by Freya

I was running. I did that a lot going all the back to High School when I wanted to clear my head. If I’m frustrated, or confused by a problem from the lab or from my personal life I ran and it helped me think straight. Sometimes when I ran a solution presented itself and I’d show up at the lab in a sweaty tank top and shorts under my lab coat and start working furiously. It got me teased but they didn’t object because they knew if I was doing that I’d have the answer and couldn’t wait or I might lose it again. It also keeps me in shape which my wife appreciates.

There was a new drug on the streets and it was killing people a lot faster than the old ones. It’s always bad when a new drug hits but this one made people briefly superhuman and then killed them after a few weeks of repeated use. This was in Phoenix, Arizona where I was a Police Chemist named Barry Allen.

We needed a test for it and a complete analysis so we could start the process of getting it made illegal. I was one of the guys working on the analysis. I was having trouble isolating one compound. It was seemingly at the core of the effect and so far any attempt at determining its structure caused it to break up. We knew what element went into it what we needed was the formula and the structure. After wrestling with it for several hours I decided I needed a run. I called home and told Iris I’d be working late. She was unsurprised and understanding, she’s always been the best wife a man could ask for and she had papers to grade for her English class anyway.

“Make sure you eat something Barry. Something that didn’t come from a vending machine,” she said over the phone. I smiled, hiding the Twinkies behind me as if she could see them, “Yes dear.”

I could hear her eyes rolling from here, “I’ll be by after I’m finished with these papers to bring you some food if you’re still there. Are you any closer to the answer?”

“I was just about to go running,” I said shrugging. She’d know what that meant. “Well maybe satori will strike while you are out making your feet flatter,” she replied, humor and affection in her voice. “I’ll see you later dear.”

“I love you Iris.”

“I love you too Barry.”
So I went running and by the time I came back I had an idea to try. I had to let myself in because everyone had gone home. It wasn’t like the precinct which has to be open 24/7; we worked odd hours and all of us with 5 years of seniority or more had keys. I was sort of used to working alone. All it meant to me was that I didn’t have to shower or change out of my running clothes; I could jump right in and try out my idea.

It worked too. Soon I had a flask full of the compound and a folder full of notes on how I did it. I grinned and punched the air, “Take that whoever you are! We’ll get this stuff catalogued and outlawed and then you’ll be in trouble. Nobody starts pushing this shit in my hometown.”

I started taking the flask and the folder to the evidence safe where it would be secure until I could come back and tell everyone. I would normally make photocopies and write up a report but it was 2 a.m. and my energy surge at solving the problem was fast receding. I’d lock everything up and do the rest tomorrow.

As I walked down the corridor from my lab to the safe I stopped and looked out at the night through the wall sized picture window. It was a nasty night out with lots of wind and rain and lightning flashing, I hoped Iris wasn’t worried. She was well familiar with my habits but... I decided to call her as soon as I put everything in the safe. Unfortunately I never made it. I don’t remember anything but bright light and pain but I found out what happened later. Lighting hit the glass as I turned away and then hit me. It should have killed me and would have but I as lay there flopping like a fish out of water the concentrated drug spilled into my blood through the cuts the glass made and together with the lightning it activated my metagene complex and instead of dying I changed. That night the Flash was born.