A/N: Hey everyone! This took me a moment to write, but I like the end result well enough. Also, I wrote more than half of this chapter by watching the pilot without subtitles. So any word that doesn't seem right in the dialogue is because I was purely guessing as to what was being said by the character.
Destroyer of All: Thank you for your kind words! Honestly, I think that reason that it's so easy for me to write Cisco well is because he and I have the same sense of humor. So it's essentially me writing what I would say or do in a situation and just putting his name on it haha.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned The Flash. But alas, I do not.
Ch 3
9 months after the accident
I stepped into my apartment, music blasting in my earphones. Rushing to get out of my sticky clothes, I hopped into the shower. The warm water soothed my muscles and I felt immensely better after a few minutes.
Caitlin recommended a strict training regiment for me after I waddled back into STAR Labs the day after my trick with the double bars, sore as I could get. Most of my outside training just include a daily morning run, but I did have to do specific exercises to target my core, shoulders, and back. Though my ability is still unpredictable, we're getting a handle on it. I know now that the tingling behind my eyes is an indication that my ability is working.
Once the shower turned to a chilly temperature, I knew that I had been in the shower for too long. I had to get ready for work.
Drying myself off and throwing on some decent clothes for work, I ran out of my apartment and trekked it to the station. When I was about halfway there, my phone started ringing. The caller ID showed it was Ella, so of course I answered.
"Hey!"
"Hey Kate, how is everything?"
"I'm great. Just on my way to work. You caught me at a good time actually. How's school?"
"It's fine. Everything's great. I got the part I wanted in the school's musical this year."
"Oh my gosh, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you. I really wish that I could come see you." I gasped as I suddenly got an idea. "Maybe I can take a day or two off to come see you perform!"
"I'd love that! At least someone would be there to support me."
And that's when I stopped in my tracks, in the middle of the sidewalk. "Wait, what are you talking about? Won't Dad be there?"
"I don't know, he's been kind of distant lately." I continued walking as I realized that I was right in front of the station and I was almost late.
"Distant? Distant how?" I whispered as I walked upstairs. I didn't want to disturb anyone while they were working. Unlocking my office and then Barry's lab, I immediately set to multitasking.
"I don't know, he's just not around as much anymore. He goes out late at night sometimes, doesn't come back until the early morning. I just…" Ella continued to stutter over her words.
"Oh, spit it out Ella, come on." I ordered as I placed five test tubes into a centrifuge, closing the lid and turning it on.
"I think… I think Dad's seeing someone." My body went rigid.
"Seeing someone? As in dating? Are you sure?" I replied unsurely.
"He used to tell me about all of his stuff at work all the time. He never tells me about what he does anymore. I don't know, it's all very confusing. What should I do?" Okay, time to step into the big sister shoes.
"Just ask him. Do it at dinner or something. Just a simple, 'Hey Dad, are you seeing anyone?' in between bites of chicken parmesan. Don't make it a big deal and he'll be more likely to answer truthfully." I sat in Barry's old spinning chair and spun around a couple of times.
"But it is kind of a big deal. This would be his first time dating since… since Mom." I felt a pang in my chest as I recognized that my little sister was right.
"I know it is, and we both know that he'll always love Mom. But he has the right to be happy too after all that's happened lately. It's about time. He can't wait forever." I heard Ella sigh and shuffle around a little bit.
"I guess you're right. Thanks Kate." I smiled as the warm feeling of satisfaction started to spread throughout my chest. I heard someone open the lab doors and I put a finger up to signal just one second.
A voice said, "Hey, I'm back."
I turned and said, "One second, Barry." and went back to my conversation. Once I was about to say something else to Ella, my entire body went rigid. Turning back around, I saw a familiar pair of green eyes that I hadn't seen in months smiling at me.
"Wait, did you say Barry? He's awake?" My sister's question confirmed that I just saw who I thought I saw.
"I…I'll call you back Ella." I hung up the phone and dropped it on the desk, running towards my best friend and hugging him tightly. He caught me swiftly and I stayed in his embrace for the longest time. My heart overflowed with elation as I realized that was real, that I wasn't dreaming this.
I felt Barry's chest rumble as he chuckled at me, "It's good to see you too, Kate."
