AN: I really wanted to get this out there before Flash airs tomorrow night.
And, as usual, I own absolutely nothing. This is written for entertainment purposes not for profit, yada yada yada...
WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "SMOKING HALE."
"Barry's phone," Cisco answered while trying to fix his friend's device.
"You're not Barry," the person on the other end of the line said.
"No, I'm Cisco. Barry can't answer the phone right now; he's busy."
"Oh."
Cisco tried waiting patiently for the guy on the other end to say something other than 'oh' but soon got fed up. "Do you want to leave a message?"
"Sure."
Cisco waited again for some type of information he could actually tell his friend.
"Sorry, I was really counting on Barry to answer his phone. Anyway, I'm Stiles, Stiles Stillinski-"
"Who names their kid Stiles Stillinski?" Cisco wondered out loud.
"No one," Stiles snapped. "My first name is unpronounceable. Stiles is my nickname."
"Try me," Cisco shot back.
"What? No. Look I really need to talk to Barry so if you could tell him to call me back at this number ASAP, it's kind of time sensitive."
"Uh-huh?" Cisco nodded. He heard shuffling noises that indicated the phone was changing hands.
"This is Liam and we're calling to tell Barry that Mrs. Coach is on her way to Central City with the twins."
"I'm sorry, what?" Cisco asked.
"She was at work when she heard about what happened to Barry's dad so she's stopping by with the twins to make sure he's ok," Liam continued. "Felicity said it would be better to tell him she was visiting than to have her surprise him by randomly showing up at STAR Labs."
"Ok. I'll let Barry know," Cisco said.
"Cool, and wish Barry luck with all the crazy metas."
Cisco didn't get to question what the two guys on the other line meant before they had hung up on him. He simply headed back into the main lab where Caitlin, Harry, and Jesse were. "Hey do we know anybody whose last name is Coach?"
"I don't think so," Caitlin answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Barry just got a phone call from some dude named Stiles, saying that a Mrs. Coach was coming to town to visit with her twin children. He also said they knew Felicity and she told Stiles to call."
"Felicity told him to call or Mrs. Coach?" Caitlin asked.
"Felicity?" Cisco answered questioningly. "Do we even know anyone with twins?"
Caitlin looked at her friend as if he had grown a second head. "Are you seriously forgetting our most recent trip to the hospital?"
"Oh my god! Sara and Nyssa! How could I forget the twins?!" Cisco threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "He must be talking about Nyssa and Lucas and Lauren! Oh my god. He's talking about Nyssa and the twins."
"I'll go double check the doors to the main entrance chamber," Caitlin said running out of the room.
"Scent neutralizers. We need scent neutralizers because if the twins have started walking we are so screwed." Cisco rushed over the medical area.
"Ramon what is going on?" Harry asked. "Who do you keep babbling about?"
"Black Siren or rather Black Canary," Cisco amended. "She had a sister, Sara who's a meta. Nyssa is Sara's wife, who is also a meta, and Lucas and Lauren are their kids. It's basically a giant meta family, but the twins are too young to really know how to control their powers. So if they get here and they smell their Aunt Laurel, who's not really their Aunt Laurel, we are going to have three very cranky metas on our hands, and while they won't start a riot, they also won't sit in silence either."
"How old are their kids?" Jesse asked.
"10 months," Cisco replied. "From what we can tell they inherited most of Sara's abilities, which isn't saying much considering how similar Nyssa and Sara's abilities are to each other."
"You're making it sound as if these children are both these women's biologically, which is scientifically impossible on any earth," Harry began.
"Am I?" Cisco asked. "I guess we just-"
"Ramon." Harry snapped.
"We didn't think it would work ok," Cisco replied. "It just happened and we can't tell anyone because one of their parents has already been tortured by the government for the sake of science, and we care about them too much to do that to them."
"Hey Cisco, Nyssa wouldn't happen to be a cop would she?" Jesse asked.
"She's a deputy for the Sheriff's department. Why?"
"I'm pretty sure she's here if the squad car and woman with a large stroller is any indication," Jesse replied pointing to one of the security monitors.
"Anything we should know about this particular meta?" Harry asked.
"Just don't wear a lab coat in front of her, or at all really," Cisco said. "It makes her uncomfortable."
"I heard that Cisco!" came echoing down the stone entrance corridor. There was a soft whirring sound accompanied by barely there footfalls gradually getting louder until a woman with a stroller rounded the corner and entered the room. "I still fail to understand this culture's insistence on making people feel welcome and comfortable."
"Let me guess in ninja assassin school they stress other values," Cisco joked.
"In Russia they stress survival before comfort," Nyssa corrected.
"We'll trade colloquialisms later Lance." Cisco scoffed. "Right now I see two cubs who are in desperate need of attention and cuddles." He zeroed his attention in on the twins and made his best funny face. "Who are my favorite twins and which one of you wants to climb on Uncle Cisco first?"
Nyssa rolled her eyes affectionately at the younger man's antics. "When you're done acting younger than my children, would you be so kind as to introduce us to your new team members?"
"Harry, Jesse, Nyssa. Nyssa, Jesse, Harry." Cisco picked up Lauren first who immediately grabbed onto his hair. "Oh I see; you like me for my luxurious locks. They are pretty cool, aren't they?" Lauren giggled in response.
"I hear wolf cub giggles," Caitlin said entering the room with a huge grin on her face and immediately picking up Lucas.
Lucas's face lit up at the sight of Caitlin and he immediately extended his arms out in the universal hold me gesture. "K, K."
"And now I remember why we don't visit more often," Nyssa said. "And why we don't invite more than two pack members to the house at a time unless it's a meeting. Your cuteness makes people overly affectionate."
"That's an odd term," Harry noted. "Pack."
"We're an odd people," Nyssa said. "Nyssa Lance." She offered her hand in greeting. "And those are my cubs, Lucas and Lauren."
He shook her hand. "Harrison Wells and this is my daughter Jesse."
"Hey." Jesse smiled, shaking Nyssa's hand.
"You have speed force," Nyssa said. She tilted her head up and took a large inhale through her nose. "I can smell it in you. It's not as strong as Barry's but it's there."
"You can smell it?" Harry questioned.
"It smells like ozone and the air is lighter around her," Nyssa replied. "Which is different than the air around you, which is practically electrified. I could feel the hairs on the back of my hand stand on end when we shook hands."
"I take it your sense of smell was enhanced when the accelerator exploded," Harry assumed.
