All alone inside a big, time travelling box and no way how to navigate it made it seem almost impossible to Clara to ever figure out who she was. But there was one thing Clara Oswald never did: she never gave up. Here she was, inside a time travelling box known as a TARDIS. That's what she remembered the Time Lady told her before the alien woman perished.
The Time Lady, known as the Dreamer in her home planet Gallifrey, found Clara and brought her into her TARDIS. She revealed to Clara that was she no ordinary person, she was a Time Lady herself. A hybrid. Her father had been a Time Lord who met his mother from Earth.
"But I grew up with my Dad, and I'm sure I would've noticed if he was an alien," Clara said the first time she heard the story.
The Dreamer made Clara realize the family she lived with was an adoptive one - one found by her father before his own death. Now, Clara was enamored with the idea of time travelling through space and time. She decided to believe the Dreamer after getting conclusive results of her blood. While not having the traditional two hearts every Time Lord and Time Lady bore, Clara's DNA was that of a human and a Time Lady.
Sweet little Clara was made for bigger things, the Time Lady promised her over and over. Clara was dazzled and scared at the same time.
Sweet little Clara was now on her own inside an alien ship with no idea what to do. The Dreamer had shown her the stars for a couple of months until something went wrong. A nice trip to a foreign planet ended in bloodshed and gave no time for a regeneration that would've allowed the Dreamer to survive. With this knowledge, the Dreamer confessed to Clara why she specifically came for Clara in the first place.
It wasn't because Clara was a rare hybrid, nor because Clara was alone without her mother.
It was because of a mystery.
A prediction.
A legend.
Those were words describing Clara as a whole. She was compared to something else - a Bad Wolf but Clara didn't understand what that meant so she discarded it - and was given instructions to follow through on that mystery. If left unresolved, it could mean Clara's death.
Well, Clara liked to live. It was nice to live.
So, the Dreamer left her TARDIS to Clara in hopes that one day Clara would figure out the mystery. Unfortunately, the Dreamer failed to ever teach Clara how to drive the TARDIS.
It was why Clara was currently screaming and struggling to stay on her feet while the TARDIS shook and lurched. Clara definitely needed more help to drive it. "Autopilot! Autopilot!" she screeched and fell backwards.
The TARDIS came to a stop after she hit the ground. Her dark brown eyes opened up again to see the golden ceiling. She propelled herself to sit up on her elbows. Blowing a string of air to push some her out of her face, she decided for now it was best to leave the driving lessons on hold. Autopilot was safer, much safer.
When she got up, the first thing she did was check where she was. The Dreamer always told her it was necessary to know where they were before they left the TARDIS for safety measures.
Clara positioned herself in front of a computer screen - the monitor - and lit it up. "Central...City…" she read aloud from the screen then saw its information below. "Well, at least it's Earth," she decided to go check it out in the meantime.
She emerged from the tiny box that - to anyone who didn't know about aliens - would think it was a regular British, red telephone box. Clara looked around and saw she ended up in a slumy kind of place. She held her long, red purse closer to her and began to walk.
Since it was night, the most she could see were flashing lights of bars opened in the area. She wasn't liking some of the looks she was getting from people she went into the first bar she found. Similar people were inside but most of them were drawn to the pool tables or darts.
She decided to go up to the first female worker she saw, and the least threatening one at that. She walked up to the bar counter and sat down on an empty stool. "You wouldn't happen to serve lemonade here would you?"
Her English accent drew the bartender's attention in a snap. Caitlin Snow met a lot of people in this "fine" establishment but there was only one person who spoke with an English accent. Could she be a relative of the owner's?
Amunet never spoke about family, she thought. And the more Caitlin stared at the brunette across her the less she thought of the possibility. Clara's bright smile could never be of Amunet's blood.
"Ah, thank you," Clara graciously took her lemonade glass. After taking one sip, she realized she didn't exactly have American money to pay for the drink. "Uh...does this place accept quids?"