Suddenly I pulled back from the hug and pushed at his chest. Barry's happy face turned into shock as I kept poking him. "Don't. You. Ever. Do. That. To. Me. Again. Barry Allen." He was holding my wrists by this point and I was thrashing around, practically hysterical. "You scared the hell out me. Damn you…" He pulled me back into a hug as my voice started cracking. A couple of tears escaped my eyes as Barry rubbed my back soothingly.
"I'm still here, my heart's still beating. I'm not going anywhere, I promise." His deep voice calmed me down as I pulled back and nodded. Barry's hand started twitching and he got this confused look on his face. "Hey, I gotta go do something. I'll call you later." Barry walked out of the lab as quickly as he came.
Not going anywhere, huh? I exited the lab, running centrifuge forgotten as I followed Barry out of the door and into the back alley. My eyes widened as I saw his hand vibrate at an inhuman speed. Then he was suddenly a twenty feet away from where we was originally standing. He looked back and forth a couple of times, then he zoomed past my hiding spot and into a laundry truck. Apologizing to the man, Barry stepped out and brushed himself off. I decided it was time to reveal myself.
"Lightning strikes really change you, don't they Barry?" He spun around, eyes the size of saucers, to see me standing with my arms crossed. Barry walked up to me and started whispering so quickly that I almost couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Idon'tknowhowthehellthathappenedIswearIhaven't doneanyofthatbeforeinmylifeverpleasedon'ttellanyoneKateplease." I held up a hand, stopping his rant. He looked at me with pleading eyes and I crumbled a little.
"Come on, I know some people who might be able to help you with this." I took his hand and we started walking to STAR Labs.
"You don't really believe that he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin typed on her pad as she talked to Dr. Wells.
"I do, I saw it with my own eyes." I defended Barry, arms crossed.
"Well, I believe in anything is possible and maybe in a few minutes, you will too." Dr. Wells spoke, looking up at Caitlin.
"Plus, you saw that I have an ability, why is Barry's so far out of the spectrum?"
Caitlin sighed, "Well, yours seems like more of an evolutionary ability, something that humans could eventually learn to do in a millennium or so. While Barry's ability seems a bit… comic book-ish." She grimaced at the end of her sentence.
"Wait, your ability? Kate, you can do stuff too?" I heard Barry come up behind me. I turned around, mouth open in shock as he wasn't supposed to know yet.
"Um. Yeah." I stuttered out.
"What can you do?"
I looked at my feet and shuffled them around nervously, "It's not really much compared to what you can do… Psht, don't you have a test to do? Go to Cisco, we can talk later." I shoved him in Cisco's direction and he shrugged before complying with my orders.
I heard the buzz of Dr. Wells' wheel chair spin up beside me. "This discovery, if proven to be true, brings about a whole new set of questions pertaining to you." My head snapped in his direction.
"Me? What does this have to do with me? What questions?" My eyes grew wide. I thought that we almost had all of my power figured out, that we had no more puzzle pieces to put together.
"Can you effectively copy superhuman abilities? Can you attain those abilities? If so, for how long?" I groaned as this meant a whole new set of tests that I had to go through.
Cisco jogged over to us and started putting together Barry's ear device on his helmet. Caitlin came back and started tapping away at her pad.
"I never meant for Barry to find out that quickly. It was supposed to be a gradual thing." I knocked my head against the table.
"Well, on the bright side, you and Barry could become a crime fighting team!" Cisco offered, he started bouncing up and down in excitement at the possibility. I rolled my eyes and focused on Barry and Dr. Wells talking.
Soon they separated and Barry stepped forward, taking his mark. He looked back at us, and I nodded encouragingly, signaling to him that he could go.
Then, a rush of wind blew back at us as Barry darted off in a spiral of light. Cisco ended up falling straight on his butt and Caitlin and I shielded ourselves from the flying papers, while Dr. Wells stayed stock still as Barry kept on running. Barry cheered while running and I giggled at his enthusiasm.
"He just passed 200 miles per hour." Cisco yelled out, looking at his machine.
Caitlin, who had a pair of binoculars in her hands, put them down in disbelief. "It's not possible." She breathed.
"I'd say that's pretty possible." I retorted. "Wow, look at him go!" Dr. Wells smiled at my words.
Then, out of nowhere, there was an explosion. Tons of water sprayed out into the air and above where I'd assume that Barry had crashed. I gasped and started calling out to him.
"Barry? Barry!" He zoomed up to me and fell against my body, cradling his arm.
"Ah, my arm." He moaned. Caitlin came up and took him by the arm and led him back into the trailer.
