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Agent B was still sat on his stool, staring at the empty space on his bench where the files Cynthia had slammed down were, before Agent J had marched in. He’d gone now, taking the files. B hadn’t seemed to register the shouting had stopped.
“Is this the first time you’ve ever been told off?” C asked. B still didn’t respond. “B.”
“Barry,” he said.
“Barry?”
“My name. Before I joined. It was Barry.”
“You’re really not used to being shouted at.”
“Those files. Did you read them?”
“I skimmed a few, I didn’t have time for everything.”
“I need pie.” He stood up and walked out the lab.
“B, wait.”
“Do you not get enough of the space theme at work?” C asked. “Earth to B, what is wrong with you?”
“Ms Kon,” B said. “What planet did she say she was from?”
“What happened to this is above our clearance?”
“What happened to not giving up until you’ve solved this case?”
“Alkomar,” C said. “She called it another dimension, not another planet.”
“Time moves differently between our dimensions,” B said. “She has accelerated speed here. And she’s telepathic.”
“She didn’t mention telepathy when we questioned her.”
“I heard her. She told me she was looking for someone.”
“She told you?”
“I have never heard of Alkomar,” B said. “Before you got here, the only thing I knew about S.T.A.R. Labs is they’re building a particle accelerator. I’ve never heard of General Eiling.”
“So, they’ve been good at avoiding the Men in Black.”
“So, it doesn’t make sense that you just handed me a file with a photograph of my parents in it,” B said.
“What?”
“I was eleven when my parents died. It was late. I was asleep in the back of the car, it was storming, the road was wet, a tire blew, my mother lost control, they were both killed on impact. They weren’t hurt, it was quick, and they loved me very much. I bounced around foster homes after that. There were nice people but I never got to stay anywhere long, not until I got a scholarship. I got my Batchelor’s in organic chem, minored in criminology, went to work for C.C.P.D., got struck by lightning, and got offered a job by D himself.”
“You were struck by lightning?”
“It was easy to make me disappear. I was in a coma, I had two friends, one of whom I hadn’t seen for years, no family, never stayed with any fosters long enough to leave a lasting impression, you don’t realise how lonely you are until you get that offer and realise it’s so easy to just vanish without a trace. You didn’t hesitate.”
“I don’t remember the first time I saw J. I used to think he was a ghost, he never talked, he used to disappear before I could ever reach him, and then he was sitting in front of me telling me I’m on the right track but missing a huge piece of the puzzle and if I wanted, he could give me answers. I haven’t talked to my mother in years. I don’t have friends. I didn’t know anything about my father until J brought me here and I finally understood why. There’s no reason to watch a child thinking they have the potential to be a good fit. That wasn’t why he was really there.”
“He couldn’t have known before he took the job.”
“But he didn’t leave the job when he found out. You said your parents were in one of those files.”
“My parents were called Nora and Henry Allen. My name is Barry Allen, Bartholomew Henry after my grandfather. Those were their names. Your file was wrong. I saw almost nothing, but it was wrong, the autopsy report said Honoria Thom and the military record said Paul Garrick, but the photograph was them, it was our house, I was in it. My dad was a doctor, he hated the military. My mother was an estate agent, she was born in Iowa.”
“Paul Garrick was your father?”
“No! My dad’s name was Henry Allen. Your file was wrong. It has to have been.”
“B,” Cynthia said. “Barry. The earliest piece of evidence of Eobard Thawne and Wade Eiling working together I found was a list of personnel at a military site twenty-eight years ago. Paul Garrick was listed as a doctor, brought in to assist Eobard Thawne with something. I don’t know what. I could not find anything else. It was like they’d scrubbed every mention of him anywhere from existence. The only thing they’d missed was a birth announcement in a local paper. Jason Garrick, Paul’s twin, last heard from him around six months after he was on that base. According to him, Paul had been declared MIA then KIA when they never found other evidence. He was a doctor. He was supposed to be there to help people. Only just left. Jay had a medal and that was it. He couldn’t tell me anything about Eiling. Couldn’t say anything about Eobard Thawne. I don’t know anything else, but Paul Garrick was the first disappearance connected to them both I found. It’s why I gave you that file. I don’t know Honoria Thom. I don’t know what happened. But if you’re here and he was your father, someone lied to Jay.”
“I don’t remember being in the car,” Barry said. Tears pricked at his eyes. “I don’t- I don’t know why we would have been in the car. It was a school night, it was late, I don’t remember anything that happened after my mother tucked me in to bed. I wasn’t hurt. This collision killed them on impact and I didn’t even get a bruise. I remember that. I don’t remember being struck by lightning. I thought that was normal. I was in a coma but I woke up fine and I haven’t had any other side effects and I got struck by lightning, I should have, but I never questioned it, I just accepted that hole in my memory.”
“And we work for an organisation who regularly erase memories and who have a file about your parents.”
“Grodd.”
“The telepathic gorilla.”
“He’s not like Solovar. Solovar was born with his abilities. I asked, he said Grodd was given them. When he was in my head I saw needles and felt so afraid.”
“I saw that too. Who’s Solovar?”
“A friend. I’m good at picking up telepathy. Grodd froze everyone so that red lightning could take Doralla. But I broke through it.”
“You couldn’t have stopped whatever that was.”
“Cynthia,” Barry said, finally using her full name. “Cynthia, I am not telepathic. I know that. Solovar and J’onn would have noticed and told me by now. But I do know I’m better at picking up telepathy than other humans and my mind is harder to get into. It’s not impossible, but J’onn says it’s like trying to swim through jelly instead of water. People have different levels of receptiveness. It’s normal. No need to question it. No need to run tests even though my job is to question everything. I know I’m quick but not abnormally for a human. I heal quick too. My mind’s strong enough and I heal quick enough I’d be fine in a deneuraliser.”
“A what?”
“It’s a very illegal, very dangerous machine that can undo the effects of a neuraliser. If it works. It’s fifty-fifty on whether it recovers memories or blows your brain up. I know someone who has the plans.”
“You want to get in a machine that might blow your brain up on the chance you were neuralised.”
“They’ve got a file on my parents’ deaths. I spent so long thinking it was just an accident. I have to know the truth.”
“We’ve been taken off this case. This is going against direct orders.”
“Doralla came here looking for someone from Alkomar. That file said my mother was born there. That file said my father worked for your missing general and lead suspect. There’s no way we’re getting that file back off J. It said that was D and J’s case. If they were going to tell us, they would have done it. My mind might hold the key to everything you’ve been looking for, and at least I’ll get to know.”
“And what if you saw them die? I didn't see much either, but I did see the note in the front that a witness saw a streak of lightning and if that was in a file with an autopsy report..."
"A streak of lightning took Doralla too."
"Are you sure about this?"
“I don’t know. This is against direct orders. If they catch us, at best they’ll erase our memories. Probably just that for you, if J really is your father, he wouldn’t want anything else to happen to you. I’ll come find you when it’s done.”
“I’m not letting you blow your brain up alone, lab rat,” Cynthia said. “You’re sure you can get those blueprints.”
“Snart owes me one. You won’t like him.”
“I know an engineer who can help build it. We just need to get him away from S.T.A.R. Labs.”
“You didn’t erase Ramon’s memory, did you?”
“I could call in a favour from Iris. She might be a journalist, but her brother Wally works at S.T.A.R., if I tell her there’s something fishy going on there, she’ll help us, and she’s a very good investigative journalist. You will like her. We are going to be fired.”
“Or shot. You know, I don’t think this is what D had in mind when he told me I needed to get out the lab more.”
“No. Coming?”
“Lead the way, partner.”