Nyssa raised an eyebrow in Cisco's direction.
"I might've mentioned how you and Sara were visiting your mother in law," Cisco said.
Nyssa glared at the scientist.
"Have you spoken to Sara lately?" Caitlin asked.
"Better. We all got to visit, and Grandpa was there along with teenage Sara, who was also hitting on me." Nyssa tilted her head in confusion. "It was strange to see my beloved at a point in her life where she was only part of who she is."
"But you were still connected," Caitlin guessed.
"It was as if a part of my soul was being pulled from the rest, but not in a painful way," Nyssa tried to explain. "Not an experience I would recommend, but also not one I regret."
"Is there any experience you do regret?" Cisco asked jokingly.
"Tyrannosaurus pizza," Nyssa immediately replied. "There's a very good reason I do not immediately give in to my wife's strange obsession with introducing me to untried foods. I love her dearly, but eight meats on one pizza is just too much."
"I want pizza now," Cisco said. "What about you Lauren? Do you want pizza?"
"Don't you dare." Nyssa glared. "She hardly eats healthy as it is, and they are in no way ready for solid foods yet."
"No fun. Tell her Lauren, say 'Amah' and then use your best puppy dog eyes."
"Please stop trying to teach my children bad habits." Nyssa sighed.
"So you're a cop," Jesse said. "Is being a cop where you live different than being one here in Central City?"
"Beacon Hills isn't like any other place I've ever been," Nyssa answered. "Even so I can't imagine really living anywhere else."
"Do you have family there?" Harry asked.
"Close friends. Aside from my in laws I don't have many family members left apart from my sister and my nephew. They both live in Gotham City."
"You never considered moving to Star City?" Caitlin asked.
"Oliver and I are not on the best of terms and we probably never will be," Nyssa admitted. "Suffice it to say I'm on Felicity's side post break-up."
"But just between us that break-up is not a sure thing, right?" Cisco asked. "Cause have you seen the way those two pine when the other isn't looking?"
"It's not my place to have an opinion," Nyssa replied.
"Sure it's not. You just keep telling yourself that," Cisco replied.
"Hey," Barry said entering the room at a normal human pace.
"We have visitors," Caitlin told him.
"Ba Ba." Lucas smiled and started squirming.
"Hey buddy," Barry greeted. "Where are your moms?"
"No need to worry Barry," Nyssa replied. "I'm keeping constant vigil on my children."
Barry took Lucas out of Caitlin's arms and settled him at his side. "What are you guys doing here?"
"When a pack member loses someone, we all do," Nyssa answered. "And as someone who has intimate knowledge of what you're going through, I didn't want you to feel like you were alone."
Barry couldn't bring himself to smile at the acknowledgment so he settled for nodding in agreement. "Using up all your vacation time to visit?"
"Unfortunately with my leftover maternity leave added to the vacation time I had already been allotted, I fear I will not be allowed to return to work anytime soon." Nyssa grimaced at the thought.
"Amah is a workaholic isn't she?" Barry asked Lucas. "Yes she is."
"If you were on bedrest for six months you would be anxious to return to work as well," Nyssa replied.
"You had the station's dispatch number rerouted to your house the entire time."
"The doctor said I was allowed to talk on the phone during bedrest. I saw nothing wrong with continuing to answer the station's phones."
"Ba Ba," Lucas said, smacking Barry in the face to get his attention.
"Hey, no smacking Uncle Barry in the face," Nyssa said. "Be nice or you'll have to stay in your car seat the rest of the visit."
"So where are you guys staying?" Caitlin asked.
"I was planning on staying at the safe house in Coast City. It seemed like the obvious choice."
"Why not just stay here at Star Labs?" Barry offered. "It's not like we don't have the space, besides this way you and the twins are safe in case something happens."
"There's something you're not telling me," Nyssa replied. She looked at Cisco and Caitlin hoping their expressions would give something away.
"Zoom probably knows about the safe houses," Caitlin said. "It'll be easier to protect you here."
"I am far from helpless," Nyssa reminded the doctor.
"But the twins aren't," Caitlin said. "Please. Besides, I barely got to see them last time you visited. I need my cub cuddles."
Nyssa sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose before eventually relenting. "Fine."
Caitlin smiled. "Alright my turn to say hello to Lauren." She went over to Cisco and took the baby from his arms and once she had firm hold, Cisco went over and took Lucas from Barry.
"You realize you're not getting the twins back until you head back to Beacon Hills right?" Barry double checked.
"For now it is something I will live with," Nyssa replied. "C'mon, you owe me a sparring session."
"I'm really-"
"Barry," Nyssa interrupted him. "This isn't up for discussion. Gym. Ten minutes."
Barry nodded somewhat reluctantly before following Nyssa out of the room.
"Is she always like that?" Jesse asked.
Cisco nodded, "Pretty much."
"If anyone can help Barry right now, it's Nyssa," Caitlin said. "What she lacks in tact and manners she more than makes up for in worldly experience."
"And she can keep up with Allen?" Harry asked.
"Nyssa is proof that being the fastest doesn't automatically make you the best," Cisco answered. "She's good at what she does."
"So what about her powers?" Harry continued.
"Enhanced vision, hearing, smelling, strength, reflexes, accelerated healing, fangs, claws, higher pain tolerance, and the ability to take away another person's pain," Caitlin said. "Sara's powers are very similar, the only difference is her vulnerability to certain substances and the ability to change into a wolf."
"Like an actual wolf or a mutant wolf?" Jesse asked.
"Actual," Caitlin said. "And since they were in close proximity to one another during the explosion they developed a type of hyper awareness to each other. It's really fascinating from a biological standpoint, even on a molecular level when their cells come in contact with one another it's like they reach a state of equilibrium far more advanced than any normal humans."
"Oh," Cisco gasped in excitement. "We should test the twin's intelligence levels. Compare them to that of a normal human's."
"I'll get hair and nail samples," Caitlin said, rushing with Lauren over to the lab. "Jesse, you want to help?"
"Sure, I guess." Jesse shrugged.
"Harry, do you mind running down to the other lab and getting my goggles and a portable MRI?"
"Do I look like your assistant?" Harry asked.
"Would you rather hold Lucas? Because let me tell you for someone who likes being the center of attention he does not have the best track record with strangers," Cisco warned. "Yeah, I heard about what you tried to do to the other deputies at Amah's work."
"I think I can handle a baby meta for a few minutes. I'm a parent, I've held a baby before."
