Title: "Flicker"
Rating: T
Genre: drama
Characters: the usual suspects on LR's side, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and a mention of Dr. Wells and Flash on The Flash's side
Summary: The dark and anti-matter had been uncontained. (He changed that night, too.)
Notes: This is the result of an idea I've been toying with for a while now plus binging on The Flash episodes. In Invincible, Harry says that the particle accelerator explosion had been contained on his earth, but not on Barry's. That revived the idea I had, and here we are. :)
This is set S3 of Lab Rats and S1 of The Flash. Enjoy.
Donald had honestly forgotten how young his stepson still was. Leo had always been a go-getter. He accomplished whatever he set his mind to, which at times was beneficial for many and at times downright reckless and disastrous. He was usually independent, both mature and immature for his age, that the reality that he was still vulnerable often escaped his mind.
But now, as Donald looked upon the sixteen year-old lying helplessly on the hospital bed, he was reminded that the youngest child in his family still needed their protection. Seeing him like that weighed heavily on him. He felt guilty. He was so busy trying to find his three older children that he neglected to keep into account the safety of the fourth. Tasha had told him it wasn't his fault; it was an accident. Still...
He didn't know what happened. They were in the high school gymnasium, acting on a plan to locate Adam, Bree, and Chase. Leo left to get the computer the school had in stock to complete their equipment. The next thing he knew, he heard the teenager yelling. He couldn't quite hear his words and was on his way to come to him when the ground beneath him shook.
Any conclusion they may have had of it being caused by an earthquake came and went almost instantaneously. It had to be one of the strangest things that ever happened. The earth moved violently for a second then, it was at peace again.
As it turned out, Tasha and Perry felt it, too, and told him so when they rushed into the gym. They were fine, thankfully, and so was he, but then he remembered his stepson and how quiet it suddenly was outside.
They ran out—and soon after they found him.
Donald stared at Leo apologetically. Under the dimmed hospital lights, the boy's face looked so empty. He wished he had listened closer to what he said. He wished he had a chance to protect him against whatever happened to him, just like he wished he had a chance to protect Adam, Bree and Chase from what drove them away from him.
Three missing children and one that wasn't waking up. What's happening to my family? he thought, distressed and completely lost.
A hand wrapping warmly around his elbow then sliding down to his hand took him from his thoughts.
"What did the doctor say?" Donald asked his wife as she sidled closer to him.
"No improvements still. They don't know why he's not waking up," Tasha said, her eyes on her son.
"I'm sorry."
Tasha shook her head. "It wasn't your fault, Donald. You're not who I blame," she said. After a moment, she let go of his hand and then retrieved her wallet and her phone. "Mom and Dad are on their way up. They'll be here soon."
"Where are you going?" Donald asked.
"We are going to find our kids. Your brother better hope I don't find him anywhere near them."
"What about Leo?"
Tasha glanced at her son with much sympathy. "My parents will call me if there's a change in his condition," she said. When her husband only stared at her unsurely, she said, "There's no more time to lose, Donald. We need to go now. I've called in a favor to help our search. Somebody's gonna learn a lesson tonight about boundaries when it comes to my kids."
It was only then that Donald saw clearly through the cool façade his wife displayed. She was enraged. He knew it had a lot to do with what happened to her son, but he also knew that she wanted her stepchildren to be brought back to safety. So, he nodded. "Alright. Let's go," he said before leaving with her, determined more than ever to take back what had been stolen from them.
"Where's Leo?"
It was one of the first questions that were asked of them after the three came home, after they each snapped out of the app that almost had them fatally hurt their parents. Donald almost didn't want to answer. After seeing the expressions on their faces when they saw the lab, the place they grew up in and knew as home, tarnished indefinitely by the burn marks and incinerated to ashes by the fire that licked it clean, he didn't want them to get hurt again.
But they had to, and so he and Tasha took them to the hospital room where their brother was.
As they expected, this news was worse. They surrounded the bed, speechless and horrified and as shocked as he had been.
"Was it because of us?" Adam asked half-heartedly as he gazed upon his brother and friend.
"No, honey," Tasha assured him. "It wasn't because of you."
"Was it because of Douglas?" Chase asked.
"We don't know. We don't know what happened," Donald answered honestly.
Bree, like her brothers, said nothing. She only reached for her youngest brother's hand then gently touched it. "We're here, Leo. You can wake up now," she said quietly.
Donald almost told them what the doctor said, that their brother wouldn't respond and wouldn't awaken, and that he may be like this for a long time, but he didn't.
Douglas already broke their hearts. He didn't want to do it to them, too.
There was something purely peaceful in the darkness that surrounded him. Somehow, he wasn't scared by it like he would have been normally. Just lying there, with no worries or thoughts to stir fear, he had no desire to open his eyes. It was as if he was outstretched in emptiness, and he savored every second of it.
From time to time, he heard voices. They were often inaudible, though once in a while a whole word or two would come through. At the back of his mind, he knew he should listen to these. Their speakers expressed their uncertainty, their despondency. Sometimes they pleaded, though for what or who he didn't know, neither did he bother to. They all sounded important, but he was too weak. The nothingness that held him in its embrace seemed much warmer.
