Flash Fire

By: Riley

Full Summary – Even though her life as a normal human ended in a flash of heat, the fire in her heart continued to burn. The arrival of the fire metahuman, Cadence Nash, brings the arrival of a sinister criminal organization that's closer to Barry and S.T.A.R. Labs than originally thought. Especially when he becomes her new target. But is she really evil? Her connection to Harrison Wells creates a stir among the others among the mysteriousness of her past. Then there's Barry, who's sudden side-effects of his powers is causing him to put himself into even more danger than ever expected. Wasn't having the power of speed supposed to help him? With secrets and lies abound it'll take everything for Team Flash to figure out what's the truth and who their real enemy is. The Flash is about to get burned. *Team Arrow will become a big part of the story once they make their appearance*.

Rated T: For language and violence

Pairings: Barry/OC, SnowWells, Olicity, Ciscette, some one-sided WestAllen.

Warnings: Some heavy, goreish violence

.:1:.

Okay Barry, it's not going to be hard to get your physical done. Just make sure you stay as calm as possible and everything will be okay.

Barry Allen repeated the same thing over and over again as he signed into the doctor's office and waited to be called back to be checked. Sitting down he tried to focus on the news being broadcasted along the TV but couldn't completely focus when he was only moments away from his secret potentially being revealed.

All because Captain Singh had insisted he get a physical done.

Not only was that something he usually did through STAR Labs which he would then turn into his boss, but the CCPD had just received a new holder of their health insurance and his name needed to be on file. Not to mention how many messages he received from his normal practitioner saying he was missing appointments. But how could he go to a doctor when a heart monitor would figure out his pulse was moving too quickly to be normal?

He tried to talk his way out of it but Captain Singh held firm on his decision and forced Barry to go as soon as he was on his lunch break. Now he wanted nothing more than to be back at the office having his boss breathe down his back to get his work done.

Licking his lips, Barry managed to calm himself down, so far that his pulse weakened as well. He remembered reading that somewhere in a science journal about those who went deep sea diving. If it worked for them it could work on a metahuman.

"Barry Allen?"

The voice nearly made him jump out of his skin as he pulled his eyes away from the TV screen. How much time had passed? The waiting room wasn't as full as it had been before. Maybe he found a way to speed up time while he was waiting. Taking another deep breath, Barry got to his feet and walked over to the nurse who waited patiently for him, holding a clipboard against her light pink scrubs.

She looked to be about his age, greeting him with such a warm smile that he felt his anxiety wash away. "It's good to see you in here, Mr. Allen. You seem to have missed many appointments," she stated, allowing him into the hallway right before the examining rooms.

"Yeah, I've just been, really busy." Barry reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I have crazy work hours and they're always changing so..."

"Trust me, I understand the work hours thing, mine are changing all the time" the nurse said with a light laugh. "I'm in residency. This is my last day here before I move to work at the hospital.." She motioned for him to stand against the wall so she could record his height.

Barry did as he was told, taking off his shoes, and pressing his back against the wall and shifting his heels back as well. He watched as she reached up to pull the meter down so it rested on his head. "You're in residency?"

"Is there a problem with that?" She asked, writing down his height.

"What? No! It's just...you look really young. Not that you can't be young to be a doctor. But that must mean you're really smart to get through school and into residency." The nurse gave him a look and Barry gritted his teeth, rushing to fix his blunder. "Not that I don't think you're smart or that you don't look smart. It's just...really cool," he finished lamely.

The nurse laughed. "I'm glad you think it's cool. Relax, Barry. I don't think you want a heart attack before your physical." She then motioned for him to stand on the scale which he did as well. "And if it helps you, I'm 24."

Barry let out a deep breath and waited for that to be done as well. Then he followed her to the examination room, sitting down on the table. The nurse left the room for a minute before coming back with his shoes in hand. "I think you might need these," she said.

"Thank you." Barry leaned over to read her nametag. "Candace."

"Cadence," she corrected him. "Cadence Nash."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"That's alright, it's a common mistake."

