The door creaked open and Nathan took out a small case. He closed the wardrobe back.

Instead of moving to his bedroom, he went to the storage. A small desk and chair beside it rested in the center. A pen holder, paperweight and a manilla folder were neatly spaced across one side.

He rested the suitcase atop the desk and drew curtains. Everything aside from the table was covered; the walls, the boxes and even the light bulb that hung from a copper wire. Instead a small portable table lamp was placed before him.

He sat on his chair, and opened the suitcase. It held a stack of papers and a pen drive inside. He put out all the papers and looked through.

From the moment Nathan understood the world better, he realised that it was not impossible for people able to mess with others mind and memories to exist. Thus he had created this hardcore copy of all his encounters, and experiences.

That was one of the purposes it fulfilled, but there was more. By going through all the things in a chronological order he was able to avoid missing any crucial information. Nathan decided to go through once again.

'The first person to find me was Caitlin, and she works at the S.T.A.R Labs.' Nathan traced his fingers over the text. 'The S.T.A.R Labs helped me learn about my abilities, but were the reason behind it. Barry mentioned a man in the yellow who might be like him. What did he mean? A man who could run as fast as him or a meta-human in general?'

Nathan put a finger on his chin. If Barry really saw such a being, what were the odds that years later he would end up the same as that man. Even if by pure coincidence, why does this 'man-in-the-yellow' sound too much like a meta-human? Where's the link?

Nathan went through everything again but found nothing. Something felt odd about this whole scenario. He listed the names of all the people responsible for the creation of the particle accelerator.

Harrison Wells was at the top, while Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie and other S.T.A.R Labs employee had their names mentioned. Nathan focused on the top three as the trio were still at the lab.

"Harrison Wells...?" Nathan remembered the stare he was given a day ago. "He knows, or suspects? But he didn't ask me on that, why?"

Nathan chewed on his pen and slammed his hand on the table. Whatever the case, Harrison Wells was oddly suspicious. He was overly fixated on Barry Allen and trying to keep him safe, but then suddenly took a 180° to his attitude and decided to not only help, but even encourage the Speedster.

He wrote his thoughts on the paper and printed it out. One copy was put in the suitcase and other he took and hid beneath his bed. The original one Nathan took with him to his work where he hid the folder in the ventilation, secured by a drop of glue.

Nathan went to the lab right after he finished his lunch. He took the elevator to the top and went through the hallway and into the lab. "Hey."

He found Barry inside, eating what looked like a protein bar. The man greeted him back.

"Nathan, you are here." Harrison Wells smiled. "We were just waiting for you."

"Why? What's the occasion?"

Cisco came back holding a torch like object. It had a glass container in the middle, while the end looked a simple metal rod.

"What's this?" Nathan took the rod as Cisco handed it to him.

"This is your next task." Caitlin came with a tablet in her hand and Nathan turned to looked at Dr. Wells.

"This, Nathan, is a highly unstable element that can absorb dark matter."

"And you want me to do what?"

Caitlin led him to a chair and Dr. Wells explained. "The dark matter that you take from others starts dissipating. What if the dark matter you loose isn't random but more systemised? What if you could control how to loose the dark matter?"

"Wait, you mean to say that you want me to what, secrete dark matter?" Nathan looked at him quizzically.

Caitlin gave him a look. "Don't talk like you are some sort of plant. And that's exactly what we want you to do."

"But how?"

"I am supposed to help." Barry suddenly voiced from the side. "You need to absorb dark matter before you can release it. Caitlin said that you took the dark matter from me in moderation when I was in coma. You don't need to restrict yourself anymore."

Nathan frowned and looked around him. Something didn't seem to make sense.

Cisco laughed and said, "Dude, stop giving that serious look. We are not going to create new meta-humans even if the method works. Besides the dark matter in Barry's body seems to regenerate back after a while has passed."

Nathan agreed reluctantly, but inwardly he felt both suspicion and glee.

"So, how are we supposed to do this?" Barry sat in front of him and asked.

"Just a handshake would be enough." Nathan smiled. Barry put his hand forth and Nathan held it. In an instant he felt that vigorous and destructive force flood his senses. It was overwhelming now that Barry was awake and he felt a connection of sorts.

Nathan let loose. He didn't have to worry about disrupting Barry's waking time or his consent as they had already been granted.

Barry shuddered but didn't pull his hand back. He could feel the speed that made him the impossible leave him in droves.

Nathan focused. He could better feel the dark matter now after growing so much. He could feel the dark matter leave his body, no, more like be repelled from it. He forced trying to get the rampaging energy from Barry under control.

The world slowed and the rod glowed. Nathan felt something, so very far away and infinitely close. He shuddered not in fear but in thrill and anticipation. His greed overwhelming at the force like the biggest desert he could ever hope to enjoy.

Without thinking, Nathan pulled. His hold grew and he felt his bond to something forming. He felt a rush. A wave of unstoppable force, it didn't seem to exist in this world, yet was everywhere. The past, the present, and the future, everything from the beginning to the end compressed into a single point. He was pulled apart.

Nathan howled in pain, his being split across every moment. He existed. He was the beginning and he was the end. He saw!

"Ahhh..." Nathan dropped on the ground and panted.