Whenever he had a degree of awareness (that concept was always tricky there), the only thing he would pay attention to was the Stream. He dubbed it so because it was how it felt, like a stream. He never saw it, but he imagined that if he did it would look like a soft current on a river.
He neither knew where the gentle rush came from nor what it was made of. It had always just…been. So he never asked. It was strange and beautiful, though. The Stream hit every single inch of him. If one could see it, it might seem like water constantly drawing into a sponge, but without the sponge ever getting full.
Did it make sense? He didn't know. Being anxious about details was too much of a bother.
Still, the Stream was a topic that he entertained himself with regularly, like at that moment, at that indefinite point in time. He sensed it, the warmth and constancy of its currents. He felt somewhat bad because a voice – that of a male's, the oldest and weariest of all the ones he had heard – expressed words and requested something again, and the whole period only faded into the darkness because he paid more attention to the invisible waves.
Briefly, he wondered what would happen if he resisted the Stream. Not a lot, just a little. Would it get stronger, or would it stop altogether? Was it even possible?
He still lacked sufficient strength to do anything, and he could definitely feel that reality in every joint and marrow. However, there seemed enough in the reserves to spend on a test. No harm in trying, in his opinion, at least.
And so he mustered everything then, with the utmost concentration, he moved the fingers on his right hand. The intent had been to ball it into a fist, but the result was far less impressive than that. He probably only moved it an inch.
Yet, it seemed enough. The Stream suddenly eased, as if it was now hesitating to come closer to him. Curious, he decided to gamble with the last drop of strength he had to move more to see what the Stream would do. He clutched as tightly as possible.
The Stream stopped.
Darkness took away his awareness immediately after.
Months passed, but Leo remained unresponsive. He missed many things, the first one being the widely-televised stunt their father did just so they would have the money to build a new lab and new capsules for his older siblings. His father also did it so that they could take him home from the hospital and transfer him to his own room instead, with all the equipment he needed as well as home care.
It goes beyond saying that it was all done out of love for the four of them, yet it was completely lost on him.
He also missed other important events, like when Adam, Bree, and Chase tricked Perry into thinking that they had taken her to a mission, only to reveal the lab to her. Another was when Bree and Chase both got their first jobs. He also missed the play Adam was in, and the confrontation that ensued at the after party between his sister and Janelle because his supposed girlfriend was seen getting too close with another boy.
His sister thought it was good he wasn't awake then. She didn't want him to have to hear the girl he liked say that the dates they went on were just dates and nothing serious, that she didn't like him so much that she would wait for him.
Janelle was apologetic, and her concern was legitimate and reasonable—but Bree knew it would've still broken him.
He also missed Krane kidnapping his mother to get to Adam, Bree, and Chase. He was barely even aware that they would've been defeated if not for Douglas' quick thinking. Chase told him all about it, but he doubted his younger brother understood any of it.
He had many doubts at that point in all honesty. Every week that passed by with no result and every conversation that never came with any response eroded his confidence that his stepbrother was listening. He didn't show much progress, and it didn't seem like he would. But the teenage genius still hoped for the best for the main reason that he wanted his brother to wake up, know that they were there, and talk to him again.
However, Leo remained stuck, and the days only moved on.
Through the course of an innumerable period, the vast darkness had changed. He could still see nothing, and the Stream was still there, but the air surrounding him gradually sizzled with an electric charge. Unlike the soft current which he had steadily learned to attract and repel, this thickest cloud of something new was loud and wired and alive. It simultaneously sought and detested his attention. It was very capricious, and he didn't know how to deal with it.
In a way, it made it easier for him to begin focusing on the voices coming from a distance. The new element spoke in a language he couldn't understand, so naturally his ears were drawn first to the one that he could.
He was starting to associate the voices with people now: Mom, Big D, Adam, Bree, Chase, Grandma, Grandpa. Half of the time the words still came very slurred to him, but their tones and the manner they spoke usually communicated enough. He wanted to tell them at times that he was listening to the things they said, but he found that he didn't know how to.
Maybe soon he would remember. He was tired of being in nothing that felt like everything. He wanted to break out and see behind the black curtain that shrouded him from the voices again.
In the tiresome silence, he sensed the Stream continually flowing and the air excitedly jumping up and down and left and right, every space quantifiable and not. The latter seemed to be craving his attention at that moment for whatever reason. It was as if any movement of approval would satisfy it greatly.
So he grazed it softly with his fingers.
Upon the minute twitching of his hands, lights around the house and the whole neighborhood blew out.
Meanwhile, in the vast darkness, the erratic energy desisted.
Once again he was left alone with a weaker Stream.
Bree sighed as she gazed upon the unmoving figure of her younger brother. Her mind was turning with too many thoughts tonight, just like it had been the past few days, and her shoulders were weighed down by guilt. She felt completely alone. However, she knew this was her own doing.
How could she have been so unreasonable?