"Ok." Cisco shrugged. "Lucas, be nice to Harry. We like him, sometimes."
"Ramon."
"What. They're little mini lie detectors who can smell fear, literally," Cisco said. He carefully handed Lucas over to Harry. "I'll be right back cub. Please be nice to Harry." Cisco quickly exited the room and started heading to his lab, but stopped when he heard a startled yelp and turned back around to find Harry holding a shifted Lucas as far away from his body as possible with a pained grimace on his face. "I told you he didn't like strangers."
"He bit me. With his fangs." Harry ground out.
Cisco took Lucas out of the man's grasp. "You are spoiled cub. What are your mothers going to do when you and Lauren have to start going to daycare? You can't just bite every stranger that has to watch you. How are you going to make friends?"
"You said the goggles and the portable MRI?" Harry double checked.
"Yep," Cisco replied. He headed into the other lab.
"So what did you mean when you said Nyssa had lots of worldly experience?" Jesse asked.
"Nyssa is much older than she looks," Caitlin replied.
"What do you mean?"
"Nyssa was born in the late 1700s, and thanks to her father's resources, she's been able to rejuvenate herself periodically, it basically turned back her biological clock, and it's one of the reasons she doesn't like doctor's."
"Basically the biggest evil overlord in the world found out about it, and tried to torture her for the information," Cisco added. "It made what General Eiling did to Grodd look like he was sitting through an awkward movie."
"So she's immortal?" Jesse asked.
"No, not anymore. Laurel used it to bring Sara back from the dead against their wishes, and Nyssa's younger sister destroyed everything."
"But if she could do that, bring her wife back from the dead, why wouldn't she do it?" Jesse asked.
"Because it has a cost. Sara and Nyssa knew that if either of them died, that the cost of bringing the other back would be too great." Caitlin said. "From what we heard Sara was literally feral for weeks before they were able to find a way to bring her back, and if they hadn't found it she'd still be that way. The price of bringing someone back after death was too high."
"So this is her last life then," Jesse realized.
"Hey now, don't be getting all sad up in here," Cisco told her. "Nyssa's said multiple times this is the happiest she's been since she was a child. She's got a soulmate she loves who loves her back, two adorable kids, friends who love and support her, awesome powers on top of 200+ years of badass ninja training, and a recently reset moral compass. I have a feeling she wouldn't change anything, the exception being Sara's work hours, and maybe her relationship with her mother-in-law."
"I don't think I've ever seen someone try and hide deadly allergens in a pie so many times," Caitlin added.
"Clearly you've never met my great aunt Linda," Cisco replied. "The woman is convinced if you eat something you're allergic to enough times the allergy will go away."
"That's not how allergies work at all," Caitlin replied.
"Never get in between a Ramon woman and her beliefs," Cisco warned. "We're one of those families where the men just smile and nod accordingly."
"So what, your entire family just has their own personal epi pen for family functions?" Jesse asked.
"We replace great aunt Linda's cooking with something we bought from the store when she's in the bathroom," Cisco answered. "Then we compliment her on it when she comes back out."
"Maybe we should test the twins for allergies?" Caitlin said.
"Nyssa would kill us," Cisco replied. "No needles, no invasive testing, nothing except anything readily provided which limits us to saliva, puke, pee, poop, hair, and nails. Maybe snot and boogers if we get lucky."
"I know," Caitlin mumbled dejectedly.
"Why are you guys so excited about this?" Jesse asked.
"It's a chance to see the differences in how meta human biology develops naturally compared to human biology," Harry said entering the room and putting equipment on one of the empty beds. "From a scientist's standpoint it's exhilarating and from a parent's standpoint it's terrifying."
"And then there's these guys' standpoint where they're just happy being the center of attention," Cisco said, his voice getting higher in pitch. He went over to tickle the twins' tummies. "You're the most adorable cubs in the whole wide world aren't you? Yes, you are."
"Again." Nyssa ordered.
The two had been running drills for the past hour, and even with Barry's speed he hadn't been able to knock Nyssa onto the mat, and if it weren't for his accelerated healing factor he'd have more bruises to show for it. He got back into his running stance a few feet away and ran at Nyssa only to once again wind up flat on his back looking up at the ceiling with a bo staff pointed at his chin.
Nyssa offered her arm to help him up. "Take a break, get some water."
"I'm ok," he replied lightly slapping her hand away. He got back up on his feet and shook his head back and forth. "Let's go."
Nyssa let out a small huff and turned showing Barry her back. When the speedster noticed he took it as opportunity to get the drop on her and at the last millisecond she spun around and tripped him, this time following him to the ground and using the length of the bo to hold him down. "Take a break Flash."
Barry tried to use the speed force to intimidate her but she just flashed her bright red irises back at him. Eventually he gave up with a grunt and Nyssa removed her weight and offered her hand again. Barry rolled away and got up on his own, sitting down on the small stool next to Caitlin's new type of sports drink. "So you and Sara are alphas now. How'd that happen?"
"I'm uncertain about some of the details," Nyssa admitted. She leaned the staff up against the wall and grabbed a towel off of the floor. "Sara and the team went to an alternate timeline where Scott and Felicity had died. My guess is Sara was listed next in the line of succession so when she popped up-"
"She got both their powers," Barry finished.
"And since we're mated, her rank covers me as well. Scott has requested not to know the exact details. He and Felicity are the only two who know the truth. The rest of the pack thinks there was an altercation with a rogue."
"So why tell me the truth?" Barry asked.
"There's not much point lying to a speedster, not when you could simply go for a run and see what happened for yourself," Nyssa replied. She wiped the small beads of sweat she worked up off her face and traded the towel with a small water bottle. "Did I ever tell you where I spent a majority of WWII?"
"I'm assuming you stayed with the League," Barry said. "Sometimes I forget you're older than most of us combined."
"I'll choose to take that comment as a compliment, but no I didn't spend those years in the company of the League," Nyssa said. "I had children before the twins. It's one of the reasons I was so surprised to learn I was pregnant after what happened to Sara."
"Do you still talk to them?" Barry asked.
"I pray for them every day," Nyssa replied. "We lived in Poland when Hitler came to power. They died in the camps, along with almost every other member of my extended family. The lives of my family were used to make me more compliant while the Nazis did their tests. Towards the end they didn't care about keeping them alive for my compliance. Most people don't realize how lucky some of the prisoners were to be sent to the chambers in the beginning."