Caitlin's eyebrows raised together but saw Clara's nervousness as a reminder of herself. She was probably starting all over again. "It's on the house."
Clara beamed and happily drank her lemonade. Caitlin attended to other customers but she continued to study Clara each time she could. She started to get brief images of a similar brunette the last time she went...Killer Frost.
Caitlin gulped. It'd been three months since she left her friends and home. Killer Frost was still a part of her, a person she couldn't quite get under full control yet, and there were moments where she did take her over. Caitlin couldn't remember everything from each time but seeing Clara brought her one specific moment where Killer Frost had been fighting off one of Amunet's enemies. Caitlin couldn't remember clearly but she could almost swear there'd been one more person at the site - a short, brunette woman who'd shot some sort of electricity at the opponent.
Clara soon noticed the looks and sheepishly smiled. "I bet it's not common to see a Brit around these parts, right?"
Caitlin's eyebrows raised together while she chuckled. "You would be surprised to know not really. But then again, Central City has always been a site for...anything but the usual." Her mind wandered back to the speedsters, the vibers, the frost...all those people who made Central City what it was.
"I'm no stranger to the unusual myself," Clara admitted. She still couldn't believe her origin, or the fact she now owned a time travelling machine because her alien friend had died.
"Caitlin," a tall man with a gruff voice walked up to the counter.
Clara's eyes widened in alarm when she saw the man had one particular eye completely white. Clara shivered and turned a bit in her stool.
"Can I help you, Norvok?" Caitlin's expression turned sour at the sight of the man.
"Oh, you know, Amunet's got another job waiting. And we don't keep Amunet waiting."
"I am with a customer," Caitlin gestured to Clara.
The small brunette turned back only slightly since Caitlin had used her for an excuse. "Hello," she gave a wave with her hand.
Norvok raised an eyebrow. "Oh, another Brit in the area? What are you, then?" he leaned a hand on the counter to get closer to Clara's face. Immediately
Clara smelled the booze off him and leaned away. "I don't know who she is but could you please, um...get back a little?"
"Norvok, leave her alone," Caitlin sighed and set down the glass she'd been cleaning up.
"What's your name sweetheart?" Norvok plainly ignored both women's requests.
"Clara…"
Norvok smiled at Clara. "You're an adorable little one. Fun size even…"
Clara's eyes widened with offence. "Excuse you-"
Norvok suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Let me buy you another drink-"
"-I think not!" Clara tried pulling her wrist from his grip. "Now let go of me!"
"Norvok, don't cause a scene!" Caitlin snapped as well. "Leave her alone right now or-" but whatever threat Caitlin had been going to make was cut off when Clara's wrist produced a white electricity that encased Norvok's form.
Caitlin felt quite a satisfaction seeing the man go down. However, she then knew what would happen.
"Um...I'm going to go now…" Clara noticed the way other customers were staring at her. She slowly got up from her stool and nervously started backwards.
"Go!" Caitlin hurried out from the barcounter and yanked Clara towards the entrance.
"I-I didn't mean to cause trouble!" Clara exclaimed as the two bolted into the street.
"He was asking for it!" Caitlin wasn't bothered by Clara's action. She was, however, intrigued of her "powers".
The two women eventually stopped when they were a decent distance away from the bar. Caitlin released a breath and shook her head at Clara. "You want to tell me who you are? And how did you find me?"
"Wh-what?" Clara blinked. Her mind was still trying to catch up with her.
"We don't get...people like you, in the bar," Caitlin's nod at Clara's appearance made the latter frown for a second.
"People like me? What's that mean!?"
"Metahumans," Caitlin's answer might as well have been in Chinese for Clara.
"A what?"
Caitlin sighed and set her hands on her hips. "Don't play dumb. Did someone send you to talk to me? Specifically a person who opens breaches?"
"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about," Clara raised her hands in defence. She retracted a step away from Caitlin. "I'm new in the city - the country actually - and I just wandered in. I don't know what a metahuman is! And what's a breach?"