She sat up on one of the chairs that had been occupied by many, day in and day out, for the past few months. She had always known that her brother was listening; her conviction in that had never wavered. "Leo, you have to wake up," she requested. "I did something horrible last Friday: I smashed my chip. It was so stupid. I just got so frustrated that I can't have a normal life. I didn't like the thought that I was always going to be tied to my bionics. I just wanted to be free. At the time, destroying it made sense. Now I regret it. I don't know what to do.
"Mr. Davenport can't fix my chip. Chase tried to help, but it's not working out as they hoped it would." She chuckled. "I can run fast, but I run backwards. That's not gonna work, I don't think. I can't see where I'm going."
The smile on her face faded. She sighed. "You've always been the one to come up with solutions when no one else could. That's why I need you to tell me what to do. I can't be like this forever. This is not what I'm meant to be. Please. I need one of my best friends right now."
However, as had always been the case since the night they came back, she received no responses from him.
Bree leaned back on her seat. Her eyes watered as feelings of loneliness and fear overwhelmed her.
But then, her peripheral vision caught the most unexpected: Leo moved. She sat up alertly as his fingers brushed the bed, which wasn't unusual but more progressive than normal. She got up when he slowly took a lungful of breath, something that he definitely hadn't done in months. When he turned, though sluggishly and almost painfully, she came up to the side of his bed and towered over him. "Leo?" she cautiously called to him.
His eyes moved under the lids before they fluttered open. His irises swept around the room for the next moment, devoid of any recognition of where he was and what was happening, before it rested on her.
Despite the emptiness she found there, Bree grinned then chuckled in great relief. Once she was sure that she was not just imagining everything, she rushed to the door. "Tasha! Mr. Davenport!" she yelled out. "Leo's awake! He's awake!"
As their parents and oldest brother made their way to the room, Bree came back to her brother's bed side. "You're okay, Leo," she assured him when she saw the confusion in his eyes. "You're at home. You're safe."
Leo didn't feel fine. From the days since he woke up, he had gained much physical strength. Yet, deep inside, something was different. Something was strange.
He at first thought that his body was just getting accustomed to being so mobile again. The doctor did say that lethargy and nausea would be common, but sufficient rest and taking it slow would help immensely. He did that. He did what she told him to. Not only was it because his family was insistent that he follow the physician's orders but also because he often felt sick to his stomach.
At times, he wished it had been the lethargy that kicked in frequently. At least he could combat that with sleep.
But even with medication, the sick feeling wouldn't go away. He didn't have the heart to tell his family about the Stream and how often he still sensed it. They had been through enough already after his rather dramatic accident; he didn't want to worry them again. He didn't tell them either about the metallic taste in his mouth and the acidic churning in his gut that would accompany the nausea. It often made him want to throw up.
Somehow, though, that seemed to him like a step up from the supercharged air that he vaguely remembered from his unconsciousness. It served like a signal, an indication that the unchangeable shift that happened that night was moving to its final stages. He was close to reaching the threshold from which he could not return from.
Until he could figure out what exactly he had turned into and the authenticity of his suspicions, he decided to preoccupy himself with matters concerning his parents and siblings. It made him happy and even amused to know how much his mother got involved with the team. She had unknowingly become another adviser for the trio and even filled in for her son from time to time. She recounted a few missions to him laughingly, especially as she truthfully told him the few mess-ups she had made, but it was obvious she enjoyed the new experience.
His brothers' accounts both amazed and saddened him: it amazed him in that their vivid and slightly comical storytelling brought to life what he had missed, and saddened him because he hadn't been there to witness it. Those six months were months he would never get back.
His father was apologetic, blaming himself for what happened. He told him he didn't blame him. What happened, whatever that was, wasn't his fault. That seemed to both relieve and distress his father. He learned about Janelle soon after, and why there hadn't been any texts, calls, or even a Get Well soon card from her.
Honestly, he didn't know how to react. He wasn't sure whether to be angry, understanding, sad, or forgiving. He was too sick and tired to figure it out then, so he decided to just let everything go until he was ready to sort it out.
His sister told him everything that the others had both told him and hadn't told him, but in her perspective. She also told him about the problem she had with her chip. It was perfect, because it was an opportunity for him to help. Finding a solution would ease him back to what was normal.
Stringing a few key things he had learned, as well as doing a little research, he came to the park on that bright summer afternoon to look for Douglas. He found him albeit under a suspicious and strange choice of disguise.
"Your mother nearly ripped me to shreds the last time I saw her. I'm starting to be more scared of her than I am of Krane," Douglas said. He crossed his arms. "If she sees me anywhere near you, she's not gonna let me live. So tell me quick: why are you here?"
"Bree needs your help."
"My help?"
He nodded, perspiration accumulating on his forehead and neck as he tried to keep the strong current hitting him at bay. "She destroyed her chip," he only said.
"What?"
"You're the only one who can fix it," he told him. "She regrets it. She just wants her abilities back. Can you help her? Please."
Douglas sighed. "I would, but I have no equipment to fix it with."
"I'll take you to the lab. No one's there. You can use what we have."
"Kid, are you okay?" Douglas asked concernedly. He had observed the slightly abnormal breathing and the pain reflected on his face. "Should you be out here?"
