Suspicion

Just as Lin Li stared blankly at the three of them sweeping away all the food and deeply felt that he was going to go hungry, Barry and Joe also had a heartfelt talk.

During today's battle, Barry and Joe had already forgiven and understood each other.

In Barry's lab, three pizzas sat on a table piled high with documents.

Barry tore off a slice of pepperoni pizza with his hand, took a bite, and said, "Joe, thank you."

Leaning half his backside against the table, Joe watched Barry eat his pizza, just as he had when he was little. With emotion, he said, "Barry, you've grown up. You should have your own ideas. You were right. You're not my child, I..."

Barry paused with the pizza at his mouth and interrupted, "No, Joe. You are my father."

"You're the father who made sure I was fed and clothed."

"The father who sat beside my bed every night until I fell asleep because I was afraid of the dark."

"The father who taught me to do my homework, taught me how to drive, and taught me how to shave."

"The father who put me through college and taught me every good quality in life."

"Everything you did, all of it, was what a father did. You are my father. I'm so glad you became my second father."

Joe was too moved for words. He wiped his face, his eyes rimmed with tears, then picked up a slice of pizza and clinked it against Barry's in a toast. They smiled at each other.

After each ate another slice, Joe said, "Barry, I don't approve of you being The Flash, but you have your own ideas, and I can only support you quietly. But you must accept my supervision. We need to be honest with each other."

Barry understood what Joe meant. He danced around happily and said, "Joe, this is great. I've always wanted to work alongside you and fight crime."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "From now on, can we have no more secrets?"

Barry paused, hesitation crossing his face. "Yes... yes."

Joe once again wore that expression: Kid, I can see right through you again. You're lying, but this time I'm going to expose it.

Joe turned around and rolled up a world map poster hanging over the blackboard, revealing the information hidden behind it.

Joe had accidentally seen it when he came to Barry's workspace at STAR Labs after arguing with Barry that day. It left him inexplicably heartsick, because he had also been involved in the original assessment of the scene when Barry's father had been accused, and he too had concluded that Barry's Father had killed his wife. Back then, no one believed Barry or his father's account. They all thought it was merely an attempt to evade blame. Until Barry gained super speed, everything—everything—matched what Barry had described as a child, though fourteen years had passed.

Pinned to the blackboard were newspaper clippings about Barry's mother's murder, reports about a doctor killing his wife, images of Barry's Father being taken away by the police, and numerous notes marking strange events, numbers, and dates, all arranged in meticulous order.

"Joe..."

Barry stammered. Countless explanations flashed through his mind, but in the end, he merely called Joe's name and said nothing more. He knew Joe strongly disapproved of him doing this, so he had kept it hidden from him all this time.

Joe had initially believed that Barry's Father had killed his wife. Because he had been good friends with Barry's Father, he adopted Barry. He had privately investigated the case of Barry's Father killing his wife for a long time, but he had found nothing and eventually let it go.

He believed Barry should not be affected by something like his father's case. At the very least, Barry should have had a healthy environment to grow up in. Therefore, from the very beginning, he had strictly forbidden Barry from getting involved in the case of his father killing his mother. At any time, having the knowledge hanging over his head that his father was a murderer who had killed his mother was an extremely cruel burden for a child—the psychological pressure and the looks from others alike.

Of course, that had only been Joe's understanding. Until Barry displayed super speed, until Joe witnessed the terror of an artificial tornado, Lin Li's strange ability to control electricity, and what he had discovered in Barry's workspace that day, his instincts told him that perhaps his judgment from fourteen years ago had truly been wrong.

Joe looked at Barry very seriously and said, "Barry, you were right. Fourteen years ago, I made the wrong judgment. I bear some responsibility for your father being wrongly imprisoned. That mistake needs to be corrected. Your father shouldn't be in prison. I believe what you said. I'm going to thoroughly reinvestigate everything about this case. Kid, your father will be fine."

Tears welled in Barry's eyes as he said emotionally, "Joe, thank you. Thank you for believing me. But it's useless. I've searched through every piece of evidence and everything related to it more than a hundred times. I found nothing. There isn't even the slightest point of entry, not a single clue to follow. I've been going in circles."

As Barry spoke, he became discouraged. Overturning the case was simply too difficult. There was no evidence at all, and he could not even find a starting point for an investigation. That was why he had always paid attention to all kinds of supernatural phenomena, hoping they could help clear his father's name. But even after becoming a supernatural phenomenon himself, he still had no idea where to begin.

Joe tapped his fingers on the table and said with certainty, "Barry, I've been a police officer for many years. I've handled countless cases, and all the experience and instincts I've accumulated tell me that we should investigate the source of your abilities."

"Me?"

"No. Harrison Wells."

"He took you from the hospital back then, and when you woke up, you had superpowers."

"He gives me the feeling that he knows everything, that he knows about this kind of ability of yours."

"Besides, your ability is the same as what happened the night your mother died, according to your description."

"My experience and instincts tell me that we need to investigate Harrison Wells."

After hearing Joe out, Barry frowned in thought. He recalled the scene on the night his mother was murdered, with red and yellow arcs of electricity swirling around, as well as how he had been taken several kilometers away from home in an instant. It was remarkably similar to what happened whenever he used his abilities to save people.

Barry was not like he had been before. He had not spent much time with Wells, had not yet received Wells's wholehearted guidance and instruction, and had not formed that trusting bond between teacher and student with him.

At this point, Wells was merely a physics expert whom he respected and admired greatly. Since it involved his mother's murder, Barry did not immediately deny Joe's view.

In the television show, because he had spent time with Wells and was grateful for Wells's guidance, combined with Wells's Oscar-worthy disguise, Barry trusted Wells deeply and immediately rejected Joe's suspicions. Only later, after Wells killed a reporter and exposed a few traces of himself, did Barry begin to suspect Wells and investigate him thoroughly.

The despondency vanished from Barry's face. He looked at Joe hopefully. Joe's words had given him a new lead. Though it was uncertain, it was still hope. A lead meant there was a path, and if he kept walking it, there would eventually be a chance to clear his father's name.