A day off from work.

Normally I would have been curled up under a blanket and starting another Netflix marathon but today's different. I've got actual friends now.

I've known Felicity for almost six....maybe seven years. But other than her and Ronnie, I've never really been close to anyone. People just didn't understand me, even in high school and I was never one of the popular ones. People made fun of me, but I was never afraid to shoot back with the same fire. And plus when I got my computer out.......let's just say no one around me understood what I was doing on it until I got into college.

So naturally people tended to steer clear of me and I was fine with it. It's the reason Lici...sorry, Felicity always called me Ms. Independant. I was always alone but I was content with it.

But now I don't have to be alone. I've got people in my life who like me the way I am, electric personality and all.

So here I am, riding my motorcycle to STAR labs, calling Barry at the same time through the mic in my helmet.

"So you either have a choice between Connect Four and Checkers," Barry says.

"Well, I think I can....OH CRAP!" I say, narrowly swerving around a pipe that all of a sudden gets thrown into the road. I carefully tap the brakes and stop the bike before looking around for the source of the pipe.

"Rani, that's not a board game." Barry deadpans as I get off my motorcycle to survey what the heck just happened.

"Wow, you're actually being sassy in life or death situations Allen. I think I'm starting to rub off on you."

"What? Are you okay?" He asks, getting slightly worried and I chuckle.

"Just peachy. I'm going to check something out. Just choose whichever board game you want and I'll see you at STAR Labs." I respond and hang up before he can talk me out of anything.

I pull off my helmet and move my bike into a more isolated part of the road where no one can steal it (Hopefully) before checking out the surroundings.

I'm in a dismal looking underpass that's quiet, sheltered and.....kinda smells like something's been burning. "Hello? Anyone here decide it was a smart idea to chuck a steel pipe in the middle of the road?!"

I move toward the pipe, and I reach out to pick it up and move it out of the way so someone won't drive over it but I drop it with a hiss of pain due to how hot it was.

If I wasn't preoccupied with the burning sensation in my hand, I might have noticed the two white eyes that belonged to a shaggy-haired man (well technically men but you know what I mean) watching from afar in surprise.

But I didn't and went on cursing the existence of the pipe before using my powers to blast it out of the road.

But what should have been a small blast -to my own horror- throws the pipe clear across the road and embeds itself into the concrete wall.

Shaking slightly at what I just did, I quickly look around to see if anyone noticed me before hopping back on my motorcycle and driving off to STAR Labs, my heart hammering in my chest because after that and the events from my toaster short-circuiting this morning (and burned my perfectly good food), I know my powers are growing stronger. I just didn't realize at what magnitude they were intensifying.

And I'm terrified they might get too strong. With my still shaking hands, I quickly jump back on my motorcycle and take every shortcut I can to get to STAR labs.

I rush in as fast as I can and startle almost everyone in the Cortex right as Caitlin touches the side of the Operation game.......so......there was much fright and jumping all at once.

"Girl, you okay?" Cisco asks as everyone looks at me with concern once they've processed my sudden appearance.

"I've got 99 problems and I think my powers are every single one of them."

--------------------------------

"Well, that's.....new." Dr. Wells says as I drop a yellow connect four piece above Barry's red ones. The moment I explained the entire situation to them, Dr. Wells pulled out the test results from a week ago and Caitlin hooked me up to a couple machines, one of them being an EKG before Dr. Wells made her go back to Operation and it's hilarious how frustrated she's getting. My test results from the other day still haven't finished running so I'm helping Barry out with his multitasking abilities.

"What? My test results or the fact that I just beat Barry in Connect Four?" I ask.

"You're too good at this." He groans.

"Rani," Caitlin starts. "I was curious of the regenerative state of your lungs that allowed you to survive the Mist's poison gas so I took a sample of your DNA from your bloodstream and compared it to the alterations that happened to Barry."

"Why do I feel like there's an 'and' in there?" I comment.

"And," Dr. Wells finishes. "The changes are almost identical."

