EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME ONE
━━ ❛ 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆𝒏 ❜

chapter no. 006!

     THE NUMBER OF TESTS PIPER LITA TOOK ALL THROUGH HER ACADEMIC YEARS WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE ONES THAT TEAM FLASH WAS RUNNING HER THROUGH. Caitlin wanted to analyze her DNA and find out how the purple speedster was faster than any other speedster they had encountered. While she did that, Cisco, Harry, and Barry wanted to run her through some more tests to see her different abilities and if she had powers aside from speed, which she did.

     "All right, so the goal is for you to dodge all of the drones while you make your way down to the end of the runway," Cisco announced through the comms, and Piper nodded, her eyes trained on the runway that Barry had tested his abilities on over a year ago. Her feet rested on the opposite end where the three men stood next to the S.T.A.R. Labs trailer, ready for the fun to begin. "Go!"

     The event played out to the three scientists in five seconds, but it felt like an eternity that had been crafted specifically for Piper.

     In her mind, she could hear the words of Miles Warren, one of her team members back home, screaming, "Run, Piper, run!"

     And so, she did.

     She bolted like the winter breeze colliding into inanimate objects and crashing waves hitting the shoreline, like eagles soaring across indigo skies and a herd of cheetahs racing through verdant meadows.

     Her long, scarlet hair whipped back as she dodged the bullets pelting from the six drones heading her way. Her hands glowed, allowing herself to lose slight control, purple lightning emitting from them. She looked up and jumped into the air, grabbing onto the first and second drones with both of her hands. They both burst at the sudden strike of lightning.

     Staying up in the air, she let out a slow breath as she snapped both of her fingers twice, causing two purple orbs of light to rest steadily in the palm of her hands. Using them as ammo, she threw them at the remaining drones and ran to where the men stood.

     "So, how'd I do?" she asked awkwardly, running a hand through her hair.

     Silence answered the redhead as the other three tried to collect themselves, processing what they'd just witnessed.

     "You're ten times the speed of Zoom, which means your fourteen times the speed of Barry." Harrison Wells began, his eyebrows furrowing as he eyed the woman who could be the one that saved all of them. "How is that possible?"

     Piper shrugged and peered at Cisco and Barry.

     Cisco's mouth was hanging open as he stared at her with an astonished expression, while Barry was harder to read. He appeared to be a combination of different feelings. Adverting her eyes back to Cisco, she nudged him. "I thought you said you were going to make it hard."

     Her words seemed to snap the long-haired boy out of his trance as he blinked several times. "Well, your definition of hard and mine are completely different because I thought that was hard," Cisco exclaimed.

     "You guys said you wanted to see me in action, so bring it on, Goldilocks." Piper made her back to the other end of the runway and waited. Two larger drones flew from the trailer and raced towards her, four missiles attached to the sides. One of the drones made a loud clicking noise and released a missile.

     She began running towards the missile right as the drone let another one loose, the other missile coming at her from the other side. She could hear it racing after her as she sped towards the one coming at her.

     "Cisco, if you end up killing her, I will kill you," Barry warned, glancing over at his best friend, who smiled sheepishly over at him.

     "You heard the woman. She said to bring it."

     A roar of flames erupted after Piper grabbed the missile in the air and shot it at the two drones, taking them both out as the missile behind her made impact with the ground. The blast from the explosion sent the speedster spiraling, and she landed on the ground.

     "Piper! Are you okay?" Barry asked through the comms, and she nodded, although he couldn't see her.

     "Yeah, I'm great," she grunted, the sound of his voice distracting her from the pain she was feeling.

     "Are you sure?"

     "You know, it feels really good having you inside me," the redhead breathed without thinking, completely ignoring his question. Her eyes shot open as the sinking realization of what she said set in. "And by 'you' I mean your voice, and by 'me' I mean my ear," Piper said hurriedly, face-palming herself. "I'm going to stop talking now. In three... two... one." She squeezed her eyes shut and remained lying on the ground, dreading the moment that she had to come face-to-face with Barry.

     A gust of wind blew over her as a figure blocked the sunlight, causing her to open her eyes. Barry Allen stood above her, an amused smile written across his face, and she sighed. "My brain thinks of the worst way to word things," she groaned, causing the man above her to laugh.

