Chapter Text
Look, in my defense, I didn’t ask to be a demigod, I didn’t ask to be a wizard, I didn’t ask to be a metahuman (okay that’s a lie, I was always a nerd. I definitely asked for that last one) and - most of all - I didn’t ask to be some weird amalgamation of all three.
If you think you’re any of these? Stop reading. Run. Do whatever you can to have a normal life.
Being any one of these things can get you in a lot of trouble, but being all three? Gods… let me start over.
My name is Michael Rodriguez; I spent my early childhood in Houston, Texas. Growing up, I was always a nerd; I couldn’t help it though. I was enticed by the stories of magical realms and superpowers. I read fantasy and sci-fi novels, I went to conventions, and I watched a lot of movies. And, like all kids, through it all I had a best friend. His name was Leo Valdez. Now, some of you may recognize that name from stories told by other demigods, but you might not know my name. That’s because back then I wanted to try to keep my identity on the down low, which I still do, now more than ever. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Like I was saying before, Me and Leo, best of friends, we’d have fun helping build things in his mom’s machine shop and helping my mom cook in the kitchen… but then everything changed… all in one night. Before I get into that story, I’d like to talk about my mother. Alyssa Rodriguez. The best mom I could ask for. She kept me fed, told me stories, and most of all she loved me. She’s part of why me and Leo are such good friends, because our moms were good friends, Alyssa Rodriguez and Esperanza Valdez. Two of the best mothers around. But, when I was ten and Leo was eight, everything changed.
Now some of you know Leo’s story about the fire and Gaea, and about how he tragically lost his mother when he tried to attack Gaea and created the fire that burned down the warehouse that killed her. But, what you don’t know, is that a couple blocks down, I was having my own origin story.
It was late at night, January 18th, 2002, the day after my birthday. I was fast asleep when I heard the sound of… something crashing against the walls of another room. I bolted awake and ran outside of my room only to see my mom in the center of what seemed to look like a storm of red and light tealish lightning in our living room.
“MOM!!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“MICHAEL STAY BACK!!” My mom yelled as she whipped out her wand (also I just realized I didn’t mention my mom is a witch, but I’ll get into that later) in defense to try and fend off what seemed to be a man in yellow inside the red and light teal lightning.
Even at ten, I couldn’t just stand there and let my mother be attacked by the lightning and the man inside it. I tried to run in but…
Suddenly, I was on the side of a road about a mile away with no idea as to how I got there. I ran home as fast as I could, but by the time I got home, it was too late. I saw the cop cars and the ambulances outside of my house. As I yelled “Mom! Mom!” at the top of my lungs, legs burning as I sprinted across the threshold of the house. And then I saw it. I saw her. Her dead body on the ground as the cops and paramedics searched the house for what could’ve done it. But I knew what had done it- no, I knew who had done it: the man in yellow, the man in the lightning, whoever he was; he had done it. I tried to tell the cops that, the paramedics, everyone, but no one believed me.
Seeing as I wasn’t hurt, the cops brought me back to a police station where I sat waiting for someone to pick me up. Luckily for me they happened to call one of my favorite relatives: Mom’s only sibling, my Tia Brianna. I remember the moment I saw her hurry into the station. I immediately recognized her and ran to her,tears falling down my face from what I had just seen. She signed something with the police officer at the desk to pick me up and took me to the hotel where she was staying.
I had chosen to remain silent until then because I was scared of what she’d think; everyone else thought I was just some imaginative kid who had just lost his mom and made up some story about what I had seen after witnessing her murder. Even as a child, I knew that kind of rejection would be far worse coming from my favorite tia, so I didn’t say anything the whole walk to the hotel.
But, when we walked into our hotel room, she pulled out a wand, (she’s a witch like my mom, the only one in the family who has magic other than me and her, and the only ones who knew were the three of us, my abuelita, and my abuelito) conjured a mug, and went to the coffee machine, to make my favorite hot chocolate. She then sat in a chair across from me and the bed I had chosen and,after handing me the hot chocolate, said softly, “I made your favorite…”
“Thank you Tia,” I sniffled as I drank from the warm hot chocolate.
“...The police told me what you told them chiquito, they said you told them some crazy story about lightning” my tia tried to say gently but lacking tact.
I froze in fear as the clock on the wall of the hotel room went flying out the window my tia Brianna had already opened. (Like I said earlier, I’m a wizard, but not trained yet at this point, so on occasion “accidental magic” will just happen around me.)