"I'm fine," Leo lied. "It's my sister that needs your help."
The rogue scientist examined him for a moment, looking him over with keen and half-accusatory eyes. Then, to the teenager's relief, he shrugged. "Alright. Promise there's no one there," he said.
"No. No one's there."
"Not your father."
"No."
"Especially not your mother."
"She's at work."
"Alright," Douglas said as he pulled the food cart he manned from its parking spot. "Let's go."
Leo led the way. As they traveled, the current continued to rush in stronger. He tried to come up with reasons why it was different today and out there compared to any other day and when he was inside.
Glancing at the skies, he saw that the sun was shining its brightest.
The pain eventually got better—and that was a turn for the worst.
It was a relief at first when the Stream degraded into something very faint and much less. He could still sense it (he doubted the connection between him and it would ever be severed at this point), but it wasn't forceful anymore. It was as if it was much more at peace with him now than it had ever been.
Then, one night when he tried repelling the current, he turned invisible.
That frightened him because for the next half hour, he couldn't regain his visibility. He didn't know what he had done or what had caused it, and he feared he would never come back to his normal state. No one was there to help him. His father was off to a mission with his siblings, and his mother was away on a business trip.
Thankfully, before it got too out of control, he reappeared again.
He concluded that repelling the stream had caused it, and he did his best not to do it again. Still, there were times when it would happen, and it was mostly when he either felt terribly ill or when his emotions would run a little too high.
The latter was the worst trigger of all because it would cause him to do something terrifying. The first time he discovered this was when Adam made him laugh so hard that the TV in the living room shorted. Sparks crackled from behind the screen, and the circuitry inside gave a squeal of agony before it begun its implosion.
They thought at first that it just malfunctioned, but then similar instances happened: a lightbulb blew out when his mother handed him the game he'd wanted since last year; Douglas' car suddenly turned off but thankfully turned back on in the middle of the road when he asked him a question that made him a bit too nervous; and the power at the school went out when Trent played a prank on him that surprised and scared him. An overflow of emotions could set off reactions like these, and so he had to always keep his reactions in check.
He hated it. He wanted to be able to feel things and not destroy everything around him.
But he knew he had to. Until it all goes away, he had to, especially if he wanted to keep everyone safe.
Douglas had known that something was wrong with the kid. He didn't know why the rest of their family didn't notice it. He guessed it was because they didn't really attribute anything impossible as being connected with him. Besides waking up from a coma that they were told he may never come out from, the sixteen year-old, to them, was one of the more normal features of their family.
But he wasn't fooled by this preconception. After spending more time around the family following his reconciliation with his older brother, after spending more time around the kid, it didn't take long for him to figure out that something was off.
Adam and Chase called fifteen minutes ago to tell their parents and uncle that Leo was missing. According to the boys, the three of them had just finished watching a movie when Leo, on his way to discarding something at the trash, ran into Janelle, her new boyfriend, and their group of friends. The situation looked awkward to begin with, but it only deteriorated the further the conversation went. The two were ready to jump in when Janelle's boyfriend said something that made the group, except Janelle, laugh derisively, but then the lights and everything electronic started blinking furiously. It stopped the mocking, but only for a moment.
When the boy said something again then rudely poked Leo on the shoulder, bulbs blew out one by one until there was utter darkness in the theater lobby.
Before Adam and Chase knew what was happening, they saw their brother running out of the theater.
All of them had been searching for him since then. For Douglas, though, locating his step-nephew wasn't very difficult. Once he had put the clues together, he began following the most telltale sign of his whereabouts: darkness and destruction. The trail led him to a building that was in the construction process.
He searched floor after floor until finally, he reached the fifth where the sound of someone quietly crying faintly echoed. Like the rest, it was also covered in darkness. If it hadn't been for the flashlight in his hand and the moonlight streaming in from the cloudless night above, he wouldn't have been able to see anything.
Warily, he traced the source of the sound. He came closer and closer to where it was louder until he found a silhouette curled up on the floor next to the wall. He took a step forward.
"Don't come closer!"
The bulb in his flashlight blew out.
Douglas stared speechlessly at the flashlight then his step-nephew.
The soft sobs continued. "Just leave…" Leo pleaded.
"Let's just calm down, okay? Being upset wouldn't help," he said as he dug into his back pocket for the small back-up light he kept with him. He turned it on to the lowest brightness then carefully turned it towards his step-nephew.
He wasn't prepared for what he saw next. There was blood. The most prominent of all on the teenager's face where it streamed from under his nose then forked into two separate directions: one to his lips, where the dried trail was starting to settle in some spots, and one to his right cheek where it was the reddest. There were also traces underneath his fingernails, right where the crescents dug into the skin because he was balling his fists too hard. The boy's face, which was usually home to a smirk or a grin, was contorted by unbearable pain.
What terrified the scientist was the fact that his step-nephew was flashing in and out of sight.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," the sixteen year-old said.
"What happened?" Douglas asked.
"Can you – can you make it stop?"
"I don't know how to," Douglas said apologetically. He sat down to see him better. "You have abilities."
