stop calling me a sidekick." I growled.
His body fully became metal.
Barry rushed at him, and I summoned my bongos. I began singing and playing the beat.
Oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Ah!)
Oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Ah!)
Never had much faith
In love or miracles (Miracles, Ah!)
Never wanna put
My heart on the line (Ah!)
Swimming in your world
Is something spiritual (Spiritual, Ah!)
I'm born again every time
You spend the night... (Ah!)
'Cause your sex takes me to paradise
Yeah, your sex takes me to paradise
And it shows...
Yeah, yeah, yeah
'Cause you make me feel like (Feel like)
I've been locked out of heaven (Heaven)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
As the beat picked up, I heard the familiar sound of pipes bursting, as water all around me was at my command.
Yeah, you make me feel like (Feel like)
I've been locked out of heaven (Heaven)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
For too long-o-o-o-ong Oh (Oh oh oh oh!)
Oh, oh
I waited for Barry to get out of the way, pushing Iris back away from the battle. Tony started coming towards me, and I thrusted the human-sized glob of water at him, and I tried to keep it on him as he tried to fight out of the water, but the metal on him was rusting as he tried.
Oh, yeah, eh, eh, eh (Ah!)
Oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah, eh, eh, eh (Yeah eh eh eh) Ah!
You bring me to my knees
You make me testify (Testify, Ah!)
Oh, whoa!
You can make a sinner
Change his ways (Ah!)
Open up your gates cause I can't wait
To see the light (See the light, Ah!)
And right there
Is where I wanna stay... (Ah!)
The chorus hit, and he finally got out of the water. His skin turned back to normal, and back to not rusted metal. Rusting wasn't gonna work. Barry began to fight him again. I had to find another way to help.
I took my Ladybug Earrings out of my pocket. In between the lyrics of the chorus, I put on the earrings and I said, "Tikki, spots on!"
I continued singing, and span around as my supersuit became the ladybug pattern, and my hair was now in pigtails.
In the meantime, Barry was telling him, "I've known guys like you. Peaked in high school. Never got over it. All these powers, and look at you! Bully then, bully now."
'Cause your sex takes me to paradise
Yeah, your sex takes me to paradise
And it shows...
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
'Cause you make me feel like (Feel like)
I've been locked out of heaven (Heaven)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
Between the lyrics, I yelled, "Lucky Charm," and I was given a long piece of strong thick graphene elastic. I immediately knew what I had to do. I ran to the lockers on the other end of the wall, moving Iris aside, and opened one of the lockers putting one of the ends in there. I opened the other locker ready to hold Tony down.
But then I noticed Barry was getting hurt, and was losing. I had to hold him down.
Iris cried, "No!"
I growled. I thrusted my magical yo-yo at Tony, and it wrapped around his torso, and arms. I yanked him towards me in a surge of strength, as I sang the bridge.
Yeah, you make me (feel like) {Feel like}
I've been locked out of (heaven) {Heaven}
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (Oh oh oh)
Oh, woah, woah, woah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Can't I just stay here
Spend the rest of my days here
Oh, woah, woah, woah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I quickly pulled the graphene over his torso, put the other end in the locker, slamming it shut.
Can't I just stay here (Can't I just stay here!)
Spend the rest of my days here (Oh whoa!)
'Cause you make me feel like (You make me feel like)
I've been locked out of heaven (Ooo, woah!)
For too long-o-o-o-ong
For too long-o-o-o-ong
That's when Barry started running away from the scene. I didn't know what was going on. What was he doing? That's when I realized it. The big punch.
I brought back out my bongos, and started controlling the water again, rusting him.
Yeah, you make me feel like
I've been locked out of heaven (Yeah!)
For too long-o-o-o-ong (For too long!)
For too long-o-o-o-ong
Oooh oh oh
Oh, yeah, yeah, eh, eh (Yeah, yeah, eh, eh) {Yeah, eh, eh, eh, Ah!}
Oh, yeah, yeah
Oh, yeah, eh, eh, eh (Yeah, eh, eh, eh) Ah!
Just in time, Barry came running back through the doors, punching Tony in the face like nothing. I released the graphene, and they both fell to the floor. Tony was no longer in metal form when Barry punched him.
Just as Tony was about to attack again, Iris punched him in the face, knocking him out.
"Nice cross," Barry told her.
"Yeah, I think I broke my hand," Iris said.
"Oh, me too," Barry said. "You okay, Singer Girl?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. That was thrilling!"
I took the graphene and threw it in the air, "Miraculous Ladybug Singer Girl!"
The magical ladybugs made it disappear, and all the damage done to the properties that had been done, was repaired, except the harm done to Iris and Barry.
"Spots off," I said. The ladybug pattern disappeared and my supersuit was back to pink.
"How'd you know what would work?" Barry asked. "How'd you know what to do with it?"
"Graphene is the only material stronger than metal that can bend," I said. "Bags made out of that stuff can hold up to two tons. That one was pretty thick, so it held him down."
Barry nodded. "Nice thinking."
We got Tony back to STAR labs and put him in the pipeline. I watched from just outside the entrance as Barry confronted him as he woke up.
"Hey!" Tony yelled. He banged on the walls. "What is this? Where the hell am I?"
"Somewhere where you'll never hurt anyone ever again," Barry said in his normal voice.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Tony asked him.
Barry came into the light just enough for him to see his unmasked face. "You know who I am."
"Allen?"
"The thing that happened to you, Tony, it happened to me too," Barry told him. "But it didn't just give us abilities. It made us more of who we are. You got strong. I got fast. Fast enough to beat you, with the help of my friend over there. You used your gift to hurt people. Not anymore."
Barry started walking away.
"Allen. Allen. Allen, don't walk away from me, Allen! Hey, come back here! Allen! Allen!"
Tony's shouts were muffled as the doors closed.
Barry did a victory pose as he smiled.
"Dude," Cisco said. "That had to feel great."
"You have no idea," Barry said.
"Almost as good as proving me wrong about the supersonic punch?" Caitlin asked.
"Actually, that part hurt," Barry admitted. "Like, a lot. But I couldn't have done it without you guys, and Isa. You were a fast thinker. That idea you had with the graphene, was very smart."
I shrugged. "You're welcome."
"All I wanna know," Cisco said, "is which childhood bully are we gonna take down next? Mine or Caitlin's, since Isa already took down hers."
Barry smiled, and said sarcastically. "Okay, yeah."
"I vote mine," Cisco said. "Guys, this is not a joke."
Joe came a took me later from STAR labs to stay at his house. It was a quaint little home, but I was grateful for the place to stay.
Barry would later tell me that Iris had officially named Barry's superhero identity, the Flash, and she had also written about me in her blog. This was only just the beginning.