(Author's Note: due to how I feel Cisco would treat Linda, part of this chapter borrowed elements from the Chronicles of Cisco concerning where he's playing 'tour guide' with the Segways; I tweaked it a bit, but I give the CW credit for the inspiration. No copyright infringement intended; this is just for amusement.)
The rest of the day went off uneventfully. Barry, Caitlin, and Stein had managed to talk Cisco out of spending almost five hundred dollars at Big Belly Burger to satisfy his scientific curiosity concerning Linda's metabolism. After lunch, the five parted ways—Barry back to CCPD, Caitlin and Cisco to S.T.A.R. Labs, and Stein and Linda went on their museum tour around Central City before heading back to Stein's house at the end of the day.
The next morning, the two arrived at S.T.A.R. Labs as Cisco had asked; Barry, Caitlin, and Ronnie were also there—more out of morbid curiosity about what Cisco actually had planned. It didn't take long to see exactly why their resident engineer hadn't said anything before that morning about his agenda with Linda.
Cisco had taken two Segways—amped up with Kawasaki 4-cylinder supercharged engines—and proudly announced that he would be taking Linda on 'Cisco's Central City Sightseeing Tour.' Everyone just stared, unsure what to say, as Cisco explained the day's agenda.
"So, we ready to kick it, Skittles?" Cisco asked Linda after he'd finished. He held up a vintage, brown leather Garman style motorcycle helmet and goggles; he glanced at the group, who appeared slightly apprehensive. "See, guys, I'm thinking safety, here—well, the appearance of safety, I mean, because we all know Skittles over here would end up cracking the pavement if she falls hard enough instead of the pavement cracking her."
"Cisco, if you're trying to convince us this is a good idea," Ronnie said, "this isn't helping."
"Hey, this is a stellar idea, okay?" Cisco said, slightly defensive. "This is the only way to see Central City in style."
Linda eyed the helmet warily, glanced at the Segways, then looked up at Cisco. He had this puppy dog look on his face; she could tell he'd spent a lot of time—and money—putting this whole thing together. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, her expression softening.
"Ready," she said, taking the helmet. Cisco grinned as the young girl carefully put the helmet and goggles on, positioning them over her glasses, then looked at the others. "Well, how do I look?"
Barry raised an eyebrow as he glanced between Cisco and Linda. They both looked positively ridiculous—especially Linda with her backpack hanging from her shoulders—but at the same time the speedster couldn't really find anything wrong with his friend's plans; they were unconventional, but not dangerous—for the most part. The young man smiled. "Like you're ready to have fun," he replied.
"Okay, so let's get going," Cisco said as he walked over to one of the Segways and got on. "Hop on, Skittles."
"How does this thing work?" Linda asked as approached the other Segway and carefully climbed on.
"Oh, it's simple," Cisco said. "You switch it on, and you just shift your weight forward to go forward or backward to back up. If you wanna go faster, you just lean further forward or backward, and you steer by using the handlebar. You know how to drive a car, right?"
"I got my license last month," Linda replied, "yes, I know how to drive a car."
"Well, it's like that," Cisco continued, "only you're standing…and you use your weight to determine the speed, which means it doesn't have brakes—you know what, forget what I said, it's nothing like driving a car." He switched on his Segway and leaned forward slightly, and the Segway slowly moved forward; he circled around the Cortex, expertly avoiding his friends and obstacles before stopping next to Linda. "There. You try."
Linda hesitated as she looked at her Segway, then she furrowed her eyebrows in determination. I can do this, she thought. This is Earth technology, for crying out loud. It's not that complicated. She turned on her ride and took a deep breath, holding onto the handlebars before slightly leaning forward; the machine rolled forward in jerky motions as Linda tried to find her center of balance. It took a little getting used to, but the young girl was a quick learner, and in a few minutes, she was rolling expertly—if not slowly—around the Cortex with a big smile on her face.
"There ya go, Skittles," Cisco grinned proudly. "Come on, let's go." He rolled around the workstation, heading out of the Cortex, turning left in the hallway.
"Coming!" Linda said, following him.