"We'll need to treat this at STAR Labs. It looks serious." She prodded his arm and looked at Dr. Wells. He nodded and we started to pack everything up, getting ready to transport back to the lab.
"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture."
"Wait, had?" Barry asked in a confused tone.
"It's healed. In three hours."
"How is that even possible?" Barry whispered.
"That's the thing… We don't know." I leaned against a desk, arms crossed.
"Yet." Caitlin added before going to punch in the calculations into the computer.
"You really need to learn how to stop." I snickered at Cisco's comment while Barry smiled. Dr. Wells rolled up to Barry's bedside.
"What happened out there today? You were moving pretty well, did something cause you to lose focus?" Barry's face darkened at the question.
"I started remembering something." He croaked out. Wait, I knew that look. He got it every time someone asked about his…
Dr. Wells nodded his head, silently asking Barry to elaborate, but I interrupted before he could start. "Barry, you don't have to tell them, not today." I said soothingly.
"It's fine." Barry dismissed me, then continued. "When I was eleven, my mother was murdered." Everything in the room suddenly stopped as Barry's story was told.
"It was late. A sound woke me up. I came downstairs and…" He choked up a little before continuing. "I saw what looked like a ball of lightning. Inside the lightning, there was a man. He killed my mom." Dr. Wells looked at Barry with pained eyes. "They arrested my dad, he's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrinks, they all told me what I saw was impossible." He paused. "But what if the man who killed my mom was like me?"
"Well I think I can say that, unequivocally, you are one of a kind." Barry nodded sadly at Dr. Wells words, then he looked over to me.
"How do you fit into all of this? How do you know these guys?"
I played with my hands a little, "Well, the day the particle accelerator went online, I had an accident too." Barry's eyes widened, I put my hands up to placate him. "I didn't get struck by lightning, but I was hit with this… pulse of energy. I ended up in a coma, just like you did, but only for three months instead of nine. A couple of months after I woke up, I started experiencing weird things. I could do things that I had never trained for in my life before." I trailed off as Barry looked just as confused as before. "Eidetic… Kinesthesia is what I think Dr. Wells called it?"
I looked over to the brilliant scientist and he nodded before I looked back to Barry, "I can copy people and pretty much exactly how they do a movement. All I have to do is look at them doing it."
"Yeah, you could say she's a… Copy Cat." Cisco joked before snickering at his own pun. I rolled my eyes and shot him a deadpan expression.
"Cisco, that wasn't funny the first time, and it's still not funny the seventh time you've said that." But Cisco wasn't swayed by my words because he looked to Barry for his reaction.
"Well, it's his first time hearing the joke, he might find it funny!" Cisco looked to Barry with wide, pleading eyes. Barry looked back and forth between us, before smiling the tiniest smile.
"It was a little funny." He pinched his fore finger and thumb close together to show how funny he thought it was, but that was enough for Cisco's standards. He cheered and started doing a victory dance, which made me laugh.
"Speaking of your ability, do you wanna test out Dr. Wells theory?" Caitlin came up to the group, pad in hand. I nodded before going to change.
Coming back into the lab, I tugged at my training capris and tank top, making sure they wouldn't be a problem if I had to do any stretching. Cisco hooked me up to a small, weightless, portable vitals tracking machine.
Walking into my training room, I saw everyone sitting outside, looking in through the window. Cisco started speaking in the microphone, "Do you feel any different? More than usual?"
"I got a tingly feeling behind my eyes watching Barry run, but it wasn't as strong as usual. Let me try and run." I crouched down before running at a normal speed for a few feet. Looking at the group, I shrugged in confusion. "It didn't work. I wonder why?"
The group talked some more behind the window as I stared at them. Then, Caitlin started talking into the mic again. "Hey, Kate? We're gonna run the beam test again, so if you wanna go over there and do your thing, that'd be fine. We'll be watching." I nodded and walked over to the balance beam that was standing in the middle of the room.
I did some stretches and rolled my shoulders before running and jumping on a spring board, propelling myself onto the beam. Doing the same routine that I did three weeks ago, I turned and flipped on the beam, landing more and more sturdy each time. My body twisted and danced and performed like the olympic hopeful I watched all those weeks ago. Coming to the final dismount, I ran and launched myself off the beam into the air, twisted my body twice, before landing firmly on the mat. I took a deep breath.