"I don't want it. I want it to go away," Leo said, some words coming out in gasps due to the pain. Tears and blood mixed on his face. "It feels like I'm getting poisoned from the inside out. I destroy everything. I've destroyed everything. Why is this happening to me?"
Those words stabbed Douglas straight to the heart. He and the kid weren't very close, but he cared about him enough to wish for his suffering to stop. Empathetically, he said, "Don't worry. I'll call for help. We'll just get you home."
"No," Leo shook his head fervently, "no. They can't come here. I'll hurt them. I'll just hurt them. That's why I left—"
"Leo, calm down. Calm down. Please," Douglas said when the light in his hand began blinking madly. "I'm calling your father, okay? I need him to get something for me from the lab to help you. I'll tell Adam, Bree, and Chase to wait at home, alright?"
Leo nodded, appeased by that.
"While I'm away, can you do one thing for me? Can you close your eyes and slowly count down from 300? Focus on the numbers, just that. Nothing else. Can you do that?"
Leo nodded again. Then, he closed his eyes.
Douglas stood up then walked away. When he was far enough, he dialed his brother's phone number.
He peeked from the corner as the phone rang. The countdown should help the kid relax and eventually fall asleep. That seemed to be the only way to stop whatever was happening to him from escalating. If the countdown didn't, the tranquilizer he had been working on for missions should help.
For the meantime, these were the only things he could do for his step-nephew. Until he could learn more, this was the only thing he could do.
To Leo's relief, Douglas agreed to keep everything between the two of them for now. It came with a condition, though: he had to listen to him so what happened that night wouldn't happen again. He wasn't inclined to agree, but instincts told him that the once rogue inventor could be trusted now, so he did it.
The things he asked of him weren't very difficult, surprisingly. Douglas told him to stay away from the lab and to always maintain his calmness, both of which he already learned to do a long time ago anyways. What took some getting used to was sitting out all of the missions and avoiding everything and everyone that could upset him at all costs. Having his step-uncle constantly signaling to him with a shake of the head when he was beginning to laugh too much or to get too angry was another he had to adapt to.
These were temporary, at least until a solution to his puzzling condition was found.
Regrettably, the shift within him had become permanent. He could feel it, and he told his uncle so. Still, he didn't know if he wanted it or even needed it. He had moved past hatred for it, especially because his attempt at accepting it gradually resulted to the unbearable pain going away, but he couldn't honestly say he was perfectly at peace with this new reality.
Maybe he would change his mind when he understood what he had become.
Maybe.
Leo stared in wide-eyed fear as Douglas and Perry were knocked down to the ground unconscious.
Krane had found them. They had just figured out that the leaked video was of his and his soldier's doing and were about to figure out a solution when they came. Douglas had been talking him into doing his best to remain calm since those men stormed into their home and detained his parents and siblings, but he didn't know how long he could fight it off. He was scared – for his parents, for his siblings. He knew the government would take them away. They would separate all of them.
He was also scared for him, Douglas, and even Perry. More for himself now, since Krane and the girl looked at him with murder in their eyes.
Run, Douglas told him before Krane attacked them. Out of habit, he was inclined to do exactly that. However, concern for his uncle impeded him. It caused him to hesitate.
"Boo," Krane said after a low, malevolent chuckle.
He slowly backed away. The lights flickered all around, but the other two didn't notice. He turned around to bolt for the door.
An invisible force stopped him, cementing him in place. He tried to move, but to no avail. "Let me go!" he said.
They didn't listen. The girl only stepped up then shot a sphere of potent energy upward. The heavy cement beam right above sprayed him with dust and debris. She brought up another sphere within her hands, and then shot it to the other side.
With a forceful motion, she brought the beam down on him.
Without the force field she enclosed him in, he was vulnerable. Upon instinct, though impractical at the moment it seemed, he held up his hands to shield himself from the oncoming danger.
Upon his touch, the solid cement disintegrated into dust.
He could only look at his hands in shock after that. Looking up, he saw that he wasn't the only one surprised.
The lights blinked.
The expression on the madman's face changed to anger. "Finish him," he told the girl.
He stepped back when she moved to obey. She gathered another sphere of energy in her hands, but this time with a wrathful white glow. She looked at him.
Terror washed over him again. He knew he wouldn't make it out. The moment he turned around was the moment she would fire it. That was how dirty Krane played.
His heart began beating a million times a minute. He could feel it hit his rib cage to the point that he started worrying it would give. Bulbs began blowing. It caught Krane's attention, but not his nor the girl's. At the moment, it seemed like it was just him and that ball of energy, designed for a collision course.
He gasped when she drew back her hands to fire.
For the second time that afternoon, something incredible happened. It was as if something invisible knocked Krane and the girl from behind, causing them to fall. With the sunshine from outside and the last light standing, he stared at them, wary but relieved for the first time that he had whatever it was that he had.
The hours rolled along, and eventually, his siblings and his father were exonerated. They wouldn't have been, if not for a vengeful and honestly thoughtless move on Krane's part. He guessed he had to thank him for that. Of course, the government men were still very much interested in his siblings. The agent that handled their case said they could continue on their line of work without having to fear the wrath of a fearful public this time. The only catch, which was still a rather significant one, was that he would replace their father as the team leader.
