Trigger Warning: violence, troubling situations, death

Barry didn't stay away for long. Within a few hours, he came (literally) speeding back into the lab in a flurry of yellow lightning, panicking and freaking out, shouting about how the world "was really, really slow, like scary slow!" and "how the hell did that happen?"

The rest of them flew into action, preparing tests and technology to try and figure out what the hell had happened to Barry.

It was an unspoken truth among the team that the particle accelerator had something to do with Barry's crazy superspeed.

"Superspeed; isn't this awesome?" Cisco said to Hayley as he tinkered with a small gadget.

"Definitely," she replied. "I wonder how fast he can go."

"I guess we'll find out," Cisco said, glancing at the trailer where Barry was inside.

"You don't really believe he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin asked Dr. Wells disbelievingly.

"Well, I believe anything is possible, and in a few minutes, maybe you will too," Wells replied confidently.

At that moment, the trailer door opened.

"How does it fit?" Cisco called to Barry.

Barry stepped out looking disgruntled in what Hayley had dubbed "the skin tight onesie," and a helmet, and Hayley had to fight to keep from laughing.

"It's a little snug," Barry admitted. Hayley suppressed a snort.

"At least you'll be moving so fast no one will see you," Cisco said. He and Hayley followed him out to the runway.

"See, you thought the world was slowing down. It wasn't," Cisco told him.

"You were moving so fast, it only looked like the world was standing still," Hayley explained.

"Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output and Caitlin your vitals. Hayley is forming an algorithm to try and calculate your top speed."

"What do you do?" Barry asked him.

"I make the toys, man!" Cisco grinned. Hayley tried not to smile at Barry's puzzled expression.

"Check it, This is a two-way headset with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise," Cisco announced, holding up his gadget, a small circle with a lightning bolt design on it.

"Or in your case, potential sonic booms," Hayley added.

"Which would be awesome," Cisco said excitedly, pulling a befuddled Barry's helmet off.

Hayley gave Barry a reassuring pat on the shoulder and followed Cisco back towards the trailer as Caitlin came forward to make the final adjustments on measuring Barry's vitals.

"Have you talked to her lately?" Hayley whispered to Cisco, glancing over his shoulder at their friend.

"No, but I think it's hitting her a little harder today," Cisco replied quietly. "I mean, Ronnie-" he hesitated, and Hayley felt her heart twist at the mention of their late friend. "-Ronnie died, and Barry happened to miraculously wake up from a nine month coma. I'd bet that's a little hard to swallow."

Hayley nodded wordlessly. She and Cisco had spent many an hour talking about Caitlin over shitty beers, expressing how much they worried about her. Cisco had only really known Caitlin when she was with Ronnie, but Hayley had been there to watch the entire workplace romance unfold and progress.

"This might give her something new to throw herself into," Hayley suggested. "I mean, going full workaholic isn't the best plan, but if it helps her cope a little more…"

"Maybe," Cisco said. "Think we should ask and see if she wants to have a movie marathon tonight?"

"Yeah, that might help her a little," Hayley agreed. "Just...let's not suggest any Jane Austen movies, unless she asks. You know they remind her of-of Ronnie."

"True." Cisco started to attach the headset to the helmet. Caitlin walked past them, wearing the blank expression that had become normalcy over the past nine months. Hayley peered over at Barry, who now looked rather somber. Uh oh. Had Caitlin told him about everything that had happened?

"Mr. Allen," Wells called to Barry. "While I am extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint."

Barry only nodded. Cisco handed him back his helmet, and Barry took his place, ready to run, while Cisco stood behind him with a radar gun.

A split second later, Barry took off, and a great force of wind knocked both Cisco and Hayley off their feet, sent papers flying and the trailer shuddered with the unexpected gust. As Hayley scrambled to her feet, all she could see was a blur of yellow lightning as Barry hurtled down the runway.

"Holy shit," she breathed.

"He just passed 200 knots per hour," Cisco announced, looking around at his awed teammates' faces.

"That's not possible," Caitlin said in disbelief.

"It is now," Hayley said, glancing over at Wells to see him peering down the runway, trying to see all the way to where Barry was. One could almost hear the gears in his brain grinding away.

And then it all stopped. They all heard a loud crash over the headset, Barry's heart rate suddenly spiked, and then the sound of Barry groaning came on over the headset. "Barry? Are you okay?" Hayley called into the mouthpiece Cisco handed her.

"...I think my arm's broken," Barry replied.

Hayley swore.

"Let's go get him," Cisco said worriedly.

Earth-2

Hayley left her doctor's office feeling rather disgruntled. Dr. Quentin Lance had come up with at least a half-dozen different reasons for her migraines, and over ten different solutions. She only wanted one, damn it. She glared at the piece of paper containing her prescription medicine, something she couldn't pronounce with at least two x's and five e's.