"Right. Yeah, I mean, I, uh, haven't really met many people with your name. Not that it's a bad name, just unusual." He started to babble even further, hoping to dig himself out of the whole he just fell into. "Not unusual in a bad way. B-but, uh, you, uh, unique. It's unique." He let out a long breath. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Barry Allen." He squeezed his eyes shut and brought a hand up to smack himself on the forehead. Then he brought his hand through his hair. "Which you already knew because you were the one...who called me in here...yeah."

Cadence laughed and sat down on a little stool, crossing her legs at the knee. She picked up a pen and punched it along her shoulder. "Do you have any known allergies?"

"Only to dust," Barry said.

"Past surgeries?"

"No."

"Do you smoke or drink?"

"I don't smoke but I drink every now and then. Not so much lately." Barry tried his best not to become annoyed with that fact. There were many things he could do with his incredible speed but getting drunk wasn't one of them. And sometimes he wanted nothing more than to have enough drinks to leave teh stresses of the day behind.

"How often do you exercise?"

A sly smile came to Barry's face before he could stop it. "Every day."

Cadence smiled and nodded as she took down all of tee information. Then she looked over it once more before standing to type every thing into the computer. Silence stretched through the room. Say something, it doesn't have to be so awkward, he told himself. But he found he wasn't quite sure what to talk about. "So you decided to go into the medical field? What prompted that?"

"The innate need to help people," Cadence replied after a moment of thinking. She turned away from the computer, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've always been interested in making sure everyone around me is healthy and okay. Plus, I can save a lot on medical bills if I can diagnose myself." As she laughed Barry couldn't help but notice a sly twinkle in her eye. Then she caught her breath and said, "The doctor will be with you in a minute, Barry. It was nice to meet you."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." Barry hesitated for a second then thrust his hand out towards her. Cadence looked startled for a moment, then reached out and grabbed onto his hand, shaking it firmly. Barry frowned when a tingling sensation moved through his hand, almost as if he had been shocked. It faded once Cadence dropped his hand.

She left the room, a peculiar glance turned back his way before leaving completely.

Then the doctor came in and moved through the rest of Barry's physical which-thankfully-didn't conclude with him revealing that he was The Flash to everyone. As a matter of fact it was one of his quickest doctor visits.

Pun intended.

Later that day Barry had been running—even sprinting wouldn't be the best word to accurately describe what it was that he could do—through the streets of Central City, doing what he did best—entertaining his own abilities—when he received gotten a distress call from Cisco and Caitlin back at S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Barry, there's a fire outbreak in the forest on the outskirts of the city," Cisco Ramon said to him, voice transmitted through the earpiece placed in his hood.

"It's strange. The fire literally came out of nowhere," Caitlin Snow added. Despite Cisco and Caitlin being back in the laboratory more than halfway across the city, Barry could perfectly picture their body positions. Cisco had a lollipop in his mouth, evident from the slight slurring of his words, more than likely grinning at the computer screen that tracked Barry's movements within a few feet. "Fires take time to build even from the smallest spark, but this one was like a bomb went off. It doesn't make sense, the ground is too wet from the rainfall last night to create such a blaze."

"Which we shouldn't rule out," Cisco added and Barry could detect the hint of excitement in his voice. "We've seen metahumans that can create storms and duplicate themselves, I'm sure there's a Bomber-man out there somewhere."

Barry chuckled; also able to accurately picture the stare that Caitlin slowly gave her co-worker and only friend. She was used to his antics; how excited he became whenever there was a breakthrough in a case as well as being able to show his vast knowledge of pop culture and easygoing nature that balanced Caitlin's straightforwardness.

At least someone saw what he was able to do as cool as he thought it was.

"I'm on it guys, I'll be there in two seconds," Barry said. He rapidly changed course, darting across an intersection—widely dodging an oncoming car—and raced towards the forest.

"Still, Barry, be careful," Caitlin advised. Agitation was evident in her tone. That was par for the course; it seemed that everything Barry did was enough to exasperate the brunette. "Don't forget that you're still not used to your hypoglycemia, you can conk out from exhaustion. And even then, we don't know how your speed reacts to intense heat, especially considering the amount of friction that—"

"We get it, Caitlin, you're worried," quipped Cisco.