"I must say I had my doubts," Stein replied to the others, "but it appears they may have been unfounded." They watched as Linda turned right; a few seconds later, there was a small crashing sound. The trio watched as Linda rolled back into view, heading down the path Cisco had gone.
"I'm fine!" she said as she waved a little.
"Then again," Stein continued, "maybe not."
For the next few hours, Cisco—true to his word—took Linda on a unique tour of Central City. As they zigged and zagged around people and traffic, Linda listened to Cisco go on and on about the history of the city. Most of it was pretty fascinating, but Linda could have done without knowing about the hydraulic-installed sewer system in the early 1900s; still, she listened patiently, knowing how important it was to Cisco for her to enjoy herself.
Their first stop was the Central City Arcade, where Cisco explained he had spent a good portion of his childhood. He cashed in a big bucket of quarters, grabbed a couple of orange sodas, and showed Linda (who had never touched a video game before) the ropes of everything from Q*bert to Mortal Combat; the teenager didn't do so well on the regular games, but everything changed when they moved over to Dance Dance Revolution.
Cisco kept bragging about the game being his jam, but when the two of them actually got on the platform and danced to Eugenics' 'Sweet Dreams,' it was Linda's fancy footwork that proved too much for the engineer; he had to take a break and recover, watching as the teenager boogied to song after song after song. After her fifth perfect round, Cisco decided he wanted a coffee break, and all but dragged Linda away from the game; they left the arcade and zoomed over to Jitters, grabbing a couple of frozen coffees (with extra whipped cream and chocolate sauce on Linda's) before heading to the park.
"So, you having a good time?" Cisco asked as they sat on a bench, their Segways parked nearby.
"Definitely," Linda replied before taking a sip. "I mean, it's a little weird not waking up at five every morning to do the chores," she dropped her voice a little, "or worry about my powers or anything like that—aside from doing all those tests yesterday. It's nice to just feel…normal, for a change," she shrugged, "or about as normal as I can, I guess."
"I hear you on that one," Cisco muttered. He glanced over and saw Linda looking at him oddly, and the young man inwardly winced. "Uh…, I mean…." He paused and sighed. "Well, you might as well know."
"Know what?" Linda asked, intrigued.
Cisco took a deep breath, lowering his voice. "I…have…powers," he said slowly.
Linda furrowed her eyebrows. "You're a meta-human?" she asked softly.
Cisco nodded. "When I said I'd shatter Eiling's spine if he came after you," he said, "I wasn't speaking metaphorically." He paused, trying to gather his words properly. "My power involves 'vibing' things." Linda looked confused. "You know that all matter vibrates at different frequencies, right?" Linda nodded. "Well, I have the ability to tap into those vibrations and observe or manipulate them. You remember when you came to get info on Cadmus, and I touched your shoulder as you were leaving?"
"Yeah, you had this weird look on your face when I turned around," Linda replied. She paused, and her eyes widened slightly. "Wait, are you saying you 'vibed' me?"
"Yep," Cisco said. "I…saw this image of you…engulfed in fire…with your cousin's S-emblem on your chest…and then you were involved in an explosion with a girl who can flame on and off at will."
"Are you saying you can see the future?" Linda asked softly.
"Future, past, present," Cisco answered, "alternate timelines…pretty much anything that vibrates is fair game." Linda just stared at him in awe. "Oh, right, uh…well, this is going to sound really, really strange—even by our standards—but almost a year after Barry became the Flash, he had to deal with a meta-human named Mark Mardon who had the ability to control weather, while Caitlin and I were trying to get evidence on Evil Wells. Wells ended up killing me at the same time Mardon created a tsunami heading for Central City, so Barry had to run back and forth really fast to create a wall of wind. He did his first time jump to before all that happened and changed things to where I didn't get killed and Mardon was captured before he could create the tsunami, but because my 'vibing' abilities started manifesting themselves, I was able to retain memories of that alternate timeline in this one." He saw Linda's stunned expression. "And I just totally freaked you out, didn't I?"
"Uh...no," Linda said slowly. Cisco didn't appear convinced, and Linda's expression softened. "Cisco, I'm not freaked out, really. Barry told me about his time traveling ability…he just didn't tell me the details of how it manifested."
