The Speedster and the Telekinetic

48

  After a while, I stayed with Barry in the Cortex as he ran facial recognition on Grey. We both stayed quiet and he wrapped his arms around my waist as we kept watch. Suddenly, the computer beeps and shows Grey breaking into Ace Chemical. Barry texted everyone to come to the lab. "Yo." I hear Cisco call out and I turn to see both him and Jesse walking in. "In here." I say and they both walk over to us. "I got your text. What's up?" Cisco asks and I look over to Barry. "Alright. Facial recognition just picked up Grey breaking into Ace Chemical down on Newbury Road." Barry says to Cisco. "Is my dad with him?" Jesse asks and I shrug as I look at her. "We don't know yet." I say to her and she nods as she stares off. "But we have to go." Barry says and I look at him. "Uh, you sure about that?" Cisco asks him and I nod in agreement. "Cisco's right, I don't want to sound like a bad girlfriend, but without your powers, Grey could kill you." I say to him. "Look, we can't just sit here." he says as he straps a gun around him and I stand in front of him. "And we won't sit here. I'm going out there." I say to him and he shakes his head. "No." he says and I put a force field in front of the doorway to stop him from getting out. "Regardless of whether I have my speed or not, I have to help, that's never gonna change." he says and I sigh. "There's no point in arguing with him when his mind is made up. But I'm coming." I tell him but he shakes his head.

"Why not?" I ask him.

"Just... Please, Tori." he says and I sigh in defeat.

"Ok. I'm with you, but we're gonna need some back up." Cisco says.

"Joe's on his way." Barry says and I nod.

"And I'm coming with." Jesse says.

"No, Jesse, you can't. Just, please, stay here. We don't know what we're dealing with here. Just finish running the tests on the blood sample." Barry tells her and I nod.

I look at her with crossed arms as they both walk out and she looks at me. "You know, I could smack him for always keeping me on a tight leash." I say as I walk over to the computers. "Why don't you?" she asks me and I look at her. "Because every time I do, he just keeps holding me back." I say and she scoffs. "I kind of know the feeling. My dad always has me on a tight leash, too." she says and I chuckle slightly. "We should start a club." I joke and she chuckles. I watch as she continues to run the blood samples, until I get a text from Cisco to prepare some medical supplies. "Damn it, Barry. What did you do now?" I mutter to myself as I dash into the Cortex and go to the medbay.

Once they were back, Joe and Cisco help Barry over to the medbay and I glare at him. "What happened? And don't lie to me!" I tell him as I grab the bandage as he lifts his shirt to show a nasty bruise. "Nothing." he tells me and I raise a brow at him. I use my telepathy to read his mind and see Grey throw a barrel at Barry when Barry had snuck off to secretly attack him. "I love you, but you can be so stupid at times." I tell him as I wrap the bandage around his torso. "So, his genes have actually mutated. I ran the DNA blood sample Barry found and the functional myostatin in his cells is essentially gone." Jesse says as I finish wrapping the bandage around Barry, and we walk into the Cortex to see Joe, Cisco, and Iris with her. "I mean, giving him super-strength." she says and I widen my eyes. "Great. A meta with super-strength. Just what every person needs in life." I say sarcastically as I cross my arms. "Guys, there's something else. Um, I saw him age. Right in front of me." Barry says and I raise a brow as I look at him. "Yeah, he's suffering from oxidative stress." Jesse says and I look at her confusingly. "It means the protein and the DNA in his body are being ravaged by oxidants." Jesse simplifies it.

"So, what? He needs to up his blueberry intake?" Joe asks and Jesse chuckles.

"No, it means, the more he exerts himself, the faster he ages." Jesse says.