A/N: Heyyy guys, its been a looooonnnngggg time. In which, I have become ever so slightly obsessed with The Flash. And now, since I have finished my studies and have plenty of free time to do what ever I want, I've decided to get back into writing. Thank you to everyone that has read my work even when I haven't been actively writing and I hope everyone likes this piece that I'm starting now! Disclaimer that The Flash and all it's characters belong to DC Comics and the CW and a good portion of the dialogue for this first chapter is taken from the Pilot episode. So, everyone have fun reading and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1

Barry woke to a steady beep and a familiar melody resonating around the room. His body felt odd, like he was very tired but the most energised he has ever been at the same time. Cautiously, he flexed his hands, feeling an ache to suggest lack of movement and yet a sort of electricity seemed to run up his arm, leaving him feeling tingly and, somehow, less sore.

What happened to me? He could hear footsteps around the room, and, eventually, voices.

"Cisco-"

"What? He likes this song."

Suddenly, the lightning under his skin seemed to jump and Barry sat up, gasping.

"Oh my god!"

"Where am I?"

"He's up"

"Dr Wells, we need you in the cortex, like, right now."

"…110, pulse 120. Pupils equally reactive to light. Look at me, look at me."

"Hey, hey, hey. Whoa, relax. Everything's okay, man. You're at S.T.A.R Labs."

Barry sat up and moved to the edge of the bed, blinking hazily at the sudden chaos that overtook the room.

"S.T.A.R Labs…" He whispered to himself, avoiding the prodding hands of the doctor. A little louder, he asked them, "Who are you?"

"I'm Cisco Ramon," The man, Cisco, replied, grinning. "She's Caitlin – Dr Snow." He corrected himself.

Dr Snow shoved something at him, saying something he didn't hear. Distantly he could recognise Cisco snatching it away from her and hissing something back, but all Barry could focus on was the strange feeling of electricity curling in his gut. Dr Snow tried to recapture his attention, suddenly appearing in his face.

He recoiled. "What is happening? What is going on?" He demanded, turning to look at Cisco.

"You were struck by lightning, dude." Cisco responded, looking far too happy about the fact.

Barry reached up to run his hands through his hair, quickly turning away from the scientists. Struck by lightning? He thought, curling his hands in his hair and fighting the sudden twitch that jumped in his hands, fuelled by the strange electricity. He looked up, now facing away from the two strangers and found himself staring into a blank screen, reflecting his image. His gaze was immediately drawn to his torso. Barry wouldn't say he looked bad before the lightning, maybe just a little soft from the lack of physical exercise due to his nerdy past times. However, now, a clearly defined six pack replaced the softness. He traced his hand over his abs, distantly feeling a jolt, as if the electricity was responding to him.

"Lightning… gave me abs?" He asked incredulously, turning away from the reflection to reface the doctor.

"Your muscles should be atrophied but instead they're in a chronic state of cellular regeneration." Dr Snow explained, looking almost awed at the results showing on his charts.

"Come here, have a seat." Cisco led him back to the bed, sitting him on the end and standing in front of him. "You were in a coma"

A coma! It could have been days, it could have been years. Yesterday wasn't yesterday, it was who knows how long ago. Barry stared at the man in front of him, trying to process. What is life like outside of this room? Who knows how much has changed. What about his apartment? Was his lease up? How many bills had piled up? Barry distantly remembers he was supposed to go to a high school reunion. Did they know what happened to him? What about Joe? Oh, god, Iris. They were probably worried sick. But they'd have moved on for so long.

How much of their lives have I missed? How much of MY life have I missed?

"How long?" Barry demanded, looking up at the man that, strangely, hadn't moved despite Barry's in depth freak out.

"Nine months." A new voice joined the group and they all turned to see Dr. Harrison Wells wheel himself into the cortex. "Welcome back, Mr Allen."

"… Harrison Wells." Barry breathed out, shocked. "… wha- ha- How?" He eventually stuttered out, not knowing if he meant the wheel chair or the whole situation.

Wells took off his glasses, wiping them off on his sweater while he obviously thought through an answer.

"Nine months ago, the particle accelerator when online exactly as planned. For 45 minutes, I had achieved my life's dream, and then," He paused, taking another breath, "there was an anomaly. The electron volts became unmeasurable, the ring under us popped." He threw his hands up, taking another pause. "Energy from the detonation was thrown into the sky, and that in turn, seeded a storm cloud-"

"That created a lightning bolt, that struck me." Barry finished, staring directly at Wells as he rubbed a hand over his face, obviously guilty.

"Yes. I was recovering myself when I heard about you. The hospital was undergoing unexplainable power outages every time you were going into cardiac arrest, which, was actually a misdiagnosis because you weren't flatlining, Barry. Your heartbeat was moving too fast for the EKG to recognise it. Now, I'm not the most popular person around town these days, but Detective West and his daughter gave me permission to bring you here where we were able to stabilise you."

At the mention of the Wests, Barry's thoughts all turned to them. Joe, who would have spent as much time as he could next to him until he couldn't put off work anymore and Iris…

"Iris?" He asked, hoping it conveyed what he wanted to know. Is she ok? How did this affect her?

"Iris, yes. She came to see you quite often."

"She talks a lot." Dr Snow chimed in, startling Barry, who had forgotten they were there.

"Also, she's hot." Cisco grinned as Barry stared.