Tip-toeing off of the mat and over to a stack of towels, I grabbed one and walked out of the room to hear Cisco's giggling. I wiped my face and smiled at him. His hands went to his head, as if he didn't believe what he was seeing, even though this was practically routine for a month now. "That never gets old, I swear."
"But why have her only do gymnastics? Why not something more… defensive, like karate." I overheard Barry ask Dr. Wells. The older man seemed to think for a second before answering.
"We would have by now, but unfortunately Miss Steele does not have a proper sparring partner and we can't risk sending her out anywhere untrained."
"Sending her out? What?" Barry seemed confused and I decided to end the conversation before it got to a place that I didn't want it to go.
I tapped Barry on the "Come on, I think we deserve a coffee." He grinned at me and we took our leave.
Barry and I were walking down the sidewalk towards Jitters at a leisurely pace. His hands were in his pocket and mine were relaxed at my side. A group of construction workers were on the job at a new building, steam coming out of one of their machines. The scent of nature topped with a bit of gasoline was oddly charming. People sped around us in their business suits and jogging outfits, trying to reach their destinations.
"What you can do, it's really cool. Amazing, even." I scoffed at Barry's compliment.
"Me? Amazing? Oh come on, you can run over 200 miles per hour!" I whispered so no one would overhear. "Now that is amazing. My power is rather… mundane." I kicked at a rock, the pebble only making it a few feet away from where we originally stood.
"I wouldn't call being able to copy an olympic-level gymnastics routine from a video mundane. Embrace your awesomeness! You have a gift now, so use it…" Barry trailed off with a stoney face as he looked at something in the distance.
"Use it for… what? What are we looking at?" I turned in the direction that Barry was facing and saw Iris and Detective Thawne kissing. "What the hell?" I whispered. Looking up at Barry, he had disappointment written all over his face. I grabbed his hand and we started to walk in the opposite direction.
Iris calling our names, stopping us in our tracks. We looked back to see her running to catch up to us. We stood in silence for a moment, no one wanting to start the conversation. So I decided to take the plunge.
"How long?"
"Almost five months. Not long."
"Long enough." I crossed my arms, anger taking over my features. "Okay, Barry has an excuse for not knowing because he just woke up, but me? I've been here for months and you still didn't tell me." The anger in my expression morphed into hurt. Iris had the decency to look ashamed. "Were you ever gonna tell me?"
"I was, I swear. Soon. But it's just you were working so closely with my dad I was afraid you would accidentally let something slip and…" Iris was tongue-tied as she couldn't seem to finish the rest of her sentence. I looked at Barry, who had stayed quiet throughout our entire conversation. Somehow, he looked the most hurt out of all of us.
I started walking away from them, "I'm going to the station, you two can talk this out." I was about to fully face away from them, but a final plea from Iris stopped me.
"Kate! Just, please, don't tell my dad. Not yet." I turned around, still steaming from our debacle of a discussion.
"Never said I was going to." I stomped away from my two best friends.
I was at the station, looking through a set of photos that I'd taken when there was a knock on my office door. Going over and opening the door, I was greeted by Joe and his partner.
"Hey, Joe! Detective Thawne. What's up?" I stood by my open office door, waiting for one of them to start speaking. Joe ended up stepping forward while Eddie stayed back, giving the two of us some privacy.
"Barry ended up at a crime scene earlier with Iris. He was telling me about how he saw Clyde Mardon and how he can control the weather somehow. I don't know what's going on with him, but I know that me and Eddie are going to check out his old hiding place." My eyes widened as Joe's story started to sound more and more like something STAR Labs should handle. But I didn't interrupt him and I let him finish what he came here to tell me.
"Just know, that if I don't make it back… tell Barry and Iris that I love them. And tell Barry that I didn't mean any of the stuff that I said to him earlier." I put a hand on his shoulder then hugged him. He returned the hug quickly.
Pulling back, I looked my second father figure in the eye. "You're going to make it back. I know you both will." I peeked back at Eddie. Joe nodded at me, then smiled before turning to Eddie and signaling that they would go.
As soon as they left, I gathered up all of my belongings for the day and I booked it out of the building all the way to STAR Labs.
The doors whistled as they opened for me and I plopped my things on the ground, "Hey, I heard this thing about Clyde Mardon and weather controlling and—" My breathy rant was disrupted as I looked around the room to see Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry all surrounding a scarlet colored suit. "What is that?" I pointed at the suit.
