Chapter 27 : The Fastest Man Alive - Part 1
June 2016 — DEO Desert Facility — Main Entrance
Barry Allen didn't use the door.
Alarms shrieked as he vibrated through the reinforced wall—a streak of red lightning that resolved into a young man in a crimson suit, hands raised apologetically as twenty DEO agents pointed weapons at his head.
"Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry." His voice was exactly like his face: earnest, slightly frantic, endearingly awkward. "The door had a security checkpoint and I got impatient and Cisco said he'd cleared everything but I guess he meant the official channels and not the actual wall..."
"Stand down." J'onn's command cut through the chaos. The weapons lowered. "Mr. Allen. Welcome to the DEO."
"Thanks! And really, sorry about the wall. I can pay for that. Do I need to pay for that? Cisco's going to kill me."
I stepped forward before the situation could deteriorate further. "I'm Winn. We've been expecting you."
Barry's entire demeanor shifted. The nervous energy focused, becoming something sharper and more genuine.
"Winn! The vector manipulation guy!" He moved faster than I could track—one moment across the room, the next directly in front of me, hand extended. "This is awesome. I've been reading your energy signatures for weeks. The math behind what you do is insane. Like, literally physics-breaking insane."
I shook his hand. "Says the man who runs faster than light."
"The speedforce isn't actually faster than light, it's more like... parallel to light? Running alongside it through a dimensional membrane that—" He stopped himself, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. Cisco says I info-dump when I'm excited."
"I do the same thing."
"Really?"
"Ask Kara. She's sat through seventeen explanations of vector mathematics."
His grin widened. "So Supergirl. She's here? I've been wanting to meet her since I saw the first news footage. Flying aliens! From Krypton! That's like peak comic book stuff."
Alex appeared at my shoulder, expression carefully neutral. "She's on patrol. Should be back in about an hour."
"Cool! That gives us time to—" Barry's eyes darted around the command center. "Is that a quantum resonance scanner? Those are supposed to be theoretical!"
"We salvaged it from a crashed Fort Rozz escape pod." I fell into step beside him as he speed-walked toward the equipment. "I've been modifying it to detect dimensional breaches."
"Dimensional breaches? Like interdimensional travel?"
"Theoretically. Cisco's work on the multiverse has been informative."
Barry stopped walking. Turned to face me fully. His expression had shifted again—still enthusiastic, but with an undercurrent of something more serious.
"Okay, we need to talk. Like, really talk. About physics and powers and all the impossible stuff we can apparently do." He glanced at the assembled agents, the monitoring equipment, the general atmosphere of governmental oversight. "Somewhere with fewer people listening?"
"Training room?"
"Perfect."
DEO Training Room — Twenty Minutes Later
"So you can basically control any vector," Barry summarized, watching me deflect tennis balls from automated turrets. "Momentum, velocity, force direction—"
"Anything with magnitude and direction." I caught a ball mid-flight, reversed its trajectory, sent it bouncing off three walls before landing in the collection bin. "The limitation is processing speed. My brain can only calculate so many simultaneous vectors before things start slipping through."
"And the electrical stuff?"
"Lightning Logic. I can sense electromagnetic fields, absorb electricity, interface with technology." I drew power from a nearby outlet, letting it crackle between my fingers. "Different ability, same body. I'm still working on understanding how they connect."
Barry was practically vibrating with excitement. "Dude, that's incredible. The speedforce gives me enhanced perception, so I can see things in slow motion, but you're actually calculating trajectories in real-time. That's like having a supercomputer for a brain."
"More like a dedicated physics processor." I discharged the electricity safely. "Your turn. Show me what the Flash can really do."
What followed was the most impressive display of superhuman capability I'd witnessed since Kara's debut.
Barry moved at speeds that defied comprehension. One moment he was standing beside me; the next he'd circled the training room forty times, created a localized wind vortex, run up the wall and across the ceiling, and returned to his original position with time to spare for a thumbs-up.
"That was about Mach 2," he said casually. "I can go faster, but it starts destabilizing nearby structures."
"The physics of that should be impossible. Air resistance alone—"
"Speedforce aura. Protects me and anything I'm touching from friction, momentum transfer, all the stuff that should vaporize me." He grinned. "It also means I can carry passengers. Though they usually throw up afterward."
"Noted."
For the next hour, we exchanged techniques. I showed him how vector manipulation could redirect his momentum mid-run, potentially allowing sharper turns at high speed. He demonstrated how speedforce perception could be used to identify micro-threats that normal reflexes would miss. We theorized about what might happen if he ran while I controlled the vectors around him.
"This is crazy," Barry said eventually, collapsing onto a bench with the satisfied exhaustion of a man who'd found his people. "I've trained with other speedsters. Fought supervillains. Traveled through time. But I've never met someone who gets it the way you do. The science of being impossible."
"Takes one to know one."
"Exactly!" He sat up, suddenly energized again. "We should team up more often. Like, officially. Cisco's been pushing for a hero network anyway—communication protocols, shared resources, coordinated response to major threats. You'd be perfect for the technical side."
"I'd need to clear it with J'onn, but... yeah. I'd like that."
The training room doors opened. Kara walked in, still in her Supergirl suit, cape settling around her shoulders as she took in the scene.
"Cisco wasn't kidding," she said, smiling. "You two really did spend the whole morning talking physics."
Barry was on his feet instantly. "Supergirl! I'm Barry. The Flash. Huge fan. Like, huge fan. Your debut footage was incredible. The way you caught that plane—"
"Nice to meet you too." She glanced at me, something warm in her expression. "He's been good to you?"
"He's been amazing." Barry grabbed my shoulder, pulling me into a half-hug. "Winn's like... the science bro I didn't know I needed. We're going to do incredible things together."
I caught Kara's eye. Shrugged helplessly. Her smile widened.
"Careful," she said. "He grows on you. Before you know it, you can't imagine doing this without him."
Barry looked between us. Something clicked in his expression.
"Oh. Oh. You two are—"
"Friends," I said quickly.
"Partners," Kara added.
"Partners. Right." Barry's grin turned knowing. "Well, partner, what do you say we grab some lunch? I know this great place in Central City. We could be there and back in about thirty seconds."
"I think I'll stick to conventional transportation."
"Your loss." He slung an arm around my shoulders again. "But seriously—I think we're going to be great friends."
Looking at his earnest, enthusiastic face, I believed him.
Author's Note / Promotion:
Your Reviews and Power Stones are the best way to show support. They help me know what you're enjoying and bring in new readers!
You don't have to. Get instant access to more content by supporting me on Patreon. I have three options so you can pick how far ahead you want to be:
🪙 Silver Tier ($6): Read 10 chapters ahead of the public site.
👑 Gold Tier ($9): Get 15-20 chapters ahead of the public site.
💎 Platinum Tier ($15): The ultimate experience. Get new chapters the second I finish them . No waiting for weekly drops, just pure, instant access.
Your support helps me write more .
👉 Find it all at patreon.com/fanficwriter1