“It’s okay, you don’t need to be scared, mi sobrino. I’m here…and I believe you,” she softly said, looking into my hazel eyes with her hand on my cheek while holding back my dark brown hair.
“Y-you do??” I whispered while taking another sip of hot chocolate.
“I do, but I think I need to hear the story from you, if you’re comfortable telling it.”
My eyes teared up as I rapidly recounted what I had witnessed as I watched her listen to me, actually listen to me about my story! My story about what had happened. I was in tears, not just of sadness and trauma due to what I had seen and what had happened, but of vindication for finally someone was listening to what I was saying and believed it to be true. By the time I was finished, I noticed the look in her eyes changing from needing to know more to extreme concern as she finally opened her mouth after I had finished talking to say, “...I know what happened”
But I, being the ten year old I was, whined back, “But, Tia I just told you what had happened” thinking that she didn’t believe me for a moment.
“Yes, you did Mikey…but you don’t know why it happened…it’s because of your dad…”
“My dad?” I responded, confused by the fact I had never known my dad. However, my mom had spoken highly of him, saying he was a great man that would have been very proud of me.
“Yes…tell me Mikey, did you ever notice anything strange whenever playing outside with your friend Leo?” Tia Brianna asked me
“......Tia Brianna…I’m magic…”
“Let me rephrase that, have you ever seen anything aside from the magic stuff that seemed weird -any weird animals or creatures - that no one else seemed to see?”
“...Once I saw a weird metal cow when me and mom were driving by a farm that the farmer didn’t seem to notice…”
“Yes, perfect! And do you remember your mom telling you the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, with Colchis bulls?”
“Oh yeah! It did look like the ones mom told me about!”
“That’s because all of those old stories about the heroes of old? They’re all real. And a part of your fathers world, the heroes, the monsters, the Gods, all of it.”
“Wait, really??”
“Yes, mi sobrino, they are…and the only people who can see them are very special people your mom told me about.”
“Does that mean I'm very special?”
“Ay mi chicito, I could’ve told you that before now, but in this sense, yes. You are. But you know how you’re not allowed to tell anyone about how we’re magic?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, unfortunately you can’t tell anyone about this either, about your father’s world. No one who doesn’t already know, anyway.”
“Another secret?? I don’t like secrets!”
“I know you don’t, chicito. It’s one of the many things I love about you, you’re so honest. But, for your safety, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“...can I at least tell Leo about this one?”
“...believe it or not, the answer to that is yes, you can actually tell Le–” she started before she stopped herself, brief smile quickly turning into a face of horror and realization.
“Merlin, Leo-Esperanza! MIERDA!” She swore loudly in front of my semi-innocent ten year-old ears.
“TIA BRIANNA!”
“Right, dangit, sorry for swearing Michael, but, good news, you get to see your friend Leo! Let’s go, we need to go right now,” she insisted as she quickly took my hot chocolate and hurried me back out of the hotel room door.
She led me to an alley where she had me hang on as we both disappeared into nothingness as she side-along apparated with me to where Esperanza Valdez’s machine shop once was as her eyes widened in fear, seeing the cops swarming the burnt down building.
“Where’s Leo’s mom’s shop?”
“There was a fire from the looks of it…c’mon…” she hurried to take me somewhere to apparate again. Before I knew it, we were in a hospital lobby.
“Please, is there an Esperanza or a Leo Valdez here? I’m a friend of hers, and I saw their shop burned down - I wanted to be sure they were alright,” Tia Brianna rambled to the nurse at the desk.
“I’m sorry ma’am but I can’t–” The nurse began to refuse Tia Brianna before she was cut off.
“Please.” Tia Brianna pleaded with desperate eyes.
After hesitating the nurse finally reveals, “...Leo Valdez is, yes, but I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but Esperanza passed away in the fire.”
“Oh God…” my tia’s face fell as she then noticed what we both recognized in the lobby to be the rest of Leo’s family. She had me sit in a chair as she told me:
“Michael, I’m going to go talk to Leo’s family, please, stay here.”
So, I stayed in the chair, kicking my legs back and forth restlessly while straining to hear what Tia Brianna was saying to Leo’s family. I couldn’t quite make it out, mostly because it was all in Spanish and my Spanish wasn’t the greatest at age ten, but things quickly escalated from talking to a yelling match between Tia Brianna and Leo’s tia Rosa with a LOT of swearing.