     God, his laugh is so angelic.

     Outstretching his hand, Piper grabbed it, and he pulled her to her feet. "Does anything hurt?" Barry asked, his eyes scanning over her.

     "Just my dignity," she grumbled, moving her hair as the wind pressed against them.

     "If you two would quit flirting, we have more drills to run," Harry snapped through the comms bluntly.

     "Besides, I already called dibs on the hot speedster Barry! It took us two years to finally get a female speedster. I'm not missing my opportunity here." Cisco shouted.

     The two speedsters could hear Harry yelling "Ramon!" in the background.

────

     "HOW ARE WE DOING WITH THE SPEED DAMPENER?" Barry asked, sweeping his eyes around the room.

     "I think we isolated the composite," Caitlin answered.

     Piper leaned over and snagged some of Cisco's fries, giving him an innocent smile as he jokingly glared at her. "And we're modifying the dart The Arrow used to take down Wells," the long-haired boy added, glancing away from the woman next to him.

     Harry turned his head and glared at Cisco. "He's not Wells. I'm Wells."

     "Whatever, Harry," Cisco replied dryly, reaching for his drink.

     Piper chewed quietly in amusement, happy that she wasn't watching them bicker through a laptop screen for once.

      Joe frowned and slipped his hands into his pockets. "But we don't even really know if this thing works."

     "Until we try it, no. This will be a field test, so can we end this scintillating staff meeting and get back to work?" Harry retorted. The redhead spun in her chair as she sipped on her drink, eyebrows raised as she stared at him.

     "Or how about I say what everybody is thinking? Maybe we shouldn't go through with this. Maybe this speed dampener thing is a huge mistake, and we're about to walk into a trap that we didn't know was set," the detective voiced, all attention back on him.

     Piper swiveled around in the chair again and exchanged glances with Cisco.

     "No. No. We're going to keep going. This is the only solid plan we've had, and I can't continue to let Zoom wander around freely. He needs to be stopped." Barry stated firmly, and the room went silent. Harry took the silence to signal that the conversation was over and left. "Joe, I thought you were on board with that."

     "I'm keeping my options open," Joe replied, shrugging his shoulders.

     Barry glanced over at Piper before looking back. "I don't understand why you think we have a choice. Zoom wants me dead. The meta-humans that he's sending from Earth-Two— they don't care how many innocent people get in the way. They're just collateral damage in Zoom's war."

     Joe shook his head. "I'm just wondering if going after him now is premature. I mean, like Piper said yesterday, we don't know who Zoom is, what he looks like, or what kind of powers he has."

     "Wells does," Barry responded almost immediately.

     The room was eerily quiet as Cisco and Caitlin held themselves back from commenting while Piper watched Barry. She could see the desperation in his eyes.

     "You're putting a whole lot of faith in the man wearing the face of your mother's killer. I think we should find Jay, get him to help us with this." Joe reasoned, and the redhead froze, her hand hovering momentarily over her burger at the mention of Zoom's real identity.

     "Yeah, Jay made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to help get me killed, and we can't just sit around and wait for Zoom to make his next move anymore. We can't." Barry shook his head and walked out of the room.

     Everyone was still for a moment before Piper stood up. "I'll go talk to him."

     "Please do," Joe murmured.

     The woman nodded and followed after the other speedster. "Barry!" she called once her eyes landed on him.

     Turning around, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as Piper approached him, her lips tilted downward. "Don't try to talk me out of this," Barry said.

     Piper sighed and gave him a look. "Why are you pushing this so hard?"

     He shrugged. "We need to stop Zoom."

     "We or you?" she fired back, causing his chin to drop, taken aback by her words. "I know that with Reverse-Flash, you weren't the one who took him down in the end. Eddie was. However, this isn't the same as Reverse-Flash, Barry. This is someone new and unknown. I understand where you're coming from, but if you push your friends and Doctor Light into helping you, make sure it's for the right reasons. I know that my words may mean little to nothing and that you've only known me for three days, but at least consider them."

     Barry's eyes were fixated on her as she spoke, noticing how her eyes crinkled when she spoke and how she moved her hands.

     Her words weren't meaningless. They were important.

     "Thank you."

     Piper blinked, caught off-guard. "For what?"

     "Being honest."