"And you compiled this based on the increase in criminal activity in Central City?" Wells put a hand on his chin as he looked at the monitor hanging on the wall.
"Not just that," Cisco replied back while typing away at the keyboard before the screen shifted to show a graphical representation of Centeral City marked with red dots, some big while others small, and continued, "All these areas report increase in Dark matter activity over the past two weeks."
"Is it possible that it might be the residual Dark matter left after the explosion?" The doctor who sat on the chair behind the screen asked in tone filled with worry.
"Not possible," This time it was Nathan who replied and the screen split into two to show another graph, that was distinctly similar in layout except for the red dots that marred the surface of the first. He pointed at the second map and said, "This graph here shows the readings that were captured by the satellite five days after the explosion, and as you can see, most of the Dark matter has either dissipated or thinned enough to vanish from the radar. But in the second, the Dark matter is suddenly flaring up in all these red dotted parts, meaning that these are new."
Cisco changed the screen once more and this time it was a document with a simple linear graph which kept changing, as he switched from one location to another. "What's even more curious is that when Nathan and I personally checked these few place last night, the Dark matter has in fact not decreased by much."
"What you mean to say is that something or someone is responsible for all of this, is that it, Mr. Ramon?" Wells stared the engineer right in the eye and man replied with a solemn nod.
Nathan who stood right beside him, hesitated for the time being and then sighed, "I felt it, Barry Allen has a lot of Dark matter in his system."
"Yes, we know that al–" Caitlin tried replying before she was cut by Wells' demanding tone.
"What do you mean, you Felt it?!"
The two realized the meaning behind his words and started at him. Nathan feeling a bit pressured by their gazes replied with a sutter, "I.. I felt something from Mr. Allen, and I thought to check it out and then suddenly there is this huge lightning storm, and I thought I would get caught in it. I was terrified by what I saw."
"And you didn't deem it to tell us sooner?" Nathan felt sharpness in his voice and he took a step back. There was something more than simple anger at not being told before, it was spine chilling to the young blonde man.
Harrison Wells took his glasses off as he saw the young man back away, he put a hand on his head and sighed. "I am sorry, Mr. Williams, it's just that with everything that's been going on and now this, I am just not feeling well."
"I think you should a day off, Dr. Wells." Caitlin recommend by the side, still at the edge after his strict voice. Harrison Wells was scary when he was angry and she had seen it after the man had fired Hartley.
Wells put his glasses back on and looked at Barry Allen, who was just a window away lying on his bed. He then started back at the monitors, "I don't think this is the time for rest, Dr. Snow. As a scientist, you should know that better.
"Cisco, I want you to gather more evidence before we can come to any substantial conclusion. And Nathan, if you would accompany me to the Cortex, I would like to have a talk with you."
The man didn't wait for his reply as he turned on his wheelchair and left through the door. Nathan glanced at the two people he was left and then hurried to catch up to the man.
Once Nathan caught up to the man, he found him staring at the walls with his back turned toward him. Harrison Wells asked, "How long have been aware of this ability of yours?"
"Not for long, just a few days." He replied in a plain manner, trying to not sound like he was hiding something.
"Since you are a smart young man, Mr. Williams," Dr. Wells turned and looked him straight in the eye. He leaned forward as if he might get up anytime and said, "Then you should already know the repercussions that you might face, right?"
"Are you talking about the government?"
The man only smiled and said, "You don't have to worry, I have no intention of feeding your information to anyone. All I am asking is that you remain with us, here in the S.T.A.R Labs. Both Caitlin and Cisco have gotten used to you, and even I personally feel that you are needed here."
"That's all ?," Nathan felt his eyes widen at the simple request the man asked. No, was it even a request, it was a basically an invitation. "Yes, I mean I agree. Thank you for having me."
Harrison Wells smiled. Young people always were respectful to their elders, and Nathan was practically a homeless orphan right now. By giving him a home and a family, he was simply binding the boy to this place.
Nathan thanked the doctor once more and turned to leave when the man spoke again.
"Ah, and Nathan, about Mr. Allen; don't tell Detective West or his daughter anything. I am sure it would do more harm than good."
"Oh." Nathan nodded in understanding and left the Cortex back to the lab.
Once he was back in the lab, Nathan went about his business as usual. Dr. Wells had scheduled some additional tests for him take and he was excited to take them.
...
"Is this it?" Nathan pointed at the cylinder of neon light and asked Cisco who stood with a tablet in his hands monitoring any changes.
"Yes, just put your hands on it and try to remember the feeling from before." Cisco nodded and looked back at the two who stood some distance away.
Nathan nodded and let loose a pent up breath he didn't know he has been holding. He stepped forward and put his hands on the cool glass surface of the tube light glowing faint blue. Trying to embody the feeling as he remembered it was harder than he thought as he struggled with coming in contact.
For the first few minutes, nothing happened. It was disappointing but he didn't give up. Once he was back with his hands on the cylinder, he took a deep breath and instead of forcing the feeling, he tried to feel for it.