"What?!" Barry and I say and the ping pong ball Cisco hits back flies right at Barry's head.

"Woah, so is Rani supposed to be a speedster like Barry?" Cisco asks and Barry, unfortunately, catches the ball before it can bop him in the head.

"It could be that in females the speedster mutation causes electrokinesis and super speed in males," Caitlin suggests.

"It's a theory." Dr. Wells says, looking thoughtful before glancing back at me. "In the meantime, it might be best for all of us if we could fashion you some gloves to draw away and ease your electricity's voltage. Oh and checkmate."

"Wait, checkmate?" Barry realizes, flashing back to the chessboard.

"Checkmate. I guess we still have a few things left to learn, don't we, Mr. Allen?" Dr. Wells says and I laugh as the main computer starts beeping.

"Armed robbery at 4th and Collins," Cisco says and Barry nods.

"For the record, I crushed it in operation and ping pong." He says and I snort.

"Not at connect four." I retort and Cisco laughs as Barry speeds out of the cortex.

A sudden buzz startles all of us and we all look over in Caitlin's direction.

"It's harder than it looks!!"

--------------------------------

Turns out while Cisco has been working on my super suit, he made a prototype of some gloves that actually might be able to help with my circumstance.

"You sure you're up for this?" He asks, putting the punching bag in the center of one of the empty rooms this building.

"Cisco I blew up my toaster this morning," I deadpan. "I don't think it could get any worse than that."

He chuckles and I slip the black, fingerless gloves on and when Cisco gives me the signal from behind the glass wall I create a charge and throw it at the punching bag.

It hits dead center but with a calmer ferocity than before. The bag still stands, it just had wobbled from the force and was a little burnt.

"Vitals all look normal," Caitlin remarks meeting my glance with a smile. "Your heart rate is a little fast, but for you, it should be fine."

"That was perfect Rani." Dr. Wells says from the P/A over the room. "Now try it without the gloves."

"Okay!" I say back into the empty room, not quite sure where the microphone is. I carefully slip off the gloves and tuck them into the back pocket of my jeans.

"Fire at will Ms. Raymond."

I take a quick breath before throwing a bolt of electricity out of my hands with the same force as before.

But without the gloves, the power that I throw out is magnified ten-fold. It hits dead center as last time but this time bursts with light and a shower of sparks.

When light fades away, the punching bag that was once in front of me has been thrown clear across the room, with a hole that is smoldering from the shock.

"Well...I think it's safe to say that you should keep those gloves on Pikachu," Cisco adds, lamely as he walks into the room.

"Yeah, I'll definitely keep that in mind," I say as my phone starts ringing. I look over at Dr. Wells and he nods, so I leave the room and answer my phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rani, so I'm sitting here on this random bench and you and Barry lied. The Central City train station is ten times more confusing than the Starling City one."

A smile immediately breaks out on my face and I laugh in surprise. "Felicity, you should have called in advance!"

"I would have but I was going to surprise you and then my phone died, I'm using the payphone inside the station."

"Hack into too many places?" I tease.

"Oh shut up Rani," She laughs.

"That's funny coming from you Blabbermouth."

"Oh you're gonna get it when you pick me up Ms. Independent." She says and I can hear the laughter in her voice.

I smile, "I'll take my chances, give me like ten minutes to get there."

"I'll see you soon, WAIT DON'T BRING YOUR MOTORCYCLE AGAIN!" She reminds and I snort at the memory of her trying to balance her luggage and hold on to me at the same time.

"Yeah, don't want to do that again. I'll just borrow someone's car or something."

"Great! See you then!" She chirps back before hanging up and I bite my lip at what options I have left.

"CAITLIN CAN I BORROW YOUR CAR?"

A subtle buzz echoes it's way from the entrance of the Cortex along with some continued grumbling as her head pops out from the doorway. "Don't crash it!"

"I make no promises," I mutter before catching the keys she throws at me and heading out the door.

"I heard that!"

"Oh I don't doubt it."