Besides that, everything else relatively fell into place. After Perry brought in a suspicious footage from one of the surviving cameras (he could always count on her to shake everything up in times of peace), he had to tell his parents what had been happening in the past two months since he woke up. They were sufficiently scared, especially his mother. It didn't make it any better when he told them about his effect on electronics and what his touch could do.
That they knew came as a relief. He had more people to help him, and they were more understanding. His siblings even tried to help him control the abilities he had. It was rarely ever successful, but he always appreciated their effort.
Their being there was all he could ask for.
"Tell me what happened that night."
Douglas had prompted the revisit to the past one evening while they were out. His step-uncle's small lab still remained as a secret only the two of them knew of, and he honestly preferred it to stay that way. He liked the place because there, he wasn't as limited as he was outside. It was also a place where he could freely talk to Douglas about anything without scaring or alienating anybody.
He was confused at first what he meant by it. There had been many incidents that he had caused that needed explanations. But when his uncle clarified, when he said he meant the night he was found unconscious at his high school, he understood.
"I can't...really remember all of it," he said with a scratch of his head. "I just remembered Big D asking me to look for a good working computer that we can put together so we can find Adam, Bree, and Chase. Principal Perry's cheap; she hasn't bought new computers for the school. We're still using the ones that the kids in the 90's used. That's why it took me a while. Most of the ones we have had conked out. I wasn't even looking for good ones, I'm just looking for ones that would actually work. Eventually I found them. They were kind of heavy, especially the screen and the CPU, so I had to get a cart.
"I was wheeling everything across to the main building when I heard something. The trees were…shaking. It started as far back as I can see and made its way towards us. It's kinda dumb now that I remember it, but I really thought there was an earthquake. I don't know. I guess I thought it was because Chase and I were just talking about the San Andreas fault the day before. Nothing was really shaking that night besides those trees. I heard something else, too. It was like when a jet flies above you, and when it's a little too low? Like that. But I guess it still didn't make it an earthquake.
"It scared and confused me. I started yelling for Big D and Mom to get out of the school. If it was gonna be bad, I don't want the whole thing to fall on them. I was going to run back in, but I remembered the equipment. It was less important, but I saw it as our only way to find my brothers and my sister, so I couldn't just leave it behind.
"I just grabbed the best working one of all. That screen was heavy, I remember it was. I nearly broke my back lifting up that thing. But I carried it. I'm still yelling, screaming my head off for Mom and Big D. I'm also still holding that computer screen."
He shook his head. "I don't know what happened. It's like something hit me. I remember feeling the glass on the screen shatter against me while I was flung backwards with it, or I guess whichever way whatever that was was heading. I landed hard, and it knocked me out. The next time I wake up, I was in my room, hooked to all kinds of stuff. Bree was standing next to my bed. I don't remember what she said, but I remember her being very happy. It was kinda nice. It's been a while since they have been that happy to see me," he said with a small smile. He shrugged. "The rest is history."
Douglas brooded, his arms crossed in front of him. "This happened early January?"
Leo mentally counted back the months. "Yeah," he said.
The intense, ponderous frown on his uncle's face didn't clear completely, but it did ease up. He unknotted his arms, and then said the words he wasn't expecting to hear: "I know what happened to you."
It wasn't for a few more months until he got a definite answer. Douglas told him his suspicion. He mentioned about an accident on an east coast city—Central City, he believed it was called. He didn't say much about it, and it was probably because he didn't want to keep his hopes up. Besides that bit he gave him, all he said was that the accident affected many people in various ways and that he was on the process of arranging a 'consultation', whatever that meant.
He was too worried about what he might find out that he put off doing his own research about Central City. He did so again and again to the point that it got buried under other concerns. Soon, it was forgotten.
Then one January afternoon, Douglas took him to the lab where an unexpected guest was waiting for them.
Dr. Caitlin Snow was a quiet young woman. She conducted herself with much professionalism, and she was terrifically smart. She was kind, too. She sensed that he was cautious and slightly scared of her, so she talked to him in a friendly way. He could tell that took an effort. A certain sadness resided in her eyes. He didn't know why, but he was familiar with that look. After all, he had seen it in his mother's eyes when she lost his father.
That she was willing to put his comfort ahead of her own helped him to feel at ease with her.
She said she was from Central City and an employee of Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Labs – STAR Labs, for short. She also said she was a bio-engineer and was there to conduct tests to help him. "I'm sorry it took me a while to come here," she said with a glance at his uncle. "We were kind of…dealing with something back home."
Leo only looked at Douglas, unsure what to do.
"She's a friend, Leo. She won't tell the government about you," Douglas assured him.
"We may need to put you in our index, though. Only if the test confirms your uncle's suspicion, of course," Dr. Snow said.
He still wasn't very sold with it, and just the suggestion of an extensive test was already making him squeamish, but he agreed anyways. Just to know, once and for all.
