"How is this even possible?!"

"Maybe when Farooq attempted to drain all of her power away, he inadvertently primed her cells to release her energy in a fashion similar to Barry's. Her body was already in a regenerative stasis just like his."

"So you think she's had the capability to become a speedster-"

"She just needed the right push. Apparently, Mr. Gibran was that push."

"We could have called him Blackout."

"He had a name Cisco."

"All of which is true," I mumble out deciding to make my consciousness known, "but that's not a bad choice in meta names if I say so myself." I blink my eyes open, squinting to adjust to the bright lights of the Cortex and focus on three shocked expressions and an amused one. I pull myself into a sitting position, in less pain than I expected. "So what'd I miss?"

"Welcome back Ms. Raymond," Dr. Wells greets warmly, as Barry flashes to my side of the room and pulls me into a tight hug.

"I was so worried about you," Barry mumbles into my hair.

"Touched to know you care," I respond with a smirk. "You know me, a girl's got to be her own hero every once in a while."

"Funny enough you're not the first person to tell me that tonight," Barry responds as we pull away and I raise an eyebrow.

"Iris say that?"

"How did you-"

"Barry it hurts that you question me like this. I've got eyes and ears everywhere."

"That's not really sur-"

"Also Cisco writes very descriptive updates."

"I knew it!"

I chuckle, relaxing against the side of the medical bed as I notice he's got his Flash suit back on. "Looks like someone got his speed back after all," I remark, pulling away and glancing up at Barry.

"Yeah, speaking of, I'm just not sure what happened. Why didn't he just siphon all my powers like before?" Barry asks, glancing at Dr. Wells.

"Because you stopped thinking about your powers and just connected with them." Dr. Wells responds.

"Look, this is a sample of your blood from just after you were struck by lightning," Caitlin says before showing what supposedly is the new sample. "Now your cells are generating more energy than ever before. That combined with the energy he siphoned off of Rani, it was more energy than the meta could safely handle. It was like he choked on you."

I wince at her wording and I can hear Cisco stifle a snort.

"So what does that mean?" Barry asks, oblivious to our childishness.

"It means you've kicked it up a notch." Dr. Wells responds before glancing at me. "And so have you."

I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Me?"

"Can I ask if your injuries are bothering you at the moment? I recall you took a number of hits to the head and back."

"Yeah, I feel fine though," I respond. "Just a little sore and a slight headache."

Dr. Wells nods in understanding before glancing over at Barry with a pointed look. Before I can speak out anything, Barry whips one of the lab tablets in my direction and as it flies beside me, the tablet slows down and gracefully spins right next to me, as if all of time slowed down. I walk beside the tablet for a second, noticing the blue flickers of lightning trailing in my wake. I grab the tablet before it can shatter against the wall and my focus comes back to a regular speed.

Caitlin, Cisco, and Dr. Wells gaze at me triumphantly while Barry watches in shock and awe, which was relatable at the moment.

The silence that came with the realization was deafening. I put my hand against my forehead, trying desperately to wrap my head around this revelation.

"So what you're saying," I say slowly as if that makes it easier to comprehend. "Is that I'm-"

"A speedster Rani," Cisco exclaims in a Hagrid-like voice, trying to ease the tension. "And a thumping good one too. Once we get you trained up of course."

Barry lets out an ungodly snort at the reference, I raise an eyebrow at him, Caitlin tries to hide a faint giggle and Dr. Wells lets out a breath and hangs his head, almost as if he was expecting something else.

"What?!" He says, taking in everyone's expressions, "I mean it makes perfect sense, you both were affected in really similar ways by the particle accelerator. Barry with the lightning and Rani with the city's power grid. Honestly, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise."

"But that doesn't mean I have a free pass to break the sound barrier Cisco. I seriously doubt it works like that." I snark back almost subconsciously, still in shock.

"You know what Rani? I don't appreciate your sass."

"But I do," Caitlin responds. "That has to count for something."

"But you know what this means? This means Barry, my good sir," Cisco says, cheekily turning to our scarlet now-not-the-only speedster. "My great, great friend! You owe me twenty bucks."

"I wasn't aware that we shook on this."

"Oh, we definitely did." Cisco laughs. "Pay up my man."