Soon after, me and my tia left, and the next day she told me that they were yelling because Tia Brianna was mad at the fact that none of Leo’s family could take him in, and Tia Brianna offered to take him in. Unfortunately, it was too late, and they had told Tia Brianna that he was already set up to go into foster care. Later, I’d find out that my tia Brianna lied to me so I wouldn’t have to find out how truly horrible Leo’s tia Rosa was. As some of you know, she turned the rest of Leo’s family against him, calling him a diablo for having started the fire, and yelled at the social workers to take him away. I asked Tia Brianna if I could write a letter to him while he was still in the hospital with where my Tia Brianna’s address was to become pen pals, so we could still keep in touch no matter where he ended up.
She thought that was a great idea and helped me make sure I got her address exactly right. Luckily for us, it worked; Leo and I stayed pen pals no matter where he went. After my mother’s funeral, Tia Brianna took me with her to her home far from Houston, in Central City. About a month after the funeral, we were in the kitchen where she informed me that summer I was going to go to a special summer camp where I’d meet other kids like me. Kids who were also a part of my father’s world. I didn’t want to go at first, but she told me that I needed to, that it’d be safer for me there. But, she promised that it’d be just for the summer, so I agreed. She took me to New Jersey, where we met up with my satyr protector who took me to Camp Half-Blood, where I literally at the damn welcoming campfire got claimed by Hephestus. I was freaked out about what the glowing cabin symbol above my head was, but then Chiron (who I was also a little freaked out by at first because I knew centaurs existed due to my mom talking about them, but I had never met one until then) explained everything, and I realized that did kind of make sense.
Camp had become my new home away from home.
Skip ahead a few months after I come home from camp, it’s my 11th birthday, the first one since my mom died. It was rough, but me and Tia Brianna, we made it through. And then what we both knew was coming came that day. My acceptance letter to Illvormorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Yeah, yeah, you all knew this was coming, “Michael, when are you going to talk about your time at the magic school?!” Well, I’m getting there! I was so excited because that meant I would finally get to begin my magic training! Don’t get me wrong, training at Camp Half-Blood was cool and all, but the only thing I got from Hephaestus (at the time) was a better understanding of metals, machinery, and I was a damn good blacksmith, but I was eleven and I wanted flashier powers.
(Sorry Dad.)
Right after I got my acceptance letter, I went with Tia Brianna, and we went school shopping. I got all my school supplies (and most importantly a WAND), and Tia Brianna even got me a dog! A golden retriever I named Lobo. He’s the best thing ever. My tia made sure that I would be able to take care of him properly when he came with me to Ilvormorny.
I ended up becoming damn good with my wandwork and spellcasting, and I learned a lot of new tricks. My tia also told me the next summer before I left for camp, the world of the Greek gods and the wizarding world know a lot about each other, so I could tell my friends at Camp Half-Blood about me going to Ilvormorny despite them technically being No-Maj’s. I was SO happy, and apparently my dad’s genes felt the need to try upstage my mom’s when it came to flashy powers because that was the summer I found out I have the rare ability to control metal. And what did I do? I immediately told my friends at Camp Half-Blood and convinced them to come sneak out with me to a local convention so I could do the most accurate Magneto cosplay ever.
Not my smartest choice, but it was fun as hell, I got first place in the cosplay contest, and it was SO worth the lecture from Mr D. the next day.
Now I’m sure you’re wondering: “Michael? You’re twelve year old in the year 2004, does that mean you met the legendary half-blood PERCY JACKSON?!?!”
The answer is yes, yes I did. Actually, we became decent friends; he’s a great guy. Does that mean I was there for the Battle of Manhattan? Yes, yes I was. Gods, I was working overtime making weapons. But I did it! But again, this isn’t his story, this is my story.
I’m sure for most people the Battle of Manhattan changed a lot of things for them, but it didn’t for me.
It was the summer after that made things change.
As I said before, Leo and I had become pen pals, but he had gone letter silent for a while. I was concerned for him.
Until that summer. The summer before my last year at Ilvormorny and I got to go to Central City University.
Confused? Don’t be, I forgot to explain again. That might happen a few times, sorry. Gonna need to backtrack a bit for this.
So, take two, when I was thirteen years old (when Percy went on his quest to stop the war between Poseidon and Zeus), I was kinda losing it. It was after that I realized.