"I-" Barry stammered.
"I didn't tell you to elicit pity," Nyssa told him. "I told you so you would understand what I mean when I say I know your pain Barry Allen. I know what it is to see your family perish at the hands of an enemy and to have the pain of that open wound fester for a number of years."
"Is this where you tell me it gets easier with time?" Barry chuckled mirthlessly.
"I would not be so cruel as to lie to you. Time alone will do nothing but cause more damage, whether that damage becomes irreparable is up to you alone."
"What did you do?" Barry asked.
"I hunted down everyone involved who was still alive after the camp was liberated. I tortured and killed them without mercy and it did nothing to dull the pain I felt. August 1959 that was my lowest point; I was in a dive bar in Buenos Aires, drunk, surrounded by the bodies of the men I had killed, men not even the League of Assassins would pick up contracts for. I was so battered and beaten by that point, I passed out and when I woke up I was in a convent. One of the locals had found me in the wreckage of the bar, it had caught fire in the night and I had stumbled outside, they took me to the convent and asked for sanctuary on my behalf. I stayed there for a year after I recovered physically. Every few months my father sent someone to check on me. I think the year there did more good than one of my lifetimes spent in service to the League."
"Are you telling me that finding God will help me get rid of my grief?" Barry asked.
"No. It's not faith in a higher power that you need right now." Nyssa sighed and sat down next to him. "Grief doesn't go away; it is a weight you will have to carry with you until you breathe your last breath. I could take your pain right now with a single touch, but it's not the pain making you feel like this. It's your anger."
"So what, I can't be angry now?" Barry got up from his seat. "Zoom took everything from me; everything I had left. I have every right to be angry."
"There's a difference between being angry and letting that anger consume you," Nyssa told him. "Zoom's actions are not your fault Barry. You want to beat him for what he did to you, for what he still plans to do to you, then beat him. Don't kill him, don't take his speed, beat him. Beat Zoom by showing him that you aren't like him. Beat him by using the one thing he will never have, your team. That's what sets you apart, Barry. You have people who care about you and want to help you, something Zoom will never have. But if you go after him by yourself, if you let your anger consume you and take him on alone; you'll be doing exactly what he wants."
"Then what do I do? What am I supposed to do?" Barry asked.
"We go upstairs, talk to your team and we figure out what Zoom's plan is, and then you work together and you stop him," Nyssa told him. "And when you win you take a vacation with Iris, and you spend time with your friends and your family, and, if you're really desperate for things to do, you and the team come with me back to Beacon Hills and convince the Sheriff we need to do an overhaul of all the holding cells. Between the number of breakouts and break ins by supernatural creatures we might as well just start from scratch and build a station that's meta human proof too. From what I've heard you guys are pretty good at that type of stuff."
"Umm," Cisco's voice came through the PA system. "Not to interrupt your guys' heartwarming moment, and it was, Nyssa you give great inspirational speeches, remind me to ask you about those later, but we could kind of use your help. Just you know, when you've got a second."
"Would it be too much to pray they only heard the last bit?" Nyssa asked.
"I think it would be safe to assume that they heard everything," Barry said. "We should go see what they found."
"Happy place, happy place," Nyssa reminded herself as she followed Barry back to the lab.
"Don't be mad," Caitlin says when they enter the room.
"Words that never inspire confidence," Nyssa replied.
"We lost Lucas and Lauren," Caitlin says with a wince.
Nyssa immediately looks to the car seats to find them empty and the portable play pen out with a large hole in the mesh. She silently cursed herself for not bringing the reinforced play pen and barrels past Caitlin to find the freshest scent of her children.
"The good news is that they're still in the building, and since we're on the ground floor they can't fall down any stair cases," Caitlin added. "Cisco, Dr. Wells, and Jesse have already split up to look for them. I'm not even sure how it happened. We heard the mesh rip and when we went over to check they were both gone."
"They're testing the limits of their abilities," Nyssa said. She knew this panic well. It was a panic she had become overly familiar with again over the past few months ever since the twins had learned to crawl. Sara had said this panic would probably lead them both to early graves. "They've done this before, but never in new places. They've only done this at home, not at the station, not even at the high school."
"Hey," Barry said stepping in front of her. "We'll find them. They can't have gone far."
"They're wolves Barry, they could be almost anywhere in the building by now," Nyssa replied.
"Just find the strongest scent and we'll follow it," Barry told her. "Caitlin will stay here in case one of the others finds them first."
Nyssa took a few more deep breaths and nearly groaned when she realized that her two children went in opposite directions. "They split up."
"So who is more likely to get into trouble first," Caitlin said.
"Lucas." Barry and Nyssa decided at the same time and veered left.
"So when was the last time this happened?" Barry asked.
"They were looking for Liam after he had watched them while I worked a shift at the station," Nyssa explained. "They were asleep when he left, so when they both woke up they went looking for him. Thankfully, our front door is made of Mountain Ash so they couldn't get very far."
"Liam's the younger one, right?" Barry questioned. "The one you and Sara were watching last time I visited."
"Yes. Liam and Sara went through their first full moon together. It was an interesting bonding experience, considering the circumstances," Nyssa said. "He's Lauren's godfather."
"He seems like a good kid; a little excitable, but what teenager isn't."
"Losing Sara affected us all in different ways," Nyssa explained. "Sara was Liam's first link to the pack, so when she died he tried to close himself off. Scott was having trouble reaching through to him, so I offered to help get him out of the house more. And since Sara saw him as a younger sibling, it made sense to ask him when the twins were born."
They started checking the rooms one by one, Barry had offered to speed through them all, but Nyssa had told him it wouldn't take much of a difference. "Checking all of the rooms at super speed will most likely take the same if not more amount of time than just checking the ones we know he stopped at using regular speed." Barry shrugged, while he crunched some of the numbers in his head, knowing Nyssa was right from his initial calculations.
"So if the twins look for people they're familiar with, could it be possible they were looking for us when we were sparring?" Barry asked.
"If they were looking for us we would've passed them on the way back to the lab," Nyssa pointed out. She stopped mid step and turned to look at the outer wall.
"Hey," Cisco yelled. "I already checked the rooms farther down and there isn't any sign of them." Cisco hurried to meet up with his friends.
"What's behind this wall?" Nyssa asked.
"Time vault," Barry answered. "It's empty except for some old equipment and Gideon's mainframe."
"Gideon?" Nyssa questioned.