The following silence caused Barry to smile seconds before the excruciating heat caused him to back up to a safe distance. Raising a hand and yanking off his hood, he ran his fingertips over his eyebrows. A relieved sigh escaped his lips when he felt that his hood had protected his face. This suit has been very good to me. The flames erupted, sending acrid, smoke as black as the night sky high into the air.

Coughing, he backed away as the smoke hit the back of his throat. His lungs instantaneously seized as he did a series of rapid coughs, increased by his superhuman speed. When they finally subsided, he squinted his eyes, straining to distinguish the source of the flames. What caused it to continue to increase in size when he couldn't get close enough to see what started it?

Or if anyone was hurt.

"Do you see anything here?"

Caitlin again.

"No, I can't get close enough! The flames, they're—"

A voice broke in behind him. "Too hot? Yeah, I think I might've overdone it a little."

As Barry watched, eyes shifting in confusion, the fire started to die down all on its own. When it was finally out, nothing remained other than a scorch on some of the tougher logs and branches, ashes littering the other portions of vegetation that couldn't withstand the heat. Turning around, Barry noticed a dark haired brunette that was about his age, standing behind him, fire flickering at her fingertips. Her eyes shifted down to the watch that rested on her left wrist. "It's about time you got here, I expected you long before it got this big."

"Barry, who's that with you?"

Pressing his lips together, Barry continued to stare at Cadence. His chest heaved up and down, heart beating incredibly fast. Faster than it had when he was in that coma. No. He was nervous. Someone had just found out his identity. How could he have let his guard down like that? Thinking there wouldn't be anyone around? The existence of the metahumans, the two he had already encountered not including himself, was enough so that he should've kept his guard up.

Cadence smiled as she walked over to him, hugging her overcoat tighter to her body. "Then again, you can only run so fast, right?" Continuing to gawk at her, Barry licked his lips, taking a step back. Whatever it was—maybe fight or flight instinct increased tenfold—he wasn't going to take any chances. She smiled. "Hi, Barry."

The metahuman's head tilted to the side, though it had have looked like a quick twitch as most of his movements were now rapid. "How…do you know my name?"

"Who doesn't know your name at this point?" Cadence inquired. Her eyebrows gently cocked upwards. "Not only is it that you were in a nine month coma after having been struck by lightning when the particle accelerator blew, but coming out of that coma…well, that's very remarkable." She looked him in the eye. "Not including the fact that shortly after you woke up, there seemed to be a 'red blur' appearing everywhere." As if it were fanfare, Cadence waved her hands, her hazel eyes flashing. The fire slowly disipated. "I think I'm the only person to have made that connection."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"Newspaper articles and just plain paying attention." She lifted a hand, lips curling up into a smile as a fireball appeared over her hand. Her face glowed against the flickering light. "And you did call me smart earlier so..."

"Whoa. Wait, you did this?" Barry twisted back towards the ashes that were still slightly smoldering before looking back at Cadence. "You started this fire?" She nodded. "Why? What…what were you trying to do?"

"Meet you." The simplicity of Cadence's answer caused Barry to falter for a moment. "Relax, it was a controlled fire." Her eyes flickered as her smile widened. "I know what I'm doing. No one's going to get hurt."

"Barry," Harrison's voice came through his ear piece. "We don't know if she's there to hurt you or help you. Give us some time to gauge."

"Shouldn't we put her in the Pipeline just in case?" Caitlin asked. "Instead of letting them talk? She knows who he is!"

"Trust me," Harrison said.

Barry nodded subtly so that Cadence didn't see. He then shook his head. "You could've bought me a cup of coffee or stopped me on the street," he pointed out. Then paused for a second, bobbing his head back and forth. "Heck, even given me a Facebook message."

"When you're that hard to track down? Yeah that'd work." Cadence laughed. She looked over her shoulder as sirens started to pierce the air. "And something tells me that you're not Mr. Punctual when it comes to forms of communication. You've cancelled all of your other doctor's appointments for the past few years. And as it is, I didn't know you were the Flash until today."