While I loved my life as a demigod and my life as a wizard (specifically at Camp Half-Blood and Ilvormorny), I didn’t want that to be my whole life. So, during my Christmas break that year when I came home to Central City, I asked my tia if we can do more No-Maj stuff than magic stuff this year. As it turns out… I really liked the No-Maj world, too. I didn’t know that because I hadn’t been in it for three years. So, starting my seventh year at Ilvormorny, I started simultaneously studying for the GED exam which I would take the week after graduation, and - after that - take that summer at Camp Half-Blood to decide what I wanted to do with my life: a career in the wizarding world, Greek world, or No-Maj world.
That summer got more interesting than I ever could have imagined, starting with the return of an old friend. Continuing with where I left off earlier, of course the summer I have to decide my future, I ended up seeing someone who I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see again in person… who other than my best friend, Leo Valdez. I was so happy to see him; he was 15 now. I remember seeing Annabeth bring him in. I recognized him immediately, and - to my surprise - he recognized me, literally running to me.
“LEO?!” I shouted when I saw him in shock.
“MICHAEL?!” He yelled back as he came running to me. He introduced me to his new friends: Jason Grace and Piper McClean, a son of Zeus slash Jupiter and a daughter of Aphrodite respectively. We knew that he was a demigod, but to which godly parent? No one was sure, although I had suspicions. And boy I was happy I was right. As we found out at the welcoming campfire later, Hephaestus claimed him.
That’s right, my best friend ended up being my BROTHER!! We were celebrating as I then gave him the tour of campus. I had then decided that no matter what I chose for my future, I would be coming back to camp every summer until Leo was an adult. Now that me and Leo were reunited, I talked with my tia Brianna via Patronus message (oh yeah, I finally got to tell Leo about me being magic). We arranged it so Leo could come home to Central City and stay with Tia Brianna during the year. Well, that was before the whole thing with Gaea. Oh yeah, I was there for the battle with Gaea too, they just don’t talk about me as much. But anyway, Leo came with us, and we even arranged for his girlfriend to be able to come and visit every now and then from the Waystation in Indianapolis, Calypso.
But again, back to me, I decided to go to Central City University. It’s there I happened to meet two people who’ll be very important later in my story, starting with the one I’d meet my freshman year.
Barry Allen.
He was a junior. We met in the Central City University Robotics Club, and we became quick friends. I was undecided as far as my major went when entering Central City U, but then I met Barry. He was telling me about what he wanted to be and what he wanted to do: a forensic scientist for the Central City Police Department. I started doing research on that career as well as a few others, eventually deciding by the end of the semester that was what I wanted to do. I would also become a forensic scientist for the CCPD. I followed Barry’s steps, double majoring in Chemistry and Physics while also studying Criminology.
Eventually, I found out about what Barry had been through. He lost his mother only a year older than I was when I did, and - according to him - his father was framed for her murder. I believed him, because I’ve seen the impossible with what happened with my mother. But I couldn’t tell him that. Not at all. So… I just said that I believed him about the murder framing.
Now, backtracking to the other friend who’s gonna be extremely relevant to my story who I met during my sophomore year.
Cisco Ramon.
Barry definitely would’ve liked this guy; I know I did. He was a nerd just like us. But he was a genius. I wasn’t sure how, but he was incredible. He was double majoring in computer and mechanical engineering. Then I ended up figuring it out… or more accurately he ended up figuring me out.
I’ll never forget the day he came up to me and said, “You’re a son of Hephaestus, aren’t you?”
I damn near had a heart attack.
As it turns out, he was a great-grandson of Hephaestus. Although according to him, the genes skipped a generation in the case of his dad. They never understood what he wanted to do with life, he wanted him to go into business, yada yada, you get it. I was so glad I could tell him about me, and have someone to talk to about my demigod problems while at CCU.
Now skipping ahead a few years, to the hopefully better than the rest 2013, I graduate at the top of my class and get hired as a Junior CSI, and guess which precinct I get assigned?
The same precinct as Barry Freakin’ Allen. We catch up like old friends do. Oh, and before I forget, Cisco graduated early and got hired to work at fucking S.T.A.R. Labs by Dr. Harrison Wells himself! Lucky bastard.
Barry, after our first day working together, insists on bringing me to his childhood home to meet his family, which I agree to only to find out when we get there that Detective Joe West (aka one of the cops at our precinct) happens to be his kind of adoptive father. It’s a whole situation, basically after things went down with his parents, Joe took him in. I got to know Joe better, amazing man. But anyway.