"I just- I don't know..." I murmur, sliding to the floor with my back against the wall, my mind spinning almost as fast as my heart rate. "What do I do?"

"You fight," Barry responds, kneeling down to my level. "I know this might seem terrifying right now, but honestly having this power is the greatest thing I never asked for. I'm going to help you through every second of this, I promise."

Barry smiles when I find myself nodding in response. I was thoroughly shaken by my revelation, I didn't notice Barry asking Dr. Wells and Caitlin permission to bring me home before he scooped me up and ran.

At first, I'm about to close my eyes as I always have before I remember and keep them open. The city still zips by at a quicker rate, but everything seems so much calmer, and quieter with the wind breezing through my hair and the electricity flickering between us.

And it's beautiful.

But that sinking feeling in my stomach can't help but grow.

Barry sets me down inside my apartment, and I settle on the couch after kicking my shoes off at the door.

He sits down beside me and it takes me a minute to realize that he's not in his flash suit anymore but in his clothes from work today. Presumably, I guess. I wasn't even at work today. That's when I realize I woke up this morning in my Aunt and Uncle's house and now I'm a speedster.

How time changes people.

"You okay?"

"Is my heart supposed to beat this quickly?" I say, still feeling like its thumping against my throat. "Because that's going to take getting used to."

"It's not too bad once you get your mind off of it," Barry responds with a chuckle, only to find I'm still staring off into the distance, not really paying attention. He frowns a little, trying to think how he could cheer me up.

"Wonder how your fighting skills are going to be now." Barry tries.

"What do you mean?" I mumble out, my attention finally caught.

"I mean you were a badass without superspeed." He says. "But now?"

"I could kill someone without even trying too." I finish, looking over at Barry and his eyes widen as he realizes why I've been so scared.

"Rani you would never do that willingly," Barry responds.

"People keep saying that." I sigh.

"They why won't you listen to them?!" He retorts, getting slightly angry that he needs to keep telling me this.

"Because they don't know."

"What you're going through? Probably not," He responds. "But they know about the type of person you are. The one who will willingly lay her life down a thousand times before someone else gets hurt. The person who will sit in isolation if that's whats required of her. The selflessness you have inspires me to keep doing this and be the Flash every single night, even when you're not there beside me or there over comms and I'm sick and tired of you not seeing how much of a good person you are!"

I stare up at him, shocked that he felt that way about me. "Barr....."

He looks at me, before shaking his head and speeding out of my apartment, leaving me alone with my torturous thoughts, a tear dripping down my face as his words echo in my head.

Was he right?

Meanwhile, Barry hadn't run away from my apartment as I had thought, but to the roof of the building before letting out a frustrated scream.

He couldn't help but wonder how someone so selfless thought so lowly of herself. He wanted nothing more than Rani to see the impact she had on the people around her and it angered him more than even he realized.

He thought back to when he visited Eddie in the hospital with Joe and Iris and remember how he assumed he would have been uncomfortable listening to how Joe found out about the two.

But what scared him was that he wasn't and he felt nothing when he saw the way Eddie and looked at Iris, painkillers and all. One girl had somehow erased feelings that Barry had felt for years in a matter of months. Barry knew exactly why, which made him even angrier that the girl in question felt the way she did about herself.

He sunk to his knees, wondering if he should go back to talk to her, even though his brain knew that it was much too late.

He felt terrible for leaving her alone and it was taking all of his self-control not to go back and comfort her. Barry had felt his heart stop when she slipped from his grasp this evening and put herself up as bait for Blackout and worried like hell when she had stepped up in his absence. He didn't tell anyone how much it hurt when he heard her cry in pain echo through the Cortex and how terrified he had been when he found her unconscious yet again on her floor.

But none of that compared to how much it hurt him to hear her mutter those words just now. So he ran away from her and made up his mind to keep his distance, in hopes that she would understand.

After all, as much as Barry cared about me, he realized that right now, I was the only person that could save myself. No matter how much he wanted too.

》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》

How would you guys feel if I included my own original metahumans? I've got a couple ideas that I wouldn't mind using later in this, so let me know what you think ;)

Also, I had the idea since I've only been updating once a month to try and get smaller updates or one-shots written each week once the story gets to a certain point? Would you guys like something like that?

Please let me know about any input you guys have!! Luv ya!