Sirens started to come closer. Barry started to sweat; knowing what would happen if he was found by the police and fire departments. Joe would, as usual, immediately start to worry about him, if not pressuring him to tell Iris what was really going on. How else could he explain that he managed to get to crime scenes before anyone else or just be 'in the right place at the right time' over and over again? No, it was better that they get to S.T.A.R. Labs. If Cadence was able to exhibit the same kinds of powers that Barry did…then she was a metahuman and there had to be something they could discover from research on her.

It didn't appear that she wanted to hurt him…it was nice to know he didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back. Not that he could perceive anyway, judging by her stance and shoot the breeze attitude he could tell that she really did just want to meet him. Though the specific reason why was up to consideration.

He had to make a decision now.

Barry grabbed her wrist.

In a Flash Barry brought them back to S.T.A.R Labs, in a mixture of lightning and smoke and flames. He raced her down into a cell in the Pipeline, where she looked around in shock and surprise. Caitlin and Cisco were already waiting in the open cell.

Barry then used his enhanced speed to run to his locker and change into his street clothes and then zoomed back. All in the span of the few seconds that it took Cadence to recover from her trip. Cadence's knees knocked and she buckled to the floor. "Whoa." Shaking hands covered her mouth as she closed her eyes. "I should've told you that I get motion sickness pretty easily," she moaned.

"Sorry," Barry apologized. "I should've warned you about that."

Cadence waved a hand. She stayed on her knees for a long moment, forehead pressed to the glass of her cell. Then she seemed to notice it was there. She slowly stood up and looked around. Reaching out, she pressed her fingertips against it before clenching her hands, as if to start a fire. Her eyes widened when nothing happened.

She tried again.

Same thing.

"Where am I?" She demanded.

"You're in the Pipeline," Cisco explained to her. "And that little cell you've got going on there keeps your powers from working." He sniffed. "Now that we have that cleared up..." he turned to Barry, lowering his voice a little. "Last we heard there was a raging inferno and all of a sudden you come careening in here like you've got your pants set on fire."

"You should've seen the kind of power she was able to put into the flames," Barry agreed. Crossing his arms he and Cisco shared an amused glance, which immediately subsided when Caitlin turned a harsh glare their way. "Which is totally beside the point," he said quickly to which Cisco nodded.

Turning at the sound of wheels coming their way, the three watched as Dr. Wells rolled down a ramp and over to the four young adults. "Well, well, look what we have here," he remarked. He continued over to the four and smiled when he spotted Cadence continuing to pound her fists against the glass with increasing frustration. "I see you've got the brunt end of Barry's speed."

"Dr. Wells, do you know her?" Caitlin asked. She then stood up straight, casting a critical glance towards Barry. "Who is she?"

"I know her," Dr. Wells agreed. "It has been my intention to know how sudden fires have been breaking out, steadily moving closer to Central City." He leaned towards Cadence. Her frantic motions subsided as her eyes locked on his. Her hands slowly draped to her sides. "Cadence Nash, I was wondering when you appear."

She smiled a little. "It's good to see you, Dr. Wells."

"So Dr. Wells has a life outside of S.T.A.R. Labs huh?" Cisco said with a laugh which was once again broken off when Caitlin gave him another icy stare, attributing to her name well. "I mean, I'm sure you did, but…yeah…I'll just be over here…"

Barry chuckled.

"Let me welcome you to S.T.A.R. Labs," Dr. Wells continued. "Though I never intended you to see it so soon." He turned to Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco. "Cadence Nash is someone I've been following for a while. She's just as…remarkable as Barry here is."

Whirling around, Caitlin picked up a clipboard and stated to frantically scribble on the sheet of paper. "She was struck by the particle accelerator?"

"Quite the contrary, actually," Dr. Wells said. He nodded over towards Cadence, who started to regain the color in her face. She didn't look quite so green anymore, the nausea and anger fading away.

Cadence took a step back, smoothing her hair out of her face, revealing a scar on her left cheek. It extended from her jaw bone to the apple of her cheek. And yet, despite the scar there was nothing but a friendly look in her eyes. No overwhelming feeling of tension in the slightest since Harrison's appearance.

"I've had these abilities for a long time," she explained. "Since I was a kid, actually."

"Abilities?" Barry repeated. "As in, more than one?"