Later, I met Iris West, Joe's daughter. Before I get her name, I see her and I’ll be honest I did consider making a move because she was beautiful. But then I found out she was Iris West. THE IRIS WEST.
The Iris West who I knew Barry was pining for and had been pining over for YEARS. So, I wasn’t going to do shit. Also, I’m not gonna lie, I had questions considering I eventually realized that Iris and him grew up together in the same house like siblings? But, I was willing to overlook those questions for the sake of love! Mostly because I picked up vibes that she liked him too.
Then, the next day after work, I brought Barry home to meet Tia Brianna since he did that for me with Joe. Tia Brianna loved Barry; they got along well. Eventually, when Leo and Calypso came home from New Rome University for winter break their sophomore year I got to introduce Barry to Leo. Meanwhile Cisco, the lucky bastard, has been getting to work on the new particle accelerator that’s going to change how we look at science.
Which brings us to today. December 11th, 2013: the day everything changed… again.
Starting with earlier today, Barry and I were analyzing a crime scene. Both of us were running late, literally running to the crime scene. As we see Joe and his partner Detective Fred Chyre talking with Captain David Singh.
Barry gasps, “Sorry we’re late, Captain Singh.”
“Yeah, sorry Cap,” I let out, acting like I’m out of breath. Barry doesn’t know I’m a demigod.
“What was it this time, Mr. Allen? Mr. Rodriguez? Did you forget to set your alarm clocks? Also, we’ve been over this Rodriguez, don’t call me Cap.” Before even letting us respond, Captain Singh reminds us, “And before you answer with your excuse, I should remind you the excuse you gave last time was car trouble. Want to know why that one was particularly memorable?”
““…Neither of us own a car.” Barry and I answer sheepishly .
“I had them running an errand for me” Joe says, stepping in to cover for us. I swear to gods if it weren’t for Joe I’d have been fired by now because of how slow Barry is, and before you ask why I stick with him then, you’ll see why soon enough.
“Barry? Mike? Did you two get me what I asked for?” Joe says while signaling us to go along with it.
“Yeah, yeah we did, Barry has it, don’t you barry?” I respond, rolling with it because Barry’s frozen, staring like a deer in headlights.
“Ye-yeah, yeah. I did.” Barry mutters out while digging in his wool trench coat. “I have it right–here…” he awkwardly says as he pulls out a half-eaten chocolate bar. I immediately pinch the bridge of my nose because c’mon dude really? A half eaten chocolate bar? That’s what you’re going with? Fine, I’ll fix this and make things look less bad. Luckily thanks to Camp Half-Blood survival training I always keep three granola bars on me.
“He’s joking Detective, you know Barry, a jokester, here’s what you asked for” I say as I pull out three granola bars. “Put that away” I hiss under my breath to Barry, stepping in to save both of our jobs as Barry awkwardly puts the chocolate bar away. “And I have to say Joe, great idea asking for us to get you three granola bars. One each for you and Chyre, and one for the captain, how generous of you, because after all. It’s always a good idea to keep the energies up of CCPD’s finest so we can make sure to catch whoever did this.”
“...How considerate of Joe… you two are lucky I haven’t had breakfast,” Singh mutters as he takes one of the granola bars from Joe as Joe signals to Barry to look at the crime scene. Which Barry picks up on, thank the gods.The two of us head over to where we spot tire tracks as we then get down low with gloves on while Joe, Chyre, and Singh watch us eyeballing the tire treads. Without a word we notice the tread could only have been made by rear super-wide tires and that tire has to be 12 inches with an asymmetrical tread and while I’m still thinking Barry speaks up as he stands from his crouch, “Getaway car’s a Mustang Shelby GT500, Shelby’s have a rear super-wide tire–”
As he’s going, I interrupt because I’ve finally caught up. Meanwhile, Joe’s taking notes and smirking watching us work because this is why he covers for us.
“Specific to that model with an asymmetrical tread!”
And THIS is why I stick with Barry. He’s the best damn CSI this city has. I notice him looking at what most would see as dirt and then mention to him “You’re seeing that too, right?”
“Yep.” Barry says as he quickly gets up. “There’s something else…”
He walks over to Chyre and snatches a pen from the trench coat pocket of the grey thinning haired detective and then goes back to the “dirt” and picks up a piece of it with the pen and sniffs it. We both recognize the stench as Barry puts the pen in an evidence bag and tells the three cops: “Fecal excrement. Animal I’d guess."
