Stepping Up

Joe arrives at the scene and sees two wrecked cars and a bunch of debris. The police have already sealed off the area.

He sees Barry and approaches him.

"Barry, when did you get here?" Joe asks.

"Just when the crash happened," Barry says.

"Are you okay? I told you to rest and not bother about work right now," Joe says.

"I was already here when the accident happened," Barry says.

"So, did you see anything?" Joe asks.

"Well, it might sound crazy, but I think the guy that was running away was Clyde Mardon," Barry says.

"Clyde Mardon is dead, Barry," Joe says.

"I don't know, Joe, the guy I saw crawl out of that car looked just like Clyde Mardon," Barry says.

"Are you sure? You weren't hallucinating, right? After all, you just got out of a coma," Joe says.

"I know what I saw. It was Mardon or someone who looked like Mardon," Barry says.

"Did you see which way did he run off to?" Joe asks.

"Welllll... this might sound crazy, but he didn't run off. A thick fog came in all of a sudden and he disappeared," Barry says.

He doesn't tell Joe the whole truth because he doesn't think Joe will believe him.

"Joe, you are not gonna believe this." Eddie walks up to them and shows Joe a sketch. "We got the eyewitness sketch of the robber for the bank job. If I didn't know better, I'd say that's Clyde Mardon," Eddie says as he takes out a picture of Clyde Mardon and compares it to the sketch.

"It's impossible. He's dead, right?" Eddie asks.

"I told you," Barry says.

Joe looks up at Barry and back at the sketch. "Fine, you should head back home and rest. Eddie and I will handle this," Joe says to Barry.

____________________

Barry leaves the crime scene and immediately zooms toward S.T.A.R. Labs. With his speed, it takes him a few minutes to reach S.T.A.R. labs.

Barry walks into the cortex of the S.T.A.R. labs and finds Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco, all three together, talking.

"Mr. Allen, you are back once again. What is it this time?" Dr. Wells asks.

"I wasn't the only one affected by the particle accelerator explosion, was I?" Barry asks.

Dr. Wells looks at his team and back at Barry. "We don't know for sure," he says.

"You said the city was safe. That there was no residual danger. But that's not true, so what really happened that night?" Barry asks, as he wants to get to the bottom of this.

"Well, the accelerator went active. We all felt like heroes and then, It all went wrong," Dr Wells says and pulls up a graphical representation of the particle accelerator exploding.

"The dimensional barrier ruptured, unleashing unknown energies into our world. Antimatter, dark energy, x-elements," Dr. Wells says.

"So, all these theories are real?" Barry asks. "Your existence is proof of them being real," Dr. Wells says.

He then pulls up another graphical representation of the city with multiple hotspots that keep expanding.

"We mapped the dispersion throughout and around Central City. Though we have no way of knowing exactly what or who was exposed. We've been searching for other Meta-Humans like yourself," Dr. Wells says.

"Meta-Humans?" Barry questions.

"That's what we're calling them," Caitlin chimes in, telling Barry.

"Well, I just encountered one today. He's a bank robber, and he can somehow control the weather," Barry says.

"This just keeps getting cooler," Cisco says, excited over the possibility of more Meta-Humans existing.

"Well, not that cool. A man almost died. Luckily I was fast enough to pull him out of his car before he crashed," Barry says wiping the smile off Cisco's face and making him realize that people's lives are at stake.

"So Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did from the storm cloud. And he is causing a lot of trouble. People's lives are in danger. So what are we going to do to stop him?" Barry asks, as he gets a little serious.

"Barry, that's a job for the police," Dr. Wells says.

"No, it's not. You didn't see what I saw. This man can literally control the weather. What are the police going to do against something they don't even understand?" Barry says.

"You can not just sit here and watch while these Meta-Humans that you created cause havoc in the city and put people's lives at risk.

Every person who has already been hurt and will be hurt in the future is your responsibility. So it's important that we do something to stop them. I need to do something to stop Clyde Mardon before he hurts more people." Barry says.

"What's important is you!" Dr. Wells says with a commanding tone, trying to get his point across.

"I lost everything. I lost my company. I lost my reputation. I lost my freedom. And then you fractured your arm, and it healed within minutes.

Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world — Genetic Therapies, Vaccines, Medicines, and Treasures, buried deep within your cell and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero!" Wells says raising his voice.

"That's where you are wrong. I never said I wanted to play hero, and my life is no more important than any other person out there in the city. Everybody out there deserves to be safe just as much as me.

And now, with the powers I have, I can do that." Barry says.

"Barry, you are just a young man who was struck by lightning. You might cause more harm than good, trying to save these people. None of us here fully understand how your powers work. I am not willing to take any more unnecessary risks," Dr. Wells says firmly.

Seeing that he is not getting anywhere with Dr. Wells, he turns to look at Caitlin and Cisco, but they have nothing to say for Barry. He can see that they want to help as much as he does—it's written all over their faces—but they work for Dr. Wells, and his words seem to be final.

"I get where you are coming from. Yes, I know very little about my powers and how they work, but I also cannot sit back and watch innocent people get hurt. I am doing this whether you help me or not.

" Someone needs to step up," Barry says, walking away from the cortex and zooming away from S.T.A.R. Labs.