As he suspected, the examination was extensive, painful, exhausting, and awkward at best. He was reminded why he hated going to the doctor. Filling up forms and answering a few questions were the easiest parts and the parts that he liked best. The nightmare was when she had to draw blood. They had to take precautions so no one would end up getting hurt or even electrocuted because he was too nervous. It was terrible.
She also made him nervous, not just because of the tests, but because of her looks, too. Her beauty was intimidating. He looked away as much as possible. He didn't think it would make it any easier if she saw him blush. She seemed like the kind of person who would just smile and not give him a hard time about it, but still. He'd rather it not happen at all.
To fill the silence, she talked. She asked him about his likes and dislikes. She asked him about his siblings. When he told her how much he cared about them, she smiled and said she didn't have any siblings, but she did have really good friends. She told him about one of them: Cisco. She said she was the closest thing she had to a brother. "I think if the two of you met, you'd be good friends, too," she said. "You'd like him. He's funny. He's also very smart."
She went on to tell him about Dr. Harrison Wells, STAR Labs' founder. She laughed when he said he knew of him because his father identified him through gritted teeth as a competitor a few years ago.
The test went on in a span of a few days since she had to go back to Central City for something important. When she came back, she gave him and Douglas an in-depth explanation of her findings. Douglas nodded and even occasionally asked questions. The whole thing only went over his head, and he told them so.
"Simply put, you have gone under a transformation in a cellular level," Dr. Snow said. "Because of that you now have a two-fold ability. One is that you can deflect light. That's why you can turn invisible. Two, you can also manipulate things in a subatomic level. Electrons, specifically. Your body reacts to its presence, and it also reacts to you. Light behaves the same way, light to you and you to light. You can handle that better because light has a steadier pattern. It's easy for you to register the wavelengths, so you adjust to it well. The second side is the hardest because electrons are erratic. They move fast and are harder to recognize."
"So, I won't ever get to learn how to control it?" he asked.
"Not necessarily," she said. "It seems like as time goes on, you adapt to it better. That you were able to break down a cement beam with one touch means you're improving."
He thought about it. Then, he asked, "Is it still possible for me to hurt my siblings accidentally? Or anyone else?"
"With practice and training, the likelihood of it will lessen," she offered.
He said nothing, but he did consider it a defeat. "Is there a cure for this?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No." To help him understand, she kindly said, "I know you're afraid, but that you've changed doesn't make you a monster. There are many in Central City like you. Given, most of them are not good people. They want to hurt others. But you? You don't. We know of others who also don't. There's someone in our city. He's called The Flash. He has changed, too. I have no doubt that he was scared at first when he learned he can run fast, but over time, with practice, he adapted. Now he saves people from bad guys."
A smile ghosted on his lips for a second before it vanished. "He was affected, too?"
"One of the many the night the particle accelerator went off."
"Went off?"
"It malfunctioned. It released dark matter and anti-matter. That's why many people changed."
The breeze and the sound, he thought. "How come we're all different? In abilities, I mean."
"Well, you were exposed to different conditions," she explained.
"So it was the cathode ray tube in the screen that determined his abilities," Douglas said.
"I suspect so," Dr. Snow said.
"What does that make us, then?" Leo asked. "The Flash, those people in Central City. Me. You said we've changed. If we're different, then what are we?"
"Back home, we call them metas."
"Metas?"
"Metahumans." She smiled. "That's what you are now, Leo. You're a metahuman."
Dr. Snow said that she and the team in STAR Labs may be able to help him understand and control his abilities better. However, because of work schedule and the thousands of miles distance, flying in from their home city to theirs would be very impractical. The only solution left, then, was for him to move to Central City where he would be closer to them.
Leo didn't know whether he could do it. He didn't want to leave his family, his friends, and the place he'd known so well. He knew no one in and next to nothing about Central City. Transferring to a new school four months before he graduated high school would be horrendous. He would have absolutely no friends to help him through.
Still, at the back of his mind he knew it was inevitable. His abilities would only continue to develop, and it was best if he actually understood it. Just the other day, without prompting, electricity crackled in his fingertips. It was brief, but it was potent. If he left increases like that uncontrolled, he would hurt someone. He feared he might even kill them.
So, after a lengthy discussion with his parents and correspondences with the team at STAR Labs, it was decided that he would move.
"Central City's really far away," Bree expressed while the four of them sat by the pool that afternoon. "Are you sure you want to move?"
"I don't want to, but I have to," Leo told his sister. "They can help me there. But I won't stay for long. Once I'm comfortable with this, when I know I'll be least likely to accidentally hurt anyone, then I'll come back."
"What if you like it there? What if you decide not to come back?" Adam asked.
Truth be told, he hadn't thought about him actually liking it there. He only smiled at his oldest brother. "I'll make sure to come back," he promised.
"You know, I, uh, I've been reading up on news articles written in their local newspaper," Chase said factually. "What Dr. Snow said checked out. A lot of people had reported seeing a red streak. There's a blogger who calls him Flash. There are also reports of other, um, metahumans. The bad ones sound dangerous, but I think that Flash guy is really good at keeping them in check."