"A computer system from the future Barry develops that Thawne stole and brought back with him," Cisco said. "We had to salvage it for parts to fix the tachyon device. All it can control now is the doors and run some basic programs."
"Lucas's scent stops here. Is there any way he could have gotten in?" Nyssa asked.
"He shouldn't have been able to, but it couldn't hurt to check," Barry replied. He touched the hidden switch and the vault door opened. The three stepped inside and found Lucas curled into a little ball sleeping on top of what appeared to be Barry's previously unsalvageable suit remnants next to an empty knocked over box. "Aww, he was looking for us."
Nyssa smiled and gently picked up her sleeping son who had a small piece of fabric clenched in his fist. "What am I going to do with you? You had me worried cub."
"I completely forgot these were in here," Cisco said, going through the pile of scraps.
"Now we just need to find your sister," Nyssa said.
"How did Lucas even know this place was here?" Cisco asked. "He couldn't have reached the panel to let himself in."
"Gideon, who accessed the time vault before we got here?" Barry questioned.
"Auxiliary Admin 2 was the last person to access the time vault." The disembodied voice of Gideon answered.
"Identify Auxiliary Admin 2." Barry said.
"Lucas Lance, Auxiliary Admin 2 and secondary programmer." Gideon said. "My heuristic functions include providing basic support to any member of my creator's primary team. Lucas Lance was in distress. My programming indicated providing him with shelter and familiar surroundings would cause a decrease in his stress levels."
"Wait, you let Lucas in the time vault because he was crying?" Cisco double checked.
"I also provided a collection of music from his selected playlists." Gideon added.
"I can't decide if this is creepy or sweet," Cisco said.
"Why don't we revisit my son's future involvement in this project after we find Lauren," Nyssa decided.
"Yeah," Barry agreed. "C'mon Cisco." They exited the vault and headed back to the lab.
"Right behind you." Cisco picked up the rest of the scraps and placed them back in the box before placing it back in the corner right side up and running to catch up.
"Well, one cub found, one to go," Barry said. He smiled when he noticed Nyssa was completely entranced by the sight of Lucas sleeping with the fabric clutched next to him. "You know Lucas and Lauren are lucky to have you and Sara as their parents, right?"
"I prefer to think Sara and I are the lucky ones," Nyssa said.
Black Siren had lost count of the number of hours she had spent in the holding cell. She knew it had some serious sound dampening technology invested in it from the way she could hear what was going on outside of her cell but no one could hear her, and her powers couldn't break the special glass used in the construction. She'd yelled, punched, kicked, even attempted to amplify her sound with a plastic cup they'd given her for water and nothing had even put the tiniest of cracks in it. She thinks sometime around day three she switched from the angry brute force tactics to trying to come up with a plan of escape to execute during meal times. The last five of her plans had backfired horrendously and ended in some ugly bruises. She was planning on attempting plan number six when she heard it: scratching, or at least she thought it was scratching.
After a two minutes of the constant scratching she saw something move on the other side of her cell door. Two more minutes passed a she realized someone or rather something was scratching through the large bay door and had created a hole roughly one-foot wide that went through the door. Less than sixty seconds later, the hole had more than doubled in size and a baby crawled through the opening.
Upon seeing the baby, she assumed that this was an elaborate waking dream her subconscious had conjured up to keep her from being bored to death. When the baby started crawling towards her cell and got close enough she could read the shirt proudly stating 'My Mothers Are Badass Ninjas' Black Siren realized this was not a dream. The baby then methodically began conquering the steps with a look of determination most adults couldn't pull off, and when it stopped in front of the door to Black Siren's cell it looked at her with honest to god joy and began giggling. Then the baby grew claws and began chipping away at the glass in her cell door and had more success in thirty seconds than she'd had her entire time there. When there was a hole larger than the baby, it crawled through and sat down next to her with a smile on its face.
"You have got to be kidding me," Black Siren said.
The baby mumbled a few syllables with a smile on its face and held up its arms in her direction. Black Siren knew this was the universal baby sign for hold me, but she did not hold babies. While it was true she would never hurt children, because yes she was a feared villain but that didn't make her a complete monster and there had to be a line drawn somewhere, she did not hold or cuddle with them.
"It's not that I don't appreciate your tenacity kid, but I don't do cuddles," she told it. There was another thing she also didn't do: diapers. The baby was going to remain an it for the foreseeable future, because the only way she could think of to determine the sex of the child was to remove its diaper, and there was no way she was removing the baby's diaper unless her life was at stake.
The baby looked less happy after that sentence. It put its arms down and continued babbling and then decided it was going to crawl on her.
"Whoa there kid," she said. "I know you think I'm cool and all, but that doesn't mean you get to crawl on me." She picked up the baby in an attempt to move it to the other end of the cell (a whole 18 inches away), but the second the baby's feet touched the ground again it wailed. This was not crying. She knew crying. She caused crying. This noise made her cringe and feel guilty (an emotion she did not do), so she held the baby back up and the wailing abated to minor sniffles. She shook her head in disbelief at the baby. "So that's how you want to play it." She leveled her best glare at the kid only to be rebuffed by glowing yellow eyes and a flash of fangs that appeared only long enough to give her the sense that they were very real and very sharp. "Well played." She shifted a little and held the baby to her side, before deciding to give the kid her full attention.
Black Siren knew the kid was a meta, the claws, fangs, and glowing eyes were a dead giveaway. The kid's hair was dark, almost black, and cut short, but from the way it hung by its ears the kid would have a full head of curls soon if it grew out. The modified elastic jeans and red shirt made telling gender next impossible, and the black and white sneakers didn't help either. The kids was clean and not underweight, which probably meant caring parents, mothers if the shirt was to be believed.
The kid's eyes were what sucked her in the most. The old familiar eyes that brought back memories long buried and best forgotten, memories of a loving younger sibling who died too soon trying to be responsible by doing the grocery shopping, an alcoholic mother who lashed out more often then she apologized, and a father who'd tried to get her to leave with him when her mother had gotten to the point of self destructing and refusing any and all assistance. If she was right, if the kid belonged to who she thought, that meant Zoom had lied to her. It wouldn't be the first time, probably wouldn't be the last either, but this lie was unforgivable and it meant her ties to him were cut. She'd kill him the next time she saw him.
