Within Seconds // Barry Allen

We Didn't Start the Fire

Buried deep in his own head, Cisco was oblivious to anything happening in the Cortex. He sat at the computer desk, his heels tapping against the floor, swinging his chair side to side lightly. The pen through his fingers made tally marks on the paper under his hand. 

Parker crept into the Cortex. She hovered her hands over his cheeks, then slapped. The motion flung the lollipop in his mouth onto the computer desk. 

"Hey!" shouted Cisco, punching her shoulder. "Not cool at all. I was counting how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootstie Pop."

Giggling, Parker reached behind the center computer. She withdrew another Tootsie Pop, then offered it to him. 

He jumped at the chance to redo the challenge. Unwrapping it, he fell into explanation about where in the city Barry was. He asked her to follow a simple set of instructions: look for where help was needed in the city, then help Barry get there and stop the situation.

Parker hooked an earpiece on. She kicked her feet on the desk. "My name is Parker Sylas, and I'll be assisting you today. How can I help you?"

"Aren't you supposed to be at the Station right now, Ms. Sylas?" asked Barry. 

"I switched to on-call," she responded.

Her finger hit the down arrow on the keyboard. Her eyes scanned the computer screen for current news.

"Ooh! Downtown, there's a fire on Western and Third. Go get 'em, kid."

Parker reclined in the chair. She watched the monitor keeping track of Barry's location in the city. Suddenly, she screeched, imitating the sounds of tires abruptly stopping. 

"What? Did I miss it?"

"Overshot by about six blocks," counted Cisco. 

"My bad..."

The red dot, Barry, ran a few blocks backwards. The dot froze outside of the pinpointed location. 

"You there yet?" asked Cisco. 

"What are you two doing?" asked Caitlin.

Cisco slapped a button on the keyboard, killing all three monitors. He twisted in his chair.

"Nothing," he said. 

"Who are you talking to?" she interrogated. 

Cisco and Parker pointed to one another.

"Are you talking to Barry?"

"Who?" asked Cisco, while Parker scoffed, "What? No."

"Barry Allen. Struck by lightning, was in a coma for nine months, woke up being able to run faster than the speed of sound... Ring a bell?"

Cisco tapped his lollipop against his lips, pretending to think. "Nope, haven't talked to him."

"And you?" asked Caitlin, turning to Parker.

"Haven't talked to him since the last time I talked to him."

"Parker! There's fire everywhere! Cisco, are you still there?"

Cisco and Parker winced. They felt Caitlin glaring. 

"Everybody is out," said Barry, a second later. "What else you got for me?"

Caitlin scowled at Cisco and Parker. She pushed Parker's chair out of her way. A sleek, forceful finger pressed on the button to the microphone.

"Barry, it's Caitlin."

"H-Hey, Caitlin.... How's your day?"

"Get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Now."

Barry wasn't aiming to die before he hit thirty. He did as demanded. His shoes slid against the tile as he came into the Cortex. He came to a stop in front of the desk.

Not two seconds after he appeared, Caitlin was screaming, "Have you all lost your minds?! Who do you think you are?"

"We're the eyes and ears," said Cisco, patting his chest proudly, flicking Parker's arm, then pointing at Barry. "He's the feet."

"This isn't funny! You could have gotten yourself killed! You can't be running around the city like some supersonic fireman!"

"Why not?" asked Barry hopelessly. "This is what we talked about: me using my speed to do good."

"We talked about you helping us contain other people who might have been affected by the Particle Accelerator Explosion. Meta-humans," clarified Caitlin. "Aside from Mardon, we haven't found any."

"People in the city still need help. I can help them," objected Barry. 

"We can help them," said Cisco.

Livid, Caitlin looked to Dr. Wells for aid. "Will you please say something?"

"I think what Caitlin is saying, in her own spectacularly angry way, is that we are just beginning to understand what your body is capable of," said Dr. Wells. "Not to sound like a broken record, Mr. Allen, I do caution restraint."

"Dr. Wells, I doubt restraint is how you got to be the man you are today!" said Barry.

Parker skeptically tilted her head. "I'm not sure that's a very good comparison."

"She would be correct. I'm in a wheelchair and pariah. Lack of restraint is what made me these things. Know your limits," said Dr. Wells.

With a simple nod to his workers, he left.

"Don't expect me to patch you up every time you break something," snapped Caitlin, then she followed Dr. Wells from the Cortex. 

Parker reached for her spiked hot chocolate. She gladly took a long sip. 

"Hey, uh, anything happen out there today?" wondered Cisco. "The sensors in the suit were kicking back some weird telemetry, like, your vitals spiked for a few seconds."

"Never felt better," insisted Barry.

Cisco nodded. He flinched slightly, then retrieved the buzzing cell phone from his pocket. He handed it to Barry. 

"Hey, Joe, everything all right?" asked Barry. A minute later, he sighed, "I'll be right there."

"Duty calls?" asked Parker.

"My day job beckons," he agreed.

"Am I needed?" she asked. 

"I'm not sure, actually. Keep your phone on you?"

"Of course. See you, Allen."

"Bye, Parker."

His mad dash from the Cortex caused their stacks of papers to fly about. Parker expertly dodged a couple paper cuts waiting to happen. 

"When do you think he'll realize he didn't take his clothes?" wondered Dr. Wells. 

"About the same time we remember to get some paper weights," sighed Parker. Shaking her head in shame, she scribbled a reminder on the back of her hand. 

Cisco sighed obnoxiously. 

Interested in what caused his cry for attention, Dr. Wells and Caitlin glanced over. 

Parker ignored him. Her ignorance caused him to repeatedly sigh in her ear, again and again, until she finally groaned and looked at him. "What do you want from me?!"

"Can you two get married?" whined Cisco.

"Who?"

"You and Barry, duh," he said. "What's your relationship, anyway?"

"Haven't you noticed he's got a thing for his best friend?" asked Parker. 

"Iris?! Oh, my God, forget I mentioned getting married. You have no chance against her. She's hot."

Parker blankly stared at him. "Thanks. Really."

"Oh, no problem, Park."