Caitlin blinked rapidly for the first couple of minutes as she examined Clara's expressions. The petite brunette seemed scared but confused at the same time. "You...don't know Cisco?"
"Who's Cisco? You keep throwing a lot of new vocabulary at me and you don't tell me what they are!"
"He was my friend and he keeps trying to get me to talk to him and our other friends. But right now, I just want to know how you're a metahuman who I'm assuming wasn't near the Particle Accelerator when it exploded."
Clara slapped a hand to her face. "A particle what now?" Caitlin's expression announced a clear "how is this possible" that only made Clara more irritated. "Okay, you're gonna have to explain something to me."
Caitlin figured she was right but there was still a lot of ground to cover. Her dark eyes landed on Clara's hands as she recalled the electric bolts Clara gave to Norvok. "Are you a metahuman? Do you...you have powers?"
Clara stared at Caitlin, coming to the conclusion that maybe Caitlin wasn't as sane as she appeared. "Why would you think that?"
"Because you electrified a man five minutes ago."
Clara blinked. "Oh, right." She raised her right hand and pointed to a small bracelet around her wrist. Caitlin could make out some odd symbols written on the silver oval pendant. "My, uh, friend made this for me. She was really smart - beyond smart, actually - and she thought it would make for a nice protection if I ever got into trouble."
Caitlin eyed the bracelet with suspicion. It seemed like something Cisco could make, honestly, but he would never add weird symbols like the ones on the pendant. "What does that mean?" she nodded to the pendant.
"My name," Clara shrugged. The Dreamer had written her name in her home planet language, Gallifreyan. Clara thought it looked beautiful but it was a shame no one else would ever understand the language.
"So...my friend Cisco didn't send you…" Caitlin slowly concluded with certainty now. It relieved her, honestly, that Cisco was finally listening to her pleads about giving her some time alone.
Clara dropped her arm to her side. "I don't know who that is."
"My friend," Caitlin said quietly and Clara was a bit confused why Caitlin would say it so sadly. "Um...I guess I should get back to work…" Caitlin realized that Amunet must be going crazy searching for her for whatever task she'd prepared for Killer Frost. At the very least Norvok was on his way for Clara.
"You want to go back there?" Clara pointed a thumb over her shoulder.
"I sort of work there," Caitlin reminded and started heading back when Clara grabbed her arm.
"Sorry if this sounds rude but...you don't look like the type of woman who would work at a place...like that."
"Believe me, I have no idea what type of woman I am now," Caitlin released a big sigh as she thought back to all the things she did as Killer Frost. It made her guilt crash over her all over again.
"I'm starting to get the feeling this Cisco friend of yours is probably concerned with great reason," Clara was sure Caitlin was bottling up problems of her life. "My friend, the one who made my bracelet, had a lot of things on her shoulders. Is that you too?"
"I just have some things to figure out, that's all," Caitlin said, technically not lying. As far as anyone was concerned, she was just focusing on keeping Killer Frost down.
Clara's eyes flickered to the end of the street where Caitlin's bar was. She felt like she couldn't let Caitlin go back to that awful place. Who knows what that man would do to Caitlin for helping her get away. The Dreamer wouldn't let anyone stay in potential danger and neither would Clara.
"Do you want to come back with me?"
Caitlin blinked in confusion. "Uh...what?"
Clara chuckled. "I'm not a murderer if that's what you think. I just don't think you should go back there, at least not for now. I've got a safe place for you."
Caitlin eyed the woman with reasonable suspicion. "If you try anything, I have the means to hurt you."
Clara found it strange that Caitlin made the threat as if she herself wouldn't follow through on it but someone else would. "Do you honestly think I could hurt you?"
Certainly not, thought Caitlin. "You know...you look familiar, in a sense."
Clara smiled and motioned Caitlin to walk with her. "Maybe I have that face."
Caitlin was sure this woman had been around her at one point, maybe when she was Killer Frost but she was sure now. "Are you sure this is your first time coming to the city?"