"Alright kid," she said, tightening her hold a little. "If one of your moms is who I think she is, you came to me for a reason." The kid looked back at her for a second and beamed. "So let's get out of here and get you back to your family." She slowly stood up, careful not to rock the child in her arms, and came up with three viable options for getting out. "Ok, I've never tried this with a passenger, but if you stick close to your Aunty S, you should be alright." She covered the baby's ears the best she could and let out cry hoping to fracture the glass the kid had already broken. Unfortunately luck wasn't on her side, the material still didn't even buckle at her attempts.
She looked down at her alleged family member who didn't seem to be affected by her powers. "I'm starting to wonder if those claws of yours aren't indestructible." The baby giggled and started playing with her hair. "Plan B it is then."
Plan B consisted primarily of kicking the glass near the opening and hopefully making the small hole big enough for both of them to climb through. The only thing Plan B accomplished was taking a chunk out of the bottom heel of her boot. It wasn't a large enough chunk that she couldn't walk, but it did make it apparent that her third option, her least favorable, was the only one with even a chance of success.
"Well kiddo, here's to hoping your mothers don't kill me."
"You don't seem surprised to see me," the doppelganger said. "Not like your friend the Flash was, anyway."
"I've been alive considerably longer, seen more than twice what he has," Nyssa replied. "It takes more to surprise me than most." She carefully took a step forward. "You want to tell me why you're using my infant daughter as a bargaining chip."
"The kid came to me. Don't believe me check the tapes. The Flash and his friends don't seem like the type to skimp out when it comes to surveillance."
"Cisco," Nyssa called out.
"One step ahead of you," Cisco replied from his spot by the tunnel's terminal. "I just need to pull up the right cameras and- Damn. Baby cub has some serious claws on her."
"What do you want?" Nyssa asked.
"I want to see her," the doppelganger said. "You get her here and you can have your daughter back."
"I have no idea who you're talking about."
"I find that hard to believe." The woman smirked. "The ring on your left hand, the kid's shirt, the way you can barely stand to look at me, even this little one's genetics tell me you're lying, so I suggest you call a family meeting or life is going to get real painful for your friends."
"You'd hurt a child." Nyssa growled.
"No, you see that's where you've got it wrong. One, I don't hurt kids. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a good person, but I'm not a monster. I'm not Zoom. And two, as long as the kid's standing next to me, she won't get hurt. It's too bad the same can't be said for everyone else in the building."
Nyssa reluctantly pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed her wife's number.
"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear your voice."
"I'm in Central City, outside the STAR Labs holding cells," Nyssa said.
"Nyssa? What's wrong? Is it the twins?"
"May 20, 2016 2:30 pm. A banshee has Lauren, and she won't give her back until you get here."
"I'll be right there. Is Lucas safe?"
"He's with the others. I can't risk getting to her without putting them in danger."
"I'm setting a course right now. We're going to get Lauren back. They'll be safe in our arms soon."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm taking the drop ship, hopefully by the time most of the team realizes I'm missing I'll be on my way back, and the twins will be safe."
"Habiti, the banshee who has Lauren, she's Laurel's Earth-2 doppelganger."
"I'm going in full shift. Be ready."
"Beloved-"
"You and the twins are the most important people to me. I love you."
"Sara-" Nyssa was met with the dial tone mid-sentence, and shut her eyes to avoid glaring daggers at the woman holding her daughter. "She'll be here in a few minutes."
"That didn't seem so difficult from where I'm standing."
"I would be very careful about what you say to me." Nyssa growled. "My wife isn't known for her restraint when it comes to protecting the people she cares about; just as I am not known for my patience when it comes to people who have angered me."
"Oh, I bet the in laws just love you. All prim and proper, even have a nice shiny badge on your belt." The meta taunted. "You must be a hit at family functions."
"You have no idea." Nyssa could hear the scraping of claws fast approaching and moved a little to the side in anticipation of Sara's wrath. "Cisco, open the hatch." She heard a button being pushed and the back bay door slowly rising, just in time for Sara to come barreling around the corner, covered in dark fur, eyes glowing bright red, and snarling.
Sara rammed the last barrier with her shoulder and the glass panel splintered all the way across. The alpha took a few steps back and circled around Nyssa to her other side, barring her teeth at the doppelganger holding their daughter.
"I trust you can muster up enough strength to get yourself out for the exchange, since my wife did most of the heavy lifting, as it were." Nyssa smirked.
"That wasn't the deal," the doppelganger replied.
"You said Sara had to be here, and she is. My wife doesn't trust you enough to take human form, and the fact you threatened one of our children and are holding the other hostage isn't helping your cause."
The doppelganger's eyes widened the slightest before a smirk was quickly plastered back on her face to cover the slip up. She gave the glass wall two solid kicks before it shattered and she was able to go down the steps with the child securely in her arms. She carefully placed Lauren on the ground where there wasn't any glass and let the child crawl back towards her parents.
"Mo me." Lauren giggled as Sara sniffed her face and licked her cheek. Lauren looked up at Nyssa and held out her arms. "A ma."
"Alright cub." Nyssa leaned over and picked her up. "Let's get you back with your brother."
"Mo me?" Lauren looked down at her other parent.
"Mommy is going to stay here for a little bit," Nyssa said. "She'll follow us in a few minutes." Nyssa walked back over to the terminal where Cisco was and saw Caitlin holding a pile of Sara's previously discarded clothing. She turned around to look at her wife and Sara gave her a nod. She saw Caitlin put Sara's clothes down on the other side of the larger bay door before motioning for Cisco to close and lock it from the outside.
"I was hoping to have a conversation," the doppelganger said, "but obviously, that's going to be rather one sided considering the circumstances." Sara growled. "I didn't know about the other kid, ok. It's like I told your wife, I don't hurt kids," the doppelganger explained. "If I'd known I would've played a different card." She tried to take a small step forward, only for the growling to get louder and the wolf's lips to raise showing off fangs. "She has your eyes, Lauren, that's how I figured she was yours, and her single minded determination to get in my cell. She had the same look on her face you did when you played lacrosse. It's also very obvious she got your meta genes, I mean she clawed through glass and steel just to get to me and didn't even break a sweat in the process." Sara flashed her eyes again. "C'mon give me something. I'm not even one hundred percent certain it's you in there Sara."
The wolf stopped growling, but it's ears were still flat against her skull and her teeth were still bared, but she slowly made her way over to the pile of clothes and picked them up in her mouth before going back over to where she had been standing and dropping them on the floor. The wolf sat down and then shifted back into human form, but Sara's eyes were still glowing bright red and they never left the doppelganger's form.