Translation: Bullshit. Literally.
As Barry is bagging the pen, Chyre chimes in with a somewhat shaky voice, “My dad gave me that pen… before he died.”
Barry then flinches, looking away guiltily and just sheepishly says “...sorry” as I have to try not to laugh because Barry just pissed off another detective.
Later, as we’re analyzing the literal shit back at the precinct in our in house crime lab and working on other cases, Iris walks in with a pep in her step ready to go somewhere. She cheerfully says, “Okay, I’m ready to go see this Atom Smasher Smashing.”
“Don’t try to talk science, Iris, really, please, it’s painful for us all,” I say as I let out a snort. Barry then sighs and lets her know about the case we’re working on.
“There was a shooting today. Your dad needs us to process some evidence, which means we don’t know if we’re going to be able to make it to S.T.A.R. Labs,” Barry says as he goes to our map and starts marking points.
“But seeing this thing turn on is like your guys’ dream! Your sad, little nerdy dream,” Iris protests, stealing one of Barry’s fries from Big Belly Burger from where me and Barry went to get lunch. “Besides, I canceled a date for this,” Iris mentioned at the end while eating a fry.
“Hands off my fries. Unbelievable,” Barry jokes snatching his fries back shaking his head in mock disappointment.
“You really should learn not to take a man’s fries, Iris, trust me - that date would not have went well if you did that. Haven’t you ever seen ‘Friends’?” I teased.
“Very funny Mike, but I’m stress eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters. I ate two today. If I don’t graduate soon I’m going to be more muffin top than woman,” Iris complains, stuffing another fry in her mouth as she talks about her day job as I snort at her joke.
“You look amazing,” Barry says, because obviously he wouldn’t even let her joke about the fact that she doesn’t look great. He then awkwardly looks away to work on something else to hide the fact he’s PINING.
Iris then follows him to our glassboard with a magazine in hand and asks the big question: “What’s so special about this particle accelerator anyway?”
This immediately triggers our inner nerd mode.
“Harrison Wells’ work in quantum theory is light-years ahead of anything they’re doing at Cern!” Barry exclaims. Also, I forgot to mention Harrison Wells is kinda one of his idols. I can’t blame him on that one.
“You’re doing that thing again where you’re not speaking English,” Iris dryly says.
“Screw you Iris, you just don’t get it!” I snark at her as we do as friends.
“Love you too Michael, just get to the part where you two explain?” Iris says while sighing because she knows I’m messing with her.
“Barry?”
“Yep, already getting the glassboard ready,” he says as we both grab black markers and he draws a black dot on the board. “Imagine that black dot is everything the human race has learned until this moment.”
“Does that include twerking?” Iris jokes.
I snort briefly before I respond with a simple “Yes” and then I draw a large circle around the dot Barry drew. “And that is everything we could learn from the particle accelerator.”
“It’s a whole new way of looking at physics! It will literally change the way we think about EVERYTHING.” Barry rants stepping closer to Iris
She just pats him on the shoulder and says, “You have got to get yourself a girlfriend,” as I can literally see the sparks fly between these two. She then tacks on, “Same goes for you, Mike,” as I flip her the bird as she flips one back.
Joe walks in, chiming in, “Hey, leave them alone, they’re working.”
“Hi, dad,” Iris says with an innocent smile on her face. We all hear a light ding and she says, “Your guys’ test thingy is done.”
Barry and I speedwalk over to where we were testing the earlier found evidence next to a computer monitor with a map on it. Barry then sits down and tells Joe, “I think the Mardon brothers are hiding on a farm. The fecal matter we found was cow manure which contains traces of oxytetracycline…”
See, I told you. Bullshit.
I chime in explaining,“It’s an antibiotic. There are only four farms in the Central City area that still use it in their feed.”
Barry then hands him a paper with the locations printed out and smirks, “Bet you’ll find a really sweet Shelby parked at one of them.”
Iris then chimes in with her hand on Joe’s arm, “Dad, seeing as how Barry and Mike solved your poop problem, how about letting them go to S.T.A.R Labs?”
Gods, if Barry wasn’t in love with you, I could kiss you Iris.
Joe responds with a soft smile. “Fine, go”
Me and Barry hi-five, “YES!!”
Barry, before running out with me and Iris, calls back, “Thank you, Joe!”