"Not only is she able to conjure and manipulate fire, but she also has a sense of being able to heal others," Dr. Wells explained.

"Works well considering I'm in residency," Cadence added with a fleeting smile. "Though I have to admit that it is difficult to make sure that it isn't caught by those around me. However, working in pediatrics does have its perks in that aspect as kids can bounce back from anything." Her cheek twitched for a second and she lowered her head, letting out a long sigh. "I met Dr. Wells ages ago. He's an old family friend. He knows about my abilities and we've been in contact ever since."

"Where are you from?" Caitlin asked. She was still jotting down notes as the conversation moved around them.

"Metropolis," Cadence said. She shrugged. "It's a pretty cool city. A lot to do if you're bored." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Though it's not as exciting as that rural town a few counties over. Let me just say, weird things happen there."

"Really?" Barry hid a smile. "That's interesting."

"What brings you here to Central City?" Caitlin continued.

"I live here."

"How'd you know I was The Flash?" Barry asked.

Cadence blinked for a minute before smiling. "I didn't know for sure until I met you earlier today. But I had a hunch through the newspaper articles about the man who survived being struck by lightning and the Streak suddenly showing up. I wanted to see if my theory was correct…that he was the guy everyone is talking about. I didn't know any other way to get your attention."

"At what age did you develop your abilities? Do you remember what it is that happened around you? A flash of light? Some sort of accident?" Caitlin continued to spew out the questions one right after another.

"Give her a chance to breathe, Caitlin," Cisco reprimanded his friend.

"I'm just trying to get as much information as I can before she spontaneously combusts. You never know what metahumans are capable of."

"Not blowing myself up, I can tell you that," Cadence said. She smiled a little. "I've tried. Doesn't work. I can control fire and manipulate it. I can't cause myself to burst into flames. Though that would be pretty interesting." She cleared her throat. "No, I don't remember anything about there being a specific event that would've given me my powers. All I know is that they suddenly appeared and I had to work hard to keep it a secret, though there are still times where things have gone 'unexplained'." She used air quotes around the words.

"So no one else knows you're a metahuman?" Barry asked. He had been otherwise silent, allowing Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells to do their jobs. They were better equipped to handle this sort of situation than he was. "Not even your friends or family?"

"It's hard to have friends when there's something that you're constantly hiding from them. As for my parents, I haven't seen them since I moved out." She frowned. "I didn't want to put them through my problems anymore…it was hard for them to know I wasn't normal. They were doing their best."

"And you came all the way to Central City to find Barry?" Caitlin had finally put down the clipboard that was filled with her findings. She started to pace back and forth.

Barry felt a quick flash of irritation that had moved away just as quickly as he could run. He had the same sense of admiration for Oliver Queen or as others knew him 'the Arrow'. He was a big fan of what the man did and having been able to meet him, become friends with him…it was good to have someone who understood what he was going through. It made it that much easier to live a life that wasn't normal amongst those that thought that having brightly colored dyed hair and tattoos were strange. Let alone being able to eat pounds of food and not gain any weight.

"Is that so weird?" He asked. "Looking for people that are the same as you…to see if things that could be explained…"

"Not including the fact that you can't stay in Metropolis anymore, right?" Dr. Wells asked Cadence quietly. She gazed back at him, silent. "Something must've happened for you to come and try to find him now…months after he had woken up again." He leaned his top half forward, resting his hands in his lip, dark eyes staring hard at the girl behind his frames. "Something that drove you out of your home city. Have there been cases of other metahumans in your city, Cadence?"

Cadence's cheek twitched once more before she stood up. "Not that more so than I got cold feet and felt I needed to leave. That was a long time ago, I've live in Central City for a years. But when I found there was someone like me…" She trailed off, looking around S.T.A.R. Labs. "Looks like you're trying to start an army around here, Dr. Wells."

"No, not an army." Dr. Wells laughed, slowly wheeling up behind her. "We're just trying to figure out what makes you tick." He tilted his head over towards Caitlin. "Do you mind if she gets a DNA sample to test?"

"Not at all," Cadence replied.

Harrison reached over to the project plate at his side and opened Cadence's cell.