"What happened to you?" the doppelganger asked.
Sara quietly began to get dressed, not bothering to cover herself from prying eyes.
"Sara, it's me, it's your sister," the doppelganger pleaded.
Sara stepped into her pants and pulled them up before buckling her belt.
"It's been fifteen years, the least you could do is say hello," the other woman snapped.
The werewolf quickly threw on her bra and shirt, forgoing her shoes completely. "Greeting you would imply that I was happy to see you," Sara said. "You are not my sister. My sister died trying to prevent a prison riot. My sister dedicated her life to helping people. My sister would rather die than threaten the people she loved. You were here less than a day before you levelled Mercury Labs, and tried to kill some of my best friends. You threatened my wife and son, held my daughter hostage. Tell me how those events and your actions should make me happy to see you?"
"He told me you were dead," the doppelganger said. "Zoom. The first thing I asked when I got here was if you were alive and he told me you were dead. If I'd known you were alive I would have looked for you. You have to believe that."
"No I don't. My sister is dead, has been for a while now, and you coming here wanting to reconnect because of your own tragic sob story has nothing to do with me. You want help controlling your powers, fine I'll call another banshee to help you out. You want to go back to your Earth, perfect Cisco can open a breach. But don't think for one second that you being here is going to erase every wrong you've done in the past week, or that you mean anything to me."
"Then why did the kid want to find me so bad, huh?" the doppelganger demanded. "I'd put dollars to donuts your friends never mentioned I was here to any of you, so why did a baby try so hard just to get me to give her a hug?"
"Because she's a child!" Sara roared. "Because she is my daughter and she hasn't seen her aunt in months, and she doesn't understand why. Neither of them understand, they just know their parents are grieving and their grandparents are in denial, and that the one person they think can make it better isn't there."
"Did you ever think I was grieving too? You think I came here for what, some type of controlled chaos? I came here looking for you. I was fine in Central City, laying low, only using my powers when I had to, but when I heard Zoom could go to other worlds I didn't just climb the ladder of goons, I jumped and shoved off everyone in front of me. Everything I did was so I could get here, to this Earth."
"So I'm supposed to say thank you?" Sara scoffed. "Thanks for working with a psychotic serial killer who wants to take over the world and for helping him terrorize my friends and family."
"Oh, like you're perfect."
"No, but at least I'm trying to be a better person which is more than I can say for you."
"Like you've ever done anything hard in your life."
"I tortured nearly fifty people just to survive for a year in the most accurate depiction of Hell on Earth I've ever even heard about much less experienced. I've died twice, and now I'm standing in front of my dead sister's mirror opposite who expects me to greet her with kumbayas and open arms." Sara stopped herself from continuing her train of thought. "You want to play who had it worse, find someone else. I have better things I could be doing with my time." Sara stormed out of the room and forced open the bay door with enough force that the automated locking mechanisms started blaring in protest before she hit the button to reset them.
"Fuck."
"My name is Lydia Martin," a redhead in a floral dress introduced, walking into the room like she owned the place. There was a teenage boy to her left and a tall man who screamed military to her right. "I'm here to assess you, see how far along your powers have gotten. Liam," she motioned to the teenager," is here to ensure you tell the truth. Jordan," she motioned to the man, "is here in case things get out of hand."
"You mean to stop me from escaping," Laurel's doppelganger assumed.
"Do you know what will happen if your powers continue on unchecked? The scream will build to the point where you won't be able to hold it in anymore, your head will explode from the concussive force and with you it will take out everyone and everything within a five mile radius. Jordan is the only person who can stop that. So when I tell you Jordan is here to make sure things don't escalate I mean it in a literal sense," Lydia explained. "What do you prefer to be called?"
"My name is Black Siren," the woman said.
"Laur-"
"No." The woman snapped. "Don't use that name. I haven't been here for a long time, and I won't be her again."
Lydia glanced over at Liam who nodded once before looking back over at the older woman. "We're not here to turn you into someone you're not. We're here because Sara's worried, even though you're not this world's version of you, she's still worried." Lydia paused. "And in the spirit of full disclosure, the reason I know what I do, is because it almost happened to me."
"You're like me?" She questioned.
"I have the same abilities, the difference is I've had more practice and I know how to safely harness them," Lydia answered. "Let me show you." Lydia turned to the left where a two way mirror was and made a shooing motion with her hands.
"They're clear," Liam said.
Lydia smirked. "Break." The glass shattered into thousands of pieces and firmly embedded itself into the concrete wall several feet away at the her simple soft spoken command.
"What happened?!" Cisco said rushing into the empty adjacent room followed closely by Mick.
"Mick, Cisco, get out of there," Sara said.
"Can't we get Rip to recruit her?" Mick asked. "That could come in handy."
"Don't even think about it Mick," Sara replied, grabbing the back of the man's jacket and pulling him back out of the room.
Cisco looked frantically back and forth between Lydia and the wall, eventually settling for going over to the wall and seeing how far the glass was embedded.
"C'mon Cisco." Caitlin grabbed Cisco's arm and started pulling. "You can think of the scientific implications later."
"Six inches into the concrete," Cisco whispered. "Six inches."
Lydia turned to face the other woman with a look of pride on her face.
"You can teach me to do that?" The woman pointed at the concrete wall.
"Like I said earlier the immediate concern is making sure your head doesn't explode."
"How does this work?"
"I ask a bunch of intensely personal questions, we take blood sample, hearing test, and then one more test involving a computer and a record player. The results will tell us if you're in danger," Lydia answered.
"And if I'm not? What happens then?"
"That's not my decision. Coach has a claim on you, not us," Lydia said. "But I have a feeling if the Flash tries to take you back to your Earth without consent it'll come to blows."
The woman nodded in understanding. "Dinah. I prefer to be called Dinah."
"It's nice meeting you Dinah." Lydia smiled. "I need you to tell me the most important person in your life who died, and how old you were when it happened."
"Can I know why?" Dinah asked.
"Grief is the most powerful trigger for abilities like ours," Lydia said.
"Sara; my Sara," Dinah felt the need to clarify. "I was sixteen, she was fourteen. She was on her way home from the grocery store when she was hit by car. I was in detention. I remember hearing tires squealing on wet pavement, which is impossible considering I was halfway across town at the time. The noise was so loud, I just screamed and it stopped."