"Uh yeah, actually it was a surprise visit," Clara crossed her arms, feeling the chill of the air with her short-sleeved jacket. She made a turn for the street leading to the TARDIS. "I've never been to America before."
"You sure picked an interesting place," Caitlin gestured to the neighborhood.
Clara laughed. The TARDIS always had a way of picking places to go. The Dreamer said it was done on purpose and usually ended with good things. "So you live here, then?"
"Uh, well, yeah...I moved here three months ago," Caitlin explained, deciding to leave the reasons why.
"And I'm assuming this was against your friend's wishes?" Clara referred back to the famous Cisco she was accused of knowing earlier.
Caitlin's shrug was done in a half manner. Her mind wandered back to the last day she'd seen her friends. Cisco, Barry and Julian all seemed distraught with her news that she was leaving for a while. No one wanted the separation but Caitlin felt like they understood it deep inside. It was why Julian hadn't made a call...and she knew exactly where Barry was at the moment - he definitely wouldn't be calling or visiting anytime soon. Cisco was the only one who tried every so often to talk to her through the phone.
"He means well, I know, but I really do need some time away from everything."
Clara wondered what problems Caitlin could have to make it seem like the entire world was sitting on her shoulders. "So, um, that Particle Accelerator you mentioned earlier...what is that?" she hoped she could change topics fast so that Caitlin didn't feel worse.
"Oh, that was a failed science device a company I used to work for created. Three years ago we turned it on and it exploded and released dark matter into the air."
"Dark...matter?" Clara started looking around as if she would find said dark matter roaming the air.
Caitlin nodded her head. "It gave people powers as a consequence. Ever heard of the Flash?"
Clara thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I think so. Though from England you don't exactly get a lot of coverage of this precise city."
Caitlin chuckled. "I imagine there's plenty going on with the world. But he was one of the people affected and he could run at light speed."
"That sounds nice," Clara mused on the idea of having powers. "If I could have powers, I'd want it to be telekineses. Moving stuff with my mind, you know…" she put both her index fingers on the sides of her head, making Caitlin laugh. "What powers would you like to have?"
Caitlin's laugh vanished in that instant. She knew it hadn't crossed Clara's mind that she could have powers and for the time being Caitlin decided to leave it so. "I wouldn't really want powers. I like being a scientist."
"You're a scientist!?" Clara stopped walking to gape. "What are you doing working as a bartender, then!?"
"I did mention that 'wanting some time away' right?" Caitlin found a way to be sarcastic for the first time in three months. It was refreshing talking to someone...normal. Clara was basically nonethewiser about metahumans and villains.
"If I was a scientist I could figure things out so quickly," Clara mumbled as she began to walk again.
"You could what?" Caitlin caught only half of that.
Clara once again stopped walking when she saw the TARDIS at the end of the street. She glanced between it and Caitlin, her mind suddenly wondering what it would be like if she were to…
"You okay?" Caitlin set a hand on Clara's arm.
"Um…" Clara looked at the TARDIS for another minute. "You know, being a scientist, maybe you could help me with something."
Caitlin raised an eyebrow. "With what?"
Clara sighed. "With a mystery...about me." Caitlin was blank. Clara led her down the street until they were in front of the TARDIS. "My friend who created my bracelet died unexpectedly and she did so without getting answers about me. She left me everything in her possession so that I could continue with the mission but...I know nothing of science. I barely learned how to use the computer a month ago. My name is Clara Oswald and I could really use your help."
Caitlin watched as Clara opened the doors of the telephone box and became wide-eyed when she caught sight of the huge interior of it. Clara bit her lip nervously. Caitlin would either run away and go back to that awful bar...or she would lend a hand to a complete stranger.
Caitlin slowly poked her head inside the TARDIS, her mouth opening only to whisper, "Caitlin Snow."
This was literally written out of my pure love for these 2 characters. In my mind, they needed to meet!