His older brother wasn't making any eye contact. Though he didn't want to directly say it, Leo understood that he was worried about him. He knew he did that research to make sure he would be safe. "I'll be okay, Chase," he assured him out of appreciation.
"If there's any trouble, just run away, okay? Don't try to be a hero. We need you to come back here with us," Bree instructed. "And if you're ever in a bad situation, just call. We will be there."
Leo chuckled. "I'm not gonna bother you guys. You have many bionic teens to teach. You're gonna be tired."
"It doesn't matter. If you need us, we will be there," said Adam.
"You're still our little brother," Chase added.
His siblings' protectiveness caused his smile to grow a bit more. In many ways, it made him happy to know that through the years, he still had good friends in them. It also made his departure all the more difficult. "Come visit me there when you can, alright?" he said to them.
"Only if you promise to call when you can," his sister said.
Leo nodded. As they stared off to the ocean ahead, he realized how farther apart the four of them would be. In a few days, they would be heading thousands of miles away to the Pacific, while he would be drawing closer to the Atlantic.
He hoped the distance wouldn't cause them to drift apart.
The travel to the east coast ended up being close to what he had expected it would be. The goodbyes at the airport were teary. His mother cried as she told him for the hundredth time to take good care of himself and to call her as soon as he got there. His stepfather was glassy-eyed, but he was trying not to show it. The older man only told him that everything would be set up when he got to his destination. He also told him to be careful and to never hesitate to call if he needed anything. Bree hugged him tightly, and soon after Adam and Chase joined in for a group hug. They reminded him what they agreed on days prior.
Douglas was nowhere to be found.
Thanks to Dr. Snow and a stabilizing serum she made for him, he was able to board the flights that would get him there. He only really needed it for the first leg of the journey. He was nervous because it was the first time he would fly alone and was also sad because he had left his family. The mix was just what he needed. It knocked him out until the first stop, when the flight attendant kindly woke him up.
He didn't need to take any more the rest of the way there. The travel exhausted him to the point that all he could do was fantasize about the finish line—the airport in Starling City—when his eyes were open and dream about his new home in Central City when his eyes were closed. He needed not worry about an overflow of emotion causing an accident mid-flight because of that.
Just as his stepfather said, an employee of his from a nearby Davenport Industries branch was waiting for him. The guy appeared at least a decade younger than his parents but stress from work cause him to look as old at certain angles. He didn't talk a lot. He didn't try either. It was evident that he viewed his assignment of checking up on his boss' son for the next few months as just a part of his job.
Leo wasn't mad about that. He didn't mind sorting out everything on his own anyways.
His first night at the apartment was like the flights: he didn't remember it. After half-heartedly checking out the new place, he got ready for bed then passed out on it. Food and homesickness could wait.
At 9:29 the next morning, he sat at a café near the police station, the place Dr. Snow asked they meet at. With a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich, he waited at one of the tables. His right foot tapped nervously under him. She said she would bring a friend that she'd like for him to meet, someone who was willing to help him, too. That made him very uneasy.
"Do you want another mug of hot chocolate?" a waitress asked him.
He stared at her then blinked. "No. No, I'm good. I don't really need any more caffeine in my system," he said.
She smirked. "Nervous?"
"Like you can't believe."
She chuckled. "Alright. Let me know if there's anything I can get for you, okay?"
He nodded, ignoring how the lights by the counter were flitting in and out.
"Leo," Dr. Snow greeted as she came to the table. Beside her was a man who looked to be around her same age. He had longer dark hair and wore a black t-shirt featuring the USS Enterprise. He also had a hoodie and a thick jacket layered over him to combat the cold outside. He was smiling a little brighter than she was. "Have you been waiting for us?" Dr. Snow asked.
Leo nodded. "Yeah, but I had to come earlier anyways because I was hungry. I hadn't eaten anything since Indiana yesterday."
"Well, in that case you will need more than a sandwich. Do you have a lot of things to do today?"
"I do, but before I get my class schedule I'm planning to stop by one of those fast food places you have here. What is it, Big Belly Burger?"
The guy beside Dr. Snow gaped at him. "You haven't heard of Big Belly Burger before?" he asked.
Leo shook his head. "No. We don't have it out the west coast."
"Dude. You've been deprived."
Dr. Snow smiled. "Leo, this is my friend, Cisco Ramon. Cisco, this is Leo," she introduced.
"Ah. You're the sixteen year old meta," Cisco said as he shook his hand. He grinned. "Nice to meet you, man."
"You, too."
"Caitlin told me all about your abilities. I know you're spooked, but trust me: once you got this down pat, it's not gonna sound bad at all," Cisco said. "Plus, I already came up with a dope name for you."
"A name?"
"Cisco names all the metahumans we discover. He gives them aliases." Dr. Snow grinned. "It's like his past time."
"It's my art, Caitlin. Do not hate," Cisco said.
Leo smiled at the banter as it reminded him of his siblings. Still, a question caused him to lightly furrow his brows. "Wait, so – what exactly do you call me?" he asked.
Dr. Snow and Cisco exchanged glances. "Right," Cisco said. "Okay, so check it…"
It's the title of this story, you guys. ;)
Comments are appreciated.