"...athan! Are you alright?"

Hands, so many hands. They held him, helped him and his blurry vision pulled back into focus.

Nathan found himself lying on the bed. Caitlin was looking at his eyes and he looked back. "Are you alright?"

He nodded and tried to sit up.

Barry was there to help him though he didn't need it. He wasn't injured just tired. Nathan clenched his fist feeling strength and no fatigue, he frowned.

"What happened there, Nathan?" Dr. Wells looked at him seriously.

"I, I don't know." Nathan fumbled on the bed while shaking his head. "I only felt this wave of energy rush into me, it was, it was too much."

"Apparently so." Cisco held the rod that glowed a red and white color. Nathan could trace arcs of lightning coursing through the glass.

"Is that?" He looked at the engineer.

Cisco smiled and tapped at the rod. "Dark matter, yes. And lots of it."

He looked at Barry and asked, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I should be the one asking that." Barry shook his head. "I am fine though. A little weak, but I can feel myself recovering."

"That's good." Nathan nodded his head.

"You are physically fine." The blonde doctor had a worried look on her face, but Nathan could discern the traces of relief wash over her.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Wells asked, this time a bit less seriously. Nathan smiled and assured him. The man nodded back and asked, "Wouldn't you like to test your speed now, Nathan?"

Nathan's eyes widened and he looked at him, "I would really love to."

"Cool, then let's go." Cisco laughed and led the way.

Nathan entered the room and stepped up on the treadmill. He motioned for the man behind the glass to start.

He took a step and ran. Nathan felt a rush of adrenaline wash over him. His feet turned a blur in no time and he smiled.

"Awesome. He just went past 300 and growing." Cisco smiled.

"Hey, is that smoke?" Barry pointed at the feet that were blur to the normal eyes. But he could see it all, and what he saw was black smoke and red sparks at his shoes.

Unlike his red lightning, Nathan had a purple storm that covered the man in luminous glow.

"360 and he's not growing further." Cisco informed the group.

Nathan seemed to have realised this also as he carefully lowered his speed and stepped off the treadmill. He smiled at the group, only to notice something foul wafting in front of his nose.

He looked down and almost jumped. His shoes were gone and so were the rim of his dark blue jeans. He hurriedly kicked the shoes off and slapped the sparks off.

"Whoo~ dude that was fire, no pun intended." Cisco came laughing.

Nathan laughed back and asked, "How high did I go?"

"360 mph Nathan, and going by the standard you still retain a speed for 300 after the initial period has worn off." Dr. Wells entered after Cisco, the rest following behind him.

"Guess you are gonna a need a new pair of shoes." Cisco clapped his hands together as he looked at the charred mess that was lying beside the man.

"You are not hurt, are you?" Caitlin asked worriedly, looking at his feet.

"Oh no, I feel fine. But gotta say, that was an ingenious idea; was it yours?" He turned to Cisco and smiled.

The man shook his head and said, "That was all Dr. Wells. I just built the tech." 

Nathan nodded and smiled, engaging others in small talk. But inwardly he was frowning.

Harrison Wells having the idea wasn't suspicious. However, given all the things of the past, Nathan started to grow wary of the old scientist. He didn't know why, but something was bugging him. Especially after that encounter earlier.

When he had been Siphoning dark matter from Barry, he had felt a connection to something else. He had tried to reach for it and even siphoned some of it. But at the same time, he had felt something else.

If what he felt from Barry was a force powerful enough to eradicate the world, but still restrained. This was different, it felt opposite to everything the force stood for. Nathan had felt it encite him, lure him into something. And he had given in.

He didn't know what happened but it didn't seemed to have liked that he started sucking the juice from it like a battery on charging.

It had hit him with a wave of dark matter and Nathan had felt overwhelmed.

Suspiciously, something else exuded a feeling similar to that. He turned to look at Harrison Wells, but found him gone.

Nathan looked at Cisco and asked for a leave, as he was feeling tired. Caitlin glared at him with force that seemed stronger than the one he confronted earlier, so he quietly followed the doctor to her lab, where she examined him from head to toe.

Before leaving the lab, Cisco handed him a pair of shoes a new pants to wear. The engineer had it in reserve as he knew that Nathan would need a full pair one day, rather than just the soles.

Nathan took a roundabout way to his home. He changed his clothes and left through another way. Once on the desolate highway, Nathan took a deep breath. He was ready to run for real.

And running, Nathan did. He was fast, faster than before. Months of paranoia had resulted in him keeping secrecy. If he was his past self from months back, there was no doubt he would've spilled everything he knew. Like his real speed.

Even as he lost miniscule amount of dark matter that he had extracted from Barry, Nathan was still fast. Twice as fast as in the lab. He suspected that even after losing a part, he would still have somewhere around 600+ mph of speed. Now that was fast.

He marveled at the purple lightning that clung to his body. Subconsciously Nathan started to absorb these strands of wayward energy. His speed took him to Starling City in just an hour and he paused to gaze at the sign board that read [Starling City].

Nathan smiled, feeling the adrenaline wash out and only leave a cold calmness. The fact that his clothes were in tatters and a singed mess, didn't bother the quirky young man. He rank back.