"There's something else," Cisco continued. Linda raised an eyebrow as she watched Cisco glance around, then he stopped. "There, watch." Linda looked over and saw a paper cup on the ground near a trashcan; he held up his right hand, palm out. The young girl's eyes widened as the cup was suddenly blasted backward about ten feet; she looked over at Cisco as he quickly put his hand down.
"Concussive blasts," the teenager whispered. Cisco hesitated, then Linda broke into a grin. "That is so awesome!"
"You really think so?" Cisco asked.
"Totally," Linda answered. "You know, we are gonna have to test your blasts against my telekinesis, see which one is stronger."
Cisco grinned and chuckled. "Please, girl," he said, "I can tap into any vibration, which I don't think is limited to human physiology."
"We'll just have to put that to the test this week," Linda replied, smiling.
"Deal," Cisco grinned before taking a sip of his drink, then he groaned. "Aw, come on, I hate frozen drinks and hot weather."
Still smiling, Linda gently took his drink and glanced around before blowing a gentle puff of cold air on top of the plastic cup, instantly cooling the melted liquid inside to a thick slushie-like consistency; she handed the drink back to Cisco. "There."
"Oh, you are awesome," Cisco replied, before taking a sip; he closed his eyes with content. "You do realize you'd make a killing as a caterer, right?"
O"I'll keep that in mind," Linda said, smiling before taking a sip of her own drink. "Thanks, Cisco."
"For what?" Cisco asked.
"For all this," Linda answered, "and for trusting me enough to tell me about your abilities; that means a lot."
"No sweat, Skittles," Cisco replied before they leaned back and continued sipping their drinks in silence.
The sun was setting by the time Cisco and Linda returned to S.T.A.R. Labs; they parked the Segways in the garage before heading to the Cortex. Barry, Caitlin, Ronnie, and Stein tried to appear busy, but they made no attempt to hide their relief when they saw the two walking in, laughing and talking to themselves.
"Looks like you two had a good time," Barry said, smiling.
"With no disasters," Ronnie muttered, earning an elbow in his side from Caitlin and a small snicker from Stein.
"Hey, I'll have you know I'm an excellent tour guide," Cisco replied, looking a little affronted.
"He was," Linda said. "He took me to the arcade—"
"I creamed her in Mortal Combat," Cisco interrupted proudly.
"I danced circles around you in DDR," Linda retorted out. "Six perfect rounds."
"Yeah, I still think you cheated," Cisco replied.
"Then we got some coffee from Jitters," Linda continued, smiling, "and spent some time in the park—where Cisco told me about his meta-human abilities."
"Figure Skittles is already an honorary member of Team Flash, anyway," Cisco replied. "So, after our coffee break, we had lunch, then we spent the rest of the day at the waterfront just chilling; well, I chilled while Linda worked on some sketches of the city."
"Here, let me show you what I did," Linda replied as she removed her backpack from her shoulders and unzipped it. "I did some really awesome sketches of the—" The young girl yelped in shock and dropped her backpack when her feet suddenly flew into the air, as if someone had grabbed her ankles and yanked upward. The others watched in stunned silence as the rest of Linda's body rose quickly into the air, her arms and legs flailing; she smacked into the tiles, which cracked from impact. The young girl stared down at her friends, her eyes wide, as she levitated with her back pressed against the ceiling.
"Okay, someone reversed the polarity of the Krypton flow," Cisco said after a few moments of silence.
"Uh, you okay, Linda?" Barry asked slowly.
"Sure," Linda answered, trying to sound calm, but her voice and expression betrayed her. "I'm just floating on the ceiling, that's all." She tried 'peeling' herself off the ceiling, but she wasn't budging
"Well, don't panic, okay," Barry replied, "we'll help you out; just hang on." The speedster closed his eyes when he realized what he'd just said.
"So, any ideas how to get her down?" Caitlin asked.
"Oh, yeah," Cisco answered, "I know exactly what to do." Everyone looked at him questioningly.
"And what, exactly, do you know about flying, Mr. Ramon?" Stein asked.
"Nothing," Cisco replied.
Stein appeared slightly exasperated. V"Then how do you plan on helping the poor girl?"
Cisco pulled out his phone. "By calling someone who does. This is a job for Superman."
(End of Chapter 4)