#strandedinthistime

          Forever yours, @strandedinthistime                                    even when I get myself in trouble

Eobard might have thought he had sealed himself into a dream world for the rest of his life by getting his hands on the Spear, but there was a group of meta humans trying to break their way into STAR Labs to steal it that wanted to argue against that idea. In the panic, Barry had managed to leave the time vault without permission or trouble; he stayed out of the way and watched as his Master did what he could to keep their defenses up without leaving the control center. Someone needed to an the security system controls, otherwise Barry had no doubts that his Master would be out there, courageously defending their home with his life-- not that he'd need to, he'd surely win in the end.

But as it was, Eobard was needed here. The only expendable person that could fight was Barry, and a rush of bravery brought him bolting down the halls towards the particle accelorator to the place that his suit was hidden. The crotch and ass were still ripped out, but his red boxer-briefs were about the same color and it wasn't obvious unless someone was looking for the missing suit material. Hood up, Barry sped back into the control room and he didn't even get a chance to plea his case before Eobard said no. There were too many of them out there, he was too precious to risk in this way. But there was something in his heart that beat for this, something that told him that he was made for this and that he could keep his Master safe.

"I won't get hurt, I promise," he replied, unable to move from his spot without permission from Eobard. Physically, it was possible, but emotionally... he wanted permission. He didn't want to make the move without his Master saying it was okay.

Almost as if on cue, when Eobard opened his mouth to say no again, one of the meta humans got so close to breaking in that an alarm was triggered, telling them both that they were running out of time. How ironic.

"I promise," he repeated, need dripping in every syllable because he absolutely needed to protect his Master. Eobard could do nothing but nod his head, silently giving permission because he didn't want to say out loud that he was potentially sending his pet off to his death. If this went wrong, he could resort to using the Spear again. He didn't want to though, this Barry was perfect. He wanted this Barry.

The same Barry that smiled when he was given permission and nodded his head back humbly, then bolted out towards the threat of danger with a song in his heart because he felt so complete in this moment. It was his friends that he faced when he got outside, not Cisco or Caitlin but still people he had previously been allies with. And he felt nothing as he bounced in place, eager excitement mixing with the electric jolt of the speedforce running through him as he fought and sped between the group of good guys. He could remember fighting like this, vague recollections drifting in and mixing with the scene at hand.

S.T.A.R. Labs seemed to have become something of a pariah in the wake of the Particle Accelerator explosion a few months ago. Osborn attributed that to mismanagement. After all, he'd never let something like that happen to Oscorp. You put out the P.R. fires, and you moved on. That's how you stayed ahead in this industry.

Still, S.T.A.R. Labs' weakness was really Oscorp's gain. With the company having gone under, billions of dollars worth of research equipment was gathering dust, and Osborn managed to purchase a fair share of it for half the cost. Most of it would go back to Oscorp to aide in nudging QuestAerospace and TriCorp out of their markets, but some of his equipment dealing in meta humans would be going to... personal use in Osborn's recent nocturnal activities.

A young man with hair much too long and dressed much to casually to be working in a multi-billion dollar scientific company showed Osborn into the main laboratory. The young man's attire confirmed Osborn's opinions about mismanagement. Still, that was neither here nor there. Osborn locked eyes with the wheelchair bound man that he was here to meet.

"Dr. Harrison Wells! Dr. Norman Osborn," he introduced himself. "I must say, it's a pleasure to finally get to put a face to the name."

Barry Allen had figured today was just going to be like any other. The speedster kept his city in line, and caused a little chaos in their lives. He had even visited his father earlier that day. So to him, everything was going well, and he figured it would continue to do so. But apparently he shouldn’t have jinxed it. His day was turned completely upside down by the man in front of him.  A part of him wanted to race away, they had gone their separate ways a while ago, and he had wanted to keep it that way.

It’s a facade, how he calm he looked, how calm he was acting at that very moment. The urge to just REACT. To strike without warning, to cause harm, and break every single bone in the other’s body was almost overwhelming. But he didn’t, that was just the anger talking. And Barry wasn’t going to give into that. The younger speedster had worked too hard to get where he was, to let it all fall down. Every time he thought of HIM, it was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Many that he would not want to ever address. There was anger, hurt, betrayal, and something lighter that was mixed into there that certainly didn’t belong there. It was-- it probably showed on his face, as he licked his lips, and briefly looked for a moment.

[My muse has fallen under a love potion! Send ‘target’ for your muse to be the one my muse has fallen madly in love with.]

The night before was strange, but he chalked it up to being overly tired.  Super speed does that to a person, and it probably didn’t help he was essentially manning three jobs.  So when he collapsed in what felt like an utter haze as soon as he was through the door to his apartment, it made enough sense that he isn’t questioning it in the morning.

The next day Barry doesn’t even notice the change; he’s a lagging a little at the CCPD, but that’s another thing he can chalk up to the exhaustion.  Then he gets to S.T.A.R. Labs and it sets in.  Still, nothing he notices.  Judging by the curious looks he’s getting from Cisco and Caitlin though, they clearly do.

It wasn’t too easy to keep secrets here.  Barry was just fine at it when he had to be, but the more comfortable he was with someone, the more difficult it was.  He spends a lot of time at S.T.A.R. Labs, so understandably the three others there would catch on eventually.

Maybe it was unnecessary but Barry wasn’t about to tell his friends that he was committing crime on the side, helping some of the metas that have supposedly gotten away, making deals with known thieves.