Wednesday morning arrived with unseasonably warm weather.
Barry woke at 5:47 AM without an alarm. His body had adapted to consistent early schedules. Sleep optimization calculated by Gideon and implemented through adjusted routines. Six hours of rest now provided what eight used to.
He lay in bed for three minutes, mind already processing the day's priorities. Lunch with Harrison Wells at noon. Critical meeting. Potential revelation about Wells's true nature. Barry needed to be at maximum analytical capability.
Which meant a Thinking Cap session beforehand.
Barry stood and walked to his workstation. The latest iteration of the Cap sat on a custom stand. Version 4.0. Sleeker than the prototype. Better materials. Improved electromagnetic coil positioning. Power efficiency increased by 34%.
He could now operate at 75% power for two-hour sessions without adverse effects. His baseline intellect had increased so much that even without the device, he functioned at approximately 8x normal human cognitive levels.
With the Cap? Over 100x during active sessions.
Barry placed the device on his head and activated it at 70% power. Conservative for a morning session. Just enough to sharpen his mind to the necessary edge.
Hummm.
The world crystallized into perfect clarity. His apartment became a collection of calculable variables. Light refraction patterns through the windows. Air circulation from the heating system. Micro-vibrations from traffic outside translated into distance and vehicle type estimations.
Everything was data. Everything was understandable.
"Gideon, display all compiled information on Harrison Wells."
His laptop screen filled with documents. Gideon had been gathering data for three days. Public records. Published research. News articles. Social media activity. Employment history. Financial records that were technically private but accessible through creative database queries.
Barry absorbed it all in ninety seconds. His enhanced mind cataloged every detail. Cross-referenced everything against his meta-knowledge of the TV show timeline.
Harrison Wells - Profile Summary:
Born March 19, 1972 in Starling City. Parents both professors at Starling City University. Showed exceptional aptitude for physics and mathematics from early age. Full scholarship to MIT at sixteen.
PhD in theoretical physics by twenty-three. Published groundbreaking papers on tachyon particles and dimensional theory by twenty-five.
Founded STAR Labs at twenty-eight with venture capital backing and personal inheritance. Grew the company into a premier research institution over fifteen years. Married to Tess Morgan, neurologist. No children.
Wife died in car accident in 2000. Wells became more reclusive afterward but maintained STAR Labs leadership.
Current focus: particle accelerator construction. Stated goal of advancing human understanding of fundamental physics and creating clean energy solutions.
Public perception: brilliant but eccentric. Known for taking risks other scientists avoided. Occasionally controversial in his approaches but consistently producing results.
Financial situation: wealthy but not billionaire level. Most assets tied up in STAR Labs. Lives modestly despite resources. Drives a ten-year-old car. Small house in the suburbs.
All of it consistent with what Barry expected.
Nothing obviously wrong. Nothing that screamed "time-traveling supervillain wearing a stolen face."
But Barry's enhanced mind noticed subtleties. Micro-patterns in the data that normal analysis would miss.
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