Like a man dying of terrible thirst who sought water everywhere, Nathan sought to find the energy. It was a simple brush with a flow that felt more like a gale than a storm, and when Nathan pursued it, Cisco recived an update.
"There is a sudden spike in energy," Cisco informed. The two hurried over and saw the graph being show on the tablet. Suddenly the line that kept rising fell back down creating a trough that bounced back up before stabilizing.
"Intresting." Wells mumbled under his breathe looking at the change. He glanced at Nathan, his intentions unknown.
Sometime later Nathan was back to sitting on the bench. While the experience was not tiring at all, he did have some gains that he wanted to adress so instead of pushing through with brute force, he sat down and ruminated on his encounter.
Back when he had first felt that force, he found something intangible exiting from within himself, like tendril of a plant and drilling into the soil that was the energy or the force as he liked to call it. It was weird because at that moment, he felt something else too, it was nature of the energy he came in contact with. It was too ...ordinary.
Barry's energy felt like a storm, an enigmatic force of nature that he couldn't make sense of, while the one he came in contact with just now felt too mundane. Nathan pondered over the problem and decided to ask Cisco after a while when he got nothing.
"I think it's Dark matter." The man replied after thinking for over a minute.
Nathan raised a brow and asked, "Why do think that it's dark matter?"
"Simple actually," Cisco motioned for him follow and two went to the bed where Barry Allen lay in comma, and the engineer continued, "As your system's were also flooded with Dark matter, you are rather similar to Allen in that regard. The reason why you feel so, is I deduce, the resonance between your Dark matter and his."
"Oh, that so. It does make sense, sort of." Nathan nodded his head imperceptibly, feeling the theory well within the bounds of possibility.
After that Nathan tried multiple ways to examine the energy without coming in contact with anything, which turned out to be futile as nothing happened even after a few days had passed.
Time marched forth mercilessly, days became weeks and weeks months. It was the third month since he lost his memories and Nathan was currently in a appartment building talking with the landlord as they settled on an agreement. Finally, after saving for two months, he was able to get some space for himself.
Nathan felt an odd sensation of freedom at that and inhaled a deep breath. The apartment was a single person suite with a living room, a bedroom and a small kitchen right beside the bathroom, the door to which was in the corridor right next to the main door. It didn't matter if it wasn't big or decorated, but at least it was his, well for the time being it was.
In the time that passed, things in Central City had changed. People spoke of horrors unknown to the masses; fairy tails come alive. The fact that the rate of murder, robbery, arson and other vile activities was going up didn't help. It was inevitable that the general public would start grow suspicious and weary.
It was different for the people in S.T.A.R labs though who, after much work and sleepless nights finally managed to get to the bottom of the pit. And as if Nathan or Barry's existence wasn't a sufficient proof, the evidence they found left them no choice but to accept; inhuman beings existed in the city and it was all thanks to them.
Nathan found it absurd how despite all the rumours and unrest, the people still lacked the slightest clue as to what these beings were. But whatever the case, he for one was thankful that in this chaos and strife he managed to find a family.
The changes he had gone through had been monumental to say the least. His "Energy Sense" now only required him to come into contact with a person and he would gradually find their source.
After much effort and theories he hypothesized that Barry Allen was in fact hibernating of sorts in his own energy, like a caterpillar within a cocoon, he wasn't sure if it was adapt his body to that rampaging energy or something else though. But according to him, as long as Barry Allen's body adapted to this new energy, he would wake up.
Surprisingly Dr. Wells agreed with his theory and Caitlin had went to work on how to quicken this reaction, if possible safely. And as it turned out, it wasn't unless he was flooded with the same energy externally which unfortunately none of them had access to.
After that, the despondent doctor who failed in her quest tried to see if she can gleam any info on how long it would take for his body to adapt completely. The work was still in progress but at least they knew that the man would wake up one day, soon.
As Nathan didn't have much luggage with him, given the fact that all he was a suitcase full of clothes, he didn't have to do much of the heavy lifting. In just few hours, he was fully settled in when he heard the doorbell ring.
He smiled and went to open the door, greeted with his friends face. "Welcome to my home, guys."
Cisco, Caitlin and Rachel who arrived just as the two of the rang the bell came to congratulate him on finally getting a home. Maybe it was because Nathan was still young, Cisco had insisted he remain for a few more months at his home, but the young man felt burdened from already asking for some for three months, he didn't want to continue relying on him, or anyone for that matter.
"Whoa, this place is so empty, like do you even have a refrigerator here?" Cisco took a 360° look around the whole house and didn't forget to criticize when he found little to no appliances present at all. Even the furniture was old and worn out, but two months saving and some additional money the Dr. Wells had given in exchange for his work, only amount to so much.
Nathan felt his lips twitch at the remark, but he didn't want to get angry at the older guy, so he distracted himself by opening a bottle of fresh beer from the pack that he had brought just earlier.
Despite the lack of much needed comfort, Nathan slept like a baby that night, feeling both relieved and sad that he finally had his own place to live, albeit lonely.