I add, “You’re the best!” As the three of us head out, I stop them quickly. “Hey, Iris, me and Barry gotta talk real quick then we can head over.”
“Sure thing Mike, just make it quick, we don’t want to miss your guys’ thing,” she says, still not understanding why we were excited but being excited for us. Iris is a great friend.
Welp, time to help Barry get out of the friend zone . I pull Barry aside and whisper to him, “Dude.. Tonight’s the night.”
Barry, thinking I’m still talking about the particle accelerator, says obliviously, “Yep, tonight's the night we see the accelerator turn on!”
I dryly respond, “What? No! I mean–obviously I’m super hyped to see that accelerator turn on, but I’m talking about you and Iris! You were finally going to tell her how you felt about her, right?” Barry goes silent. “RIGHT??” I demand to know the answer because I’m sick and tired of their bullshit. I’m this close to telling them both myself that they like each other.
“Y-yeah, that’s the plan.”
“Good. You better. I’ll do my part and get away from you two long enough for you two to talk once she eventually brings up our trip to Starling City that pissed off Joe. I’ll probably see how my friend is doing that’s been helping work on the accelerator if I can find him, but you need. To. TELL HER.”
“Deal.” Barry nods in agreement.
Much later I find them both again in a crowd near a stage at S.T.A.R. Labs as I whisper to him, “How’d it go??”
Barry responds with a quiet “I’ll tell you later…”
Oh boy…that’s not a good sign.
While we’re whispering, Harrison Wells starts giving his speech to commemorate the unveiling of his particle accelerator. Gods, he seems like such a great guy. After his speech, everyone cheers and, in the commotion, someone snatches Iris’ bag with her noticing and freaking out because it has her laptop with her dissertation. So, Barry and I instinctively go after the snatcher.
“Barry, how’d it go?” I ask Barry while we’re running.
“What??” Barry confusedly asks.
“With Iris!! How’d it go with Iris?!”
“NOW ISN’T THE TI–”
“Yes it is, because I need to know so I know what our play is here.”
“She friend zoned me and I choked so I didn’t tell her!” Barry rapidly blurts out.
“Dude, we knew you were already in the friend zone! The whole point of this was to tell Iris so you can actually have a shot of you getting out of the friend zone, or at least this way we’d know if you even HAVE a shot, dammit Barry! Okay, Plan B. I’m going to hang back a little, and you’re going to get the bag back.”
“What?! Dude, you know you have better odds of taking someone in a fight if needed than I do.”
“Well you need to be her hero, so you’re going to do it, If I see things going to shit, I’ll jump in, now run, Barry, RUN!!”
I let him get a head start as I then see Iris catching up so I have to go faster and then I see Barry after he was attacked by the snatcher.
He’s leaning against a pole. And I then mutter under my breath, “Oh godsdammit, Barry.”
Alright, we tried that plan, might as well make sure my friend doesn’t lose her dissertation. And then give Barry the credit as Plan C! Genius thinking Mike!
I run after the guy, he hops a fence… and he’s held at gunpoint by a cop who I recognize because he just transferred from Keystone City, Detective Eddie Thawne.
I mutter under my breath, “Mierda”
Later, back in the precinct, Barry and I are back in the lab working on cases when I tell him, “What the hell, man? You waited too long, and now she has eyes for Eddie. You heard her using Joe's nickname ‘detective pretty-boy’ and then admit that he’s pretty! You need to TELL HER!!”
I sigh as I can see he’s upset about it too as I watch him packing things up for the day. Fine, we can talk about this later… or so I think anyway.
I then see him lift up the map we have covering a corkboard which Barry turned into a conspiracy board to try to figure out his mother’s real killer and get his dad out of prison.
“...We’ll find him Barr… and we’re gonna get your dad out of prison…”
We both then hear a lightning strike as we seethe news on the TV we have discussing something going wrong with the particle accelerator at S.T.A.R. Labs.
It only took one look out of the window.
The particle accelerator explosion. We watch as power goes out of the entire city and we then look back realizing we left the ceiling window open so we go to the middle of the room and start working on the metal chains to close it.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Hijo la chingado” I rapidly swear under my breath as I’m panicking to get started.
Before we can, we look around and notice liquid chemicals in flasks and beakers that start floating in the air out of their containers as we both look up… the glass window shatters as we’re both struck down by lightning into chemicals.
And everything goes black.