Cisco smiled proudly, "As I was just about to explain, it's made of a reinforced tripolymer. It's heat and abrasive resistant so it should withstand your moving at high velocity speeds. And the aerodynamic designs should help you maintain control." Barry's eyes lit up with determination the further Cisco got into his explanation. "Plus, it has built in sensors so that we can track your vitals and stay in contact with you from here." The smirk only grew wider on Cisco's face.
"Thanks." Barry replied, it was in that moment that it finally clicked.
The suit was meant for Barry.
"Oh my gosh, you're actually gonna go stop Mardon?" My voice got higher as I reached the ending of my sentence. I just got Barry back, what if I lose him again? This time for good? My brain was screaming at me. Safe to say, I was freaking out internally.
Barry nodded before turning back to Cisco, "Now, how do we find him?"
Caitlin walked over to us with her touchpad in hand. "I retasked STAR Labs satellite to track meteorological abnormalities over Central City. We just got a ping." The three of us crowded around the doctor to see the screen. "Atmospheric pressure dropped 20 millibars in a matter of seconds. I've tracked him to a farm just west of the city."
As she continued to explain, Barry started to get a twinkle in his eye as he looked at Cisco's creation. In a sudden gust of wind, he was in the suit and ready to go. Cisco pointed out a few knobs where Barry could turn on his comm system and such, and Barry tested them to make sure that they worked. Once everything checked out perfectly, I stepped in front of Barry.
He didn't have his mask on yet, but I could see the slight nerves that ran through his emotions. "Whenever you're out there, just… be careful, okay? I need my best friend." I hugged him quickly before he put his mask on and raced out of the building.
As papers floated to the ground all around the room, Cisco just had to make a comment.
"We have got to buy paperweights."
I snorted in amusement as we all sat down in chairs behind the monitors and waited for a response from our newfound hero.
A beeping on the center monitor made Cisco jump and type in a random code. His eyes widened and he whispered, "Oh no." before yelling into the microphone. "Barry! Barry, this thing's getting closer with speeds of over 200 mph increasing. Barry, can you hear me?"
"Yeah! Loud and clear." We silently cheered that he could hear our directions from a long distance.
"If this keeps up, this could become an F5 tornado." Cisco stated into the microphone, face drawn in the total opposite of his normally upbeat goofy expression.
"And it's headed towards the city. How do I stop it?" Caitlin and Cisco scrambled around for an answer. "Guys!" Barry asked for guidance. "What if I unravel it?"
"How the hell are you gonna do that?" Caitlin asked into the mic.
"I'll run around it in the opposite direction, cut off its legs." Barry's voice was almost cut off by the loud sound the tornado was making.
"He'd have to clock 700 mph to do that." Cisco whispered to us.
"Your body might not be able to handle those speeds. You'll die." A tear fell from my eye at Caitlin's words. Goodness, I was doing a lot of crying lately.
"I have to try." My stomach churned as I realized that Barry wasn't going to run away from this.
Cisco started chuckling as flashes started coming in on his monitor. "Ha ha, the suit's holding up!"
"Yeah, but he's not." Caitlin retorted.
"He can do it. I know he can." I breathed out, trying to convince myself that he would come out unscathed.
We heard a series of grunts and thuds, then silence. "Barry? Barry are you still there?" I asked into the mic.
"Yeah, I'm still here. It's too strong! I don't know if I can stop this thing. I just don't think I'm fast enough."
I sighed, "Look, Barry, every single one of us are here because we thought that you have the potential and the ability to do right by this city and stopping Mardon. We believe in you, Barry. I believe in you."
Then a voice I didn't expect to hear spoke up and furthered my motivational speech.
"You can do this, Barry." All three of our heads turned to see Dr. Wells speaking into a third microphone. "You were right, I am responsible for all of this. So many people have been hurt because of me. And when I looked at you, all I saw was another potential victim of my doings and yes, I created this madness but you, Barry. You can stop it. You can do this. Now run, Barry. Run!"
There was a series of whooshing sounds, then silence. Nothing but static over Barry's comm signal. For a moment, I feared the worst.
"Barry. Barry? Are you there?" Another pause. "Barry!"
"…It's over." And with those two words, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. That would've been a terrible thing to clean up." I moaned, my head facing the ceiling, body slouching in the chair.
Silence. "I don't have tornado insurance."
Take a good guess as to who said that.
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