The bustle of the precinct felt almost mundane after the silent, frozen world of the warehouse. Barry followed Joe inside, giving a brief, official statement about his "hunch" leading him to the docks. Leo Mercer was processed and booked, his file now updated with a simple, non-meta-human designation.
As Joe headed to his office to file the paperwork, Barry slipped away to his lab, craving the quiet. But the quiet was already occupied.
Patty was there, leaning over his main workbench. She wasn't looking at the Alchemist evidence. She was studying a large, complex schematic he'd left out, her brow furrowed in concentration. It was a design far beyond anything the CCPD would ever use—a sleek, futuristic starship with temporal drive signatures and weapon ports.
She heard him enter and turned, her eyes wide with a mixture of guilt and burning curiosity. She pointed a finger at the blueprint.
"Okay," she said, her voice a little breathless. "What in the world is a 'Waverider'?"
Barry let out a soft laugh, closing the lab door behind him. He walked over, leaning against the bench next to her. "It's a timeship."
Patty blinked. "A... timeship? Like, for traveling in time?"
"Yep," Barry said, popping the 'p'. He traced the outline of the ship on the paper. "I'm building it. Or, well, designing a new version. For some... future friends of mine."
"Future friends?" she asked, her head tilting.
"Yeah. They're not a thing yet. But they will be. They'll be a team. They'll call themselves the Legends of Tomorrow." He said it with a fondness that suggested he'd already met them, in a way. "Their job is to protect the timeline. Fix the breaks. Stop people from messing with history."
Patty stared at him, trying to process this. "And you're building them a timeship. Because you just... know they're coming."
"Let's call it a very strong feeling," he said with a wink. "The original Waverider is good, but it's fragile. I want to make them a better one. Something that can handle the real heavy-duty temporal storms." He tapped a specific, intricate component at the heart of the schematics. "I'm designing it to use a Mother Box as its core."
Patty's face was a perfect picture of confusion. "A... Mother Box? Is that like a fancy battery?"
"Kind of. It's... well, it's a sentient, cosmic computer from a world called New Genesis. It can manipulate energy, space, and reality itself. It's the only power source I can think of that's stable enough and powerful enough for what I have in mind." He saw her expression and smiled. "It's a lot, I know."
"It's a universe," Patty corrected, sinking into a stool. "It's a whole other universe of stuff I didn't know about. Time travel, alien computers, future superhero teams..." She shook her head, a dazed smile on her face. "You know, for a second, I thought being a cop was weird."
Barry pulled up another stool and sat facing her. "Alright. You've got that look. The one with a million questions. Let's have it. Ask me anything. But just about me, okay? One cosmic revelation at a time."
Patty took a deep breath, composing her thoughts. The grand scale of timeships and Motherboxes was shoved aside for something more personal.
"Okay. How fast are you? Really."
Barry thought for a moment. "It's hard to put into normal words. I can run across the ocean. I can circle the planet in the time it takes you to finish a sentence. If I really push it, I can break the light barrier."
Her eyes went even wider. "So you can... time travel? On your own? Without a ship?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I can."
"That's... insane." She was silent for a beat, absorbing that. Then, a mischievous glint appeared in her eye. "So... what about Superman? I saw the news. I saw him moving. He's fast. Who's faster?"
Barry let out a groan, but he was smiling. "Oh, don't even start that. Don't even think about it."
"Why? It's a valid question!" Patty insisted, leaning forward. "The Man of Steel versus the Scarlet Speedster. Come on. You have to have thought about it."
"Of course I've thought about it," Barry admitted, running a hand through his hair. "Superman is my friend. He's an amazing hero. And yes, he is incredibly fast." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a mock-conspiratorial whisper. "But between you and me? I'm faster. He's a passenger jet. I'm the lightning bolt it flies through. Heck, Patty," he said, leaning back with a confident grin that was purely Barry Allen, not the Flash. "I'm the fastest. Period. There's fast, and then there's me."
The way he said it wasn't arrogant. It was a simple, factual statement, like a mathematician stating a proven equation. It sent a shiver down Patty's spine.
She looked at him—at the unassuming man in a lab coat who had just casually admitted to being the fastest being alive, who was building a timeship for a team that didn't exist yet using technology from another planet.
"Okay," she said softly, her initial overwhelmed feeling melting into a deep, warm wonder. "Okay."
She reached out and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his. The schematics of the Waverider lay forgotten on the table beside them, a promise of future adventures.
"But just so you know," she added, a playful smile returning to her lips. "I'm still expecting that dinner. And I still have a list of questions. Starting with: if you can time travel, why are you still late for work all the time?"
Barry's laugh was bright and genuine, filling the quiet lab. "Some mysteries," he said, squeezing her hand, "are even beyond the Speed Force."