Back in the Cortex, Caitlin went over to a table that was tucked in the corner of the room. It was bare of any items other than a box that held latex gloves. "And, hey, if you want to take my blood, I'm used to that too." She chuckled at her own joke before opening her mouth as wide as it could go. Caitlin walked back over and took a swab of her mouth before taking a sample of her blood as well. "I've been told I have some pretty interesting blood."

"How do you get around your samples being taken by doctors at your work?" Cisco asked. "Since…you've said that you've had your blood taken before." A smile graced his features. "Now, I don't think they'd have the same sort of strength in their instruments as my Cisco'd instruments."

Cadence's eyebrows rose. "Cisco'd?"

"It's what he calls it when he modifies something so that's far more advanced," Barry explained. "Like that treadmill over there." He pointed to the object in the far corner of the room.

"Mhm! I Cisco'd it so that it could handle the increase in speeds that Barry here can exude."

An amused smile slid onto Cadence's face as Dr. Wells and Barry smiled.

"Amazing," Caitlin breathed, grabbing the others' attention. Her eyes were pressed into the optics of a microscope. "Her blood is moving quickly, not like Barry's movements because of his speed. But moving fast because of the heat. It's like her blood is actually on fire. But then that opens up a lot of other questions," Caitlin said. She stood up straight, pressing the palms of her hands against the edge of the table. Fingernails clacked against the metal as she drummed her fingers. "Metabolic rate, reaction with intense heat, anything else that it can do to the body at the molecular level. This would mean increasing tests on just about…everything."

"Great." Dr. Wells turned around and started to wheel away. "We can get started tomorrow morning. It was very pleasing to see you again, Cadence. I hope you find our work with STAR Labs enlightening." He disappeared through a door that was hidden in the shadows.

With that, the group disbanded. Caitlin immediately became busy with the microscope, Cisco ran off to get started on collecting the materials that he hoped would be able to withstand the fire Cadence could create and that left Barry and Cadence.

The two glanced at each other before Cadence glanced at her watch and started to leave the lab. "Looks like you've got a lot of friends here." Barry followed after her. There were still come questions he had; mostly with how she had her powers for so long and how she dealt with them.

Barry thought about Caitlin and her normally frosty demeanor with everyone around her then shook his head, chuckling. "I guess you could say that," he said. "They have the same goals I do just…they can't do it. So they help me whenever there're people that need help."

Cadence said. "And to think I thought you were actually crazy. That would've been more fun."

Barry laughed.

The two left S.T.A.R. Labs and walked out onto the concrete sidewalk. Feeling the change in temperature, Cadence brought her jacket tighter around her, though didn't close it. Barry, on the other hand, shivered and made sure that all of the buttons on his coat were done up and the scarf around his neck was tight.

"So it looks like you're going to be here in Central City for a while, Cadence," Barry remarked. His breath fogged in front of his face, the autumn season had definitely arrived. "It's a really cool place. It's gotten pretty interesting in the last couple of months. Might not be like Metropolis but because you said you wanted to leave it might be the place for you."

"I'm starting to think that myself, actually."

A peal split through the air and Barry dug through his pocket to find his phone. He glanced at the screen for a moment and then closed his eyes. He was late, again. That was starting to become the new norm for him. No matter how fast he could move, he was always late for something. Thankfully, this time it was just that he was late for a meeting in Starling City.

Putting his phone away, Barry sighed before smiling. "Gotta run," he said seconds before disappearing from sight.

"Stay warm," Cadence called.

She turned on her heel and walked off in the opposite direction.

"Cisco," Dr. Wells said once the doors behind them closed. "Make her a suit."

Caitlin regarded her boss with surprise. "But...we don't even know if she's wants to join our team. Or...or if she's really who she says she is..." she trailed off at the low sound of Dr. Wells clearing his throat, knowing he meant business.

"Just...trust me," he said to her. He then turned back to Cisco. "She's going to need that suit."

I'm currently in the process of editing this story as I'm currently working on it's second sequel. Some parts are re-written, some are re-worked, pacing is being fixed, things that don't make sense are being made clearer. Please keep that in mind and enjoy! :)