Dr. Lance had warned her about the side effects, but honestly, whatever side effects the drugs had was nothing compared to what she had been dealing with for the past nine months.

She hadn't told Francisco, because, well, she didn't want to freak him out. Besides, he and his brother Dante had been pretty busy lately at the mechanic's shop they owned. Francisco always teased Dante about wanting to become a world-famous pianist when they were kids, but Dante was surprisingly good-natured about it, or at least that was how he acted. The two brothers were rather close, Hayley sort of wished she had that with her sister, Amy.

She called Jitterbugs' owner, Eddie Thawne, and told him she would be in for work later, then wrenched open her car door to go off to the pharmacy to get her damn painkillers.

This so wasn't worth the fifty dollars she'd paid for the appointment.

"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture," Caitlin told Barry, showing him the X-ray they'd taken.

"Had?" Barry echoed.

Caitlin swiped the image to another X-ray. "It's healed. In three hours." She sounded as though she still couldn't believe it.

"How is that even possible?" Barry asked, eyes wide.

"We don't know. Yet," Caitlin said through gritted teeth. Hayley knew that if there was one thing Caitlin hated, it was things she didn't know the answer to.

"You really need to learn how to stop," Cisco cut in, holding up the helmet, the mangled headpiece dangling from the side. Barry gave a sheepish smile.

"What happened out there today?" Wells asked, going into what Hayley called his 'psychiatrist mode.' "You were moving pretty well and then something caused you to lose focus.

Barry shifted uncomfortably. "I started remembering something," he admitted reluctantly, his voice dropping to a rasp.

Wells lifted an inquiring eyebrow.

"When I was eleven, my mother was murdered," Barry whispered. Everything stilled, and suddenly, all eyes were on Barry. Even Cisco's previous smile had disappeared. No one ever could've guessed that Barry had gone through something like that

"It was late," Barry went on. "The sound woke me up. I came downstairs… and-" he paused. "I saw what looked like a ball of lightning." Wells took off his glasses as Barry continued.

"Inside the lightning, there was a man."Barry's expression took on a resigned anger as he said, "He killed my mom."

Hayley felt herself grow tense. Still, Barry talked. "They arrested my dad. He's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrinks, they all told me what I saw was impossible. But what if the man who killed my mom was like me?"

Wells tried to make light. "Well, I think I can say you are unequivocally one of a kind," he said quietly. Hayley rose from her seat, feeling her hands shake.

"Hayley? You okay?" Cisco whispered.

Hayley took a deep breath. "I-uh, I-I just need some air," she stammered, all eyes on her now as she stumbled out of the room. When she had somehow made it out into the hall, she placed a hand against the wall to steady herself.

For some reason, Barry's story struck a chord with her, deep down in a place she'd tried to keep under lock and key. But she couldn't help it.

She couldn't help but relive her sister's death.

"Listen, please, just tell us what you want," Hayley begged the masked man who held a gun, the barrel pointed straight into her face.

"The boss wants his money," the man snarled. "So where is it, Poole?" He aimed this at Hayley's father, who cowered in the corner.

"I-I don't have it."

With a growl, the man wrapped his hand around the throat of Hayley's sister, Amy and slammed her against the wall, eliciting several whimpers from the girl.

"Listen," Their father, Mark Poole, struggled to get to his feet, woozy in his rum-soaked state, "I can get you the money. Just give me a little more time."

"The boss gave you your fix when the drink wasn't enough," the man snapped. "And he hasn't seen anything for his troubles!"

"Just a little while longer, a week-"

"This is your warning," the man hissed, leveling the gun at Amy.

"NO!" Hayley screamed as the gun went off. The man let go, and Amy's body dropped to the floor with a thud.

"Get the money, or I'll come back for her too," the man said, pointing at Hayley. And then he was gone.

Hayley rushed over to her sister, her red hair falling into her face as she cried out her sister's name. "I'm sorry," her father whispered from across the room. Hayley glared up at him. "This is your fault," she hissed. "How could you?"

She broke down into sobs as she looked back at her sister, only to see blood pooling around Amy's spiky black pixie cut.

"Hayley?"

She looked up to see Cisco approaching her. "You sure you're okay?"

She nodded, painting a sad smile on her face. "Yeah, just-what Barry said-that's so awful, y'know, to lose your mom like that."

"Yeah..." There was an awkward silence.

"Caitlin's down for movie night, by the way."

"Great."

"Yeah." He lingered.

"I'm fine, Cisco."

"Okay." He gave her shoulder a pat and headed back to the Cortex.

Hayley let out a breath.

Close call.

Hence warning.

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