"It's not," Lydia said. "Traumatic deaths or experiences are considered setting events for our abilities. What happened to your Sara was your setting event. Once the event happens it's only a matter of time before the abilities manifest in one form or another, from what we can tell the accelerator explosion simply sped things along and amplified the powers you were beginning to come into at the time."
"So you're saying I'm not a meta?" Dinah questioned.
"Oh, you're a meta, of that there is no doubt. It's just that your abilities aren't from the explosion," Lydia clarified. "They're simply stronger because of it, which is why we need to do these tests, to see how strong they are."
"Because if they're too strong my head will explode and half the city along with it."
"Precisely." Lydia nodded.
"So do I get to ask questions while we do this?" Dinah asked.
"Of course, however, whether or not we answer them is an entirely different matter," Lydia replied.
"Well isn't that just fine and dandy." Dinah rolled her eyes.
"Would you prefer trepanation?" Lydia asked. "Because I assure you that can easily be arranged and instead of stopping after breaching your skull, we can let the drill keep going until it's ruptured your brain and you are essentially a vegetable and then we can stuff you full of mistletoe and you will never be in control of your body ever again."
"That's harsh," Liam interrupted.
"Do I need to have you sit in the corner?" Lydia asked, turning her glare on the teenager.
"I'm just saying," Liam mumbled. "Coach will be pissed if you do that."
"If the alternative is us all dying horrible painful deaths Coach will learn to live with it," Lydia replied.
Jordan leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling as if to question why he was there.
"You mentioned taking a blood sample," Dinah said.
"Yes," Lydia turned her attention back to the other woman. "We did. Are you going to hurt Dr. Snow if she comes to take a sample?"
"I can behave," Dinah answered.
"That's not what I asked." Lydia glared.
"I will not hurt the doctor," Dinah replied in a slow drawl.
"We're good," Lydia said to the camera. A few seconds later Caitlin came in the room with a blood testing kit.
"Killer Frost doppelganger," Dinah greeted.
"Dr. Snow," Caitlin corrected. "Lydia, you explained the situation?" The redhead nodded. "Do you understand what I am about to do?" Caitlin turned to face the meta.
"You're taking a blood sample and if I don't behave you'll drill a hole into my brain." Dinah gave a fake smile.
"This will hurt," Caitlin said as she prepped a needle.
"Aren't you supposed to lie so I feel better?"
"I make an exception for those who hurt the people I care about." Caitlin cleaned a small patch of skin with a swab and then tied a tourniquet with a harsh snap. "That's for threatening Lucas." Then she jammed the needle into the other woman's vein harder than she normally would have. "That's for using Lauren as a bargaining chip."
Dinah was about to make a witty comeback only to suddenly find a strong hand wrapped around her throat, and be lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized it was the teenager who was limiting her oxygen intake, his eyes glowing and golden with large fangs protruding from his mouth.
"We were doing so well." Lydia sighed.
The door was quickly thrown open to reveal Sara who calmly walked over to where the two were and placed a hand on Liam's shoulder. "She's not worth it."
Liam responded with a growl.
"The twins are fine," Sara said. "Do you hear me, Lucas and Lauren are fine. They're safe."
"She's a threat," Liam replied. "They could've been hurt."
"But they weren't. They don't understand right now, but if you do this now, where they can hear you and see you, it'll stay with them until they're old enough to comprehend some of it. They'll remember their uncle killing someone who looked like their aunt, and that will hurt them more than any threat could."
Liam shook his head and let go of the doppelganger.
"Why don't you go read to the cubs," Sara said. "Nyssa's fading fast in the other room."
Liam nodded once before baring his teeth at Dinah and leaving the room.
"Don't tell me Mom and Dad continued procreating in this universe?" Dinah sneered.
"He's Lauren's Godfather, just like Laurel was her Godmother," Sara said. "Laurel called Liam the little brother we never got. You being here has put everyone on edge."
"Are you expecting an apology?"
"No. But some common decency from you would go a long way."
Dinah rolled her eyes.
"We're going to set up one of the tests now," Lydia said. "It'll take several hours for the blood analysis to send back any tentative results."
"I'll get the equipment," Jordan said. He left the room.
"So this test, how does it work?" Dinah asked.
"My grandmother spent a large portion of her life studying Banshees. She predicted the death of her partner and spent most of her life savings in the pursuit of why. She developed a test of sorts and used it to create a computer algorithm that could correctly identify other people like us. How it works is the record has a type of white noise that can put banshees into trance-like states. Once you're in the state you'll be able to hear the voices of people who died, sounds that resonate with their deaths. You type the names and sounds into the computer. What you pick up will tell us how far your powers have progressed."
"What if I don't hear anything?" Dinah asked.
"Then we send you back where you came from," Sara replied.
"It's highly unlikely you won't hear anything," Lydia said, glaring at the alpha. "I'd give you headphones, but the last time someone tried that the banshee they were testing went into a vegetative state and basically went insane."
"She organized a dead pool," Sara replied.
"Meredith became highly susceptible to extreme suggestions and was locked in an insane asylum, there's a difference," Lydia corrected.
Jordan came back in the room holding a portable record player and a laptop, followed by a man in a large brown duster who had two chairs, and another teenager who was carrying a table. The man in the brown jacket paused when he noticed Dinah. "I'm confused."
"Parallel universe," Sara said.
"That's a thing now?" the teenager asked.
"Please, just put the equipment down, so we can get this done," Sara replied. "I don't want this to take longer than it has to."
"Sara," the man in the brown jacket began.
"Rip. You just got off of my shit list. DO you really want to go back on it so soon?" Sara flashed her red eyes at the man.
Rip sighed and helped the others set the equipment up, before they all exited the room, leaving only Lydia and Dinah.
"We'll be able to monitor your progress from the other room. I'll come back and check on you in an hour or so. If you need anything bang on the door," Lydia explained.
"Why are you doing this? Helping me, I mean?" Dinah asked.
"I know what it's like to be where you are now. When I was in my darkest place another banshee helped me through, showed me that I wasn't a slave to my powers. This is my way of evening the scales." Lydia started to head for the door, when she stopped suddenly and turned back around. "For what it's worth, I believe you have it in you to properly harness your abilities, and so does Sara."
"I have control," Dinah argued.
"No, you have what they give you. They want you to scream, so you do. They want you to destroy, so you do. The dead are treating you like a puppet; don't let them. Just because they showed you the power doesn't mean they can take it away. Don't let them ruin what you've wanted half your life. It's not theirs, it's yours."