As thoughts of his family invaded every space of his mind, the electricity under his skin began to move, causing Barry to clench and unclench his hands, as if to ward off the twitchiness.

"I need to go." He stated, moving towards the exit.

"Uh," Wells moved his chair to block Barry's path. "I'm afraid we can't let you go just yet."

Barry stopped and stared, quickly glancing behind him to see Caitlin and Cisco had moved to flank him, as if to grab him if he tried to leave. They looked nervous, and guilty.

"Why not?" Barry demanded, taking another step forward which was followed by the two behind. "I want to see my family."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Wells sighed, looking down at his lap.

Horror rushed through Barry. Something has happened, he thought, they aren't ok.

"Joe… Iris… they are ok? They didn't get hurt by this explosion, did they?" He whispered, hands coming up to clutch his chest, the electricity seeming to get worse the more anxious he became.

"No, no, they're fine, I promise you…" Wells started. "The issue is, you see, you weren't the only one affected by the explosion."

"The accelerator… when it exploded, the whole city was drenched in dark matter." Dr Snow explained. She wrung her wrists together, as if searching for the right words. "This dark matter… it effected some people, fused with their DNA. We call it the Meta Gene."

Barry stared at her in disbelief. Dark Matter? It's a purely theoretical concept, one that many scientists had tried, and failed, to prove existed.

"So… what? You're saying these people are – what? – Mutants now, or something?" Barry scoffed, his head whipping between all three people, a new feeling of dread welling in his gut.

"Not exactly." Cisco stepped in. "They are known as Metahumans. People who have been affected by the particle accelerator explosion and, as a result… developed… super powers." He finished, lamely, obviously aware of how crazy he sounded.

Super powers, however, were one thing Barry could believe in. After seeing what happened to his mother, Barry had always believed super powers existed, he just didn't think it would come about like this. Nor that he would be caught up in it… again.

"I can see you are having trouble… processing this." Wells rolled forward, motioning Barry to follow him to where the monitors were set up. He typed something in and brought up security camera vision, of what looked like a prison. On the screen, there was a young woman in the padded cell. She looked up to the camera and obviously could tell it was on. She stared screaming and yelling, pointing at the camera. Barry watched this silent display of pure rage and his eyes widened as a fog enveloped the small area. When it cleared, the woman was breathing heavy, on her knees, glaring up at the camera.

Wells cleared his throat and clicked another button. It brought up another camera feed, this time of a long tunnel, the walls lined with tiny boxes that Barry recognised as the same as the cell the young woman was in.

"What… is this?" He whispered, clutching at the desk.

"Turns out the pipeline became very handy in securing the Metas." Cisco replied, looking away nervously.

"The pipeli-" Barry choked off, eyes widening in realisation.

He turned to run, heading for the entrance to the cortex when a man stepped around the corner, blocking his path.

"I don't think you're leaving this facility for a long while." The man drawled. He was tall, and buff, but quite a bit older. He was wearing a military uniform, 'General Eiling' stitched into the fabric. Some more military personnel rounded he corner, each carrying a weapon, pointed directly at Barry.

"No, no, you cant be serious!" Barry panted out, panic bubbling over in his chest. The electricity began to spark a little stronger. "You can't think that I am one of them! That I have…" He cut himself off, looking back at the screen showcasing the Metas that had already been locked up.

"Forgive us, Mr Allen, but you were the one person that was almost directly affected by the particle accelerator." Wells wheeled behind Barry, stopping him from backing up any further. Behind him, Caitlin and Cisco stood nervously by, looking guilty. "Where as everyone else was exposed to a wave of dark matter and the circumstances they found themselves in in that very moment, you were injected directly by the dark matter, in the form of that lightning bolt. We have no doubt that you are a Metahuman."

Barry whipped his head back and forth between the two parties on either side of him. The General smirked at him in a cruel and calculating way, giving a minute tilt of his head to let the others know to advance. Barry chose to look directly at Wells.

"This is why you transferred me here, isn't it? Not because you wanted to help, but because you wanted to lock me up as soon as I opened my eyes." Barry whispered, his hands beginning to shake.

"You don't understand, Mr Allen. This is me helping to right my wrong." Wells waved his hand and the military personnel launched into action.

Two men grabbed Barry by either arm, pulling him backwards.

"No, no, no, no, no!" He screamed, trying to force his arms free, kicking at the men that appeared in front of him. Tears leaked from his eyes and sobs began to make their way out of his throat as he tried to fight off the men coming from all sides. He glanced up to see one of them bringing the butt of their gun down, aiming for his head.

In that moment, the electricity burst from the ball in his chest, spreading throughout his whole body, filling it with what seemed like an infinite amount of energy. The butt of the gun slowed down until it stopped, and all the tugging and movement around him slowed to a crawl. Barry looked down to his hands to see faint trails of lightning arching up his arms and surrounding him. He yanked himself free and moved for the door, pushing past the General and appearing behind the line of guards much faster than should be possible.

Pain ricocheted up his arm as he collided with the wall in the hallway. Behind him, time sped up again as the wall of men fell down from the force of his push through. Paper flew up into the air and resettled slowly as everyone turned to look Barry, now cradling his arm in the hall.

"Get him." The General growled, struggling to his feet and the men began to swarm again.

Barry closed his eyes and focused on the electricity running through his veins and only thought of one thing before running away at speeds that defy the laws of physics.

I need Joe and Iris.