.:9:.
"So, Cadence, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"
Cadence's right eyebrow hiked upwards, giving her a clearer view of the thermometer in her mouth, as she turned her head towards Caitlin. The young woman was bent over a monitor, checking the metahuman's blood pressure as she asked the question.
With her free hand, Cadence reached up and took the thermometer out of her mouth. "Are you asking me that for your health or do you really want to know?"
Caitlin's lips curled up into a small smile, not one that was really there or reached her eyes nor did Cadence think it ever would. Not for a while, anyway. It hadn't even been a year since her fiancé was killed in the place she continued to work. It was surprising that the girl hadn't had a complete mental breakdown by that point. Especially what with her worries over the speedy metahuman she had seen so far. Almost like a mother, which was a girl's natural instinct almost since birth, however Cadence was attune to know there was something else there.
"A bit of both," the bioengineering expert replied honestly. She smiled, turning back to the fire metahuman, completely taking her eyes off of the blood pressure gauge that continued to spike. "Like I had said before…I could use some more estrogen around here. Not that the guys are terrible or something, but there's only so long I can take listening to them giggle like school girls over superheroes, Lady Gaga, and whatever 'toys' Cisco can invent or get his hands on."
Cadence gave her a funny look that was a mixture between amusement and horror. She leaned back on the examining table and used a hand to swipe her hair from her face. "We're sure they're completely straight, right?"
Caitlin laughed. "Yeah, that's what they keep saying," she replied. "Though, like you, I've had my moments of doubts."
Nodding, Cadence smiled. She was silent for a moment, leaning back and resting her hands on the examining table. She lightly kicked her legs back and forth. "I was born and raised in Metropolis, I'm Twenty-Four, I'm a Virgo, my favorite color is red, and I can shoot fire out of my hands like some sort of a flamethrower or instant lighter." She leaned forward, giving a bright smile. "Is that all or do you need to fill out my dating profile some more?"
Now Caitlin laughed as she reached out and ripped the blood pressure cuff off of the fire metahuman's arm. "What would you like me to add? That your blood pressure is usually normal, but you have an abnormal skin and body temperature as well as become lethargic in increasing exposures of sunlight?"
Cadence stretched her arms over her head, a sleepy smile coming to her face as she remembered the nap she had managed to get while Caitlin had tested her reaction to increasing levels of heat. She had opened a skylight and instructed Cadence to stand under it for a few moments. It hadn't taken long for Cadence to slowly become drowsy before falling asleep. Despite the fact that Cadence could withstand heat of up to about 3000 degrees if not more—they had tested that too—it appeared that the young woman had a means to get a nap every time she wanted to go to the beach.
"Yeah, that'd be a real selling point."
"Any other interesting tidbits about you?" Caitlin joked.
"I participate in parkour," Cadence explained. "Not only is it good exercise and really fun to do, but it's translated into my fighting style as well...which I think Barry has figured out." She grimaced at the thought of her fight against the quick metahuman, he really hadn't known what hit him. Parkour, or free running as others called it, really had given her the advantage of the space around her during that fight. Plus, he hadn't had his powers for long.
"Interesting."
Once all of the wires, electrodes, and cuffs were taken off of Cadence, Caitlin turned back to her notes and looked them over. She frowned for a moment before putting down her clipboard and addressing the fire metahuman once more.
"So we're going out for some drinks if you want to come," she offered.
Cadence froze for a moment, halting her movements as she put her shoes back on. I can't leave Brady that long, she thought. Not only that, but if Lucas…Stratos…whatever he had wanted to go by now, was telling the truth when he said he was constantly watching her to be sure she wouldn't do something to threaten what he, Breathtaker, and the others were doing, she didn't want to run the risk of him being there that night and having things revealed she couldn't risk being known.
"I don't know," she hesitated. "Getting drunk off my face enough to stumble home or have a cab drop me off on my front porch with a hangover so wicked it'll probably have me set my house on fire?" She shook her head. "Doesn't really sound like good times to me."
"So don't drink enough to get drunk and you'll be fine."
"I don't have anyone to watch Brady for that long."
"He's eight years old; I think he can be home by himself for a little while."
Cadence regarded Caitlin carefully, noting the almost pleading tone in her voice. "Oh, I get it." She crossed her arms, smirking at the geneticist. "You just don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of drunken guys hitting on you…not getting the point of your chilly expression to leave you alone, right?"
Slightly sticking her nose in the air, Caitlin crossed her arms. "It's not that bad," she defended herself. "But it's like we were saying here, I could due to have some discussing with some girls. I think Iris and Eddie are going, too. I don't know. Usually it's just me and Cisco, but now Barry comes along and Iris had wanted to meet up with us, I guess."
Cadence scratched the back of her head. "You've met Iris?" She asked. "What'd you think?"
Chewing her lower lip, Caitlin was silent for a long minute. "Actually, we met when Barry was in his coma. Cisco, Dr. Wells, and I had brought him from the hospital and over to S.T.A.R. Labs, having noticed that they didn't have the sort of technology to revive him. Not when they couldn't understand the particle accelerator in the first place."
"It must be hard to be back here, since Ronnie died," Cadence remarked. "Though it does prove to justify the means of why you treat Barry like your son sometimes. Trust me; I know a lot of experience in that area." She wasn't sure Caitlin would've responded, but waited patiently.
"It gets easier," Caitlin finally said quietly. "I just take it day by day." She cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "So are you coming out with us tonight? We'd really like you there?"
Cadence sighed through her nose, thinking about it for a long moment. If Stratos really is going to watch me, I'd rather it be where Brady isn't involved, she thought. Her eyes narrowed for a moment. And it'd give me a chance to figure out some more about these guys here. Finally, she lifted her head and smiled at Caitlin. "Sure," she finally said. "I'd like that."
"All right. Let me just get these findings to Dr. Wells and then we can head over there. I'm sure Barry and Cisco have already gotten head start. Considering how much Barry likes Iris and with Eddie being there…"
"Oh, you picked up on that too?" Cadence hadn't wanted to bring it up when she had met Iris. Barry really did wear his heart on his sleeve and as much as he probably wanted to think that no one else knew of his crush on her, it had almost hit the metahuman in the face when the African-American woman had walked over to take their order at Jitters.
"Kind of hard to miss, actually," Caitlin deadpanned. "Then again, he's constantly going to her because she keeps writing about him, but…" She shrugged. "Let me run this to Wells and then we can go."
"Sure."
Caitlin turned on her heels and headed out of the enclosed space that was used to run tests and experiments, finding Harrison sitting patiently by the viewing glass that looked inside the room. "Her vitals are normal as they are for her capabilities but there's something that I don't get," she said slowly. "She didn't appear surprised at falling asleep when having testing her body and the effects of intense heat on it. Which makes me wonder if there's more to her abilities she's not telling us?"
"Considering there's about sixteen years of her working with her abilities unaccounted for, I'm more than positive there's a lot of things she's not telling us," Harrison agreed. "It's just a matter of...persuading her to do so. There is no plateau for her powers; she is definitely a lot stronger than Barry Allen is. However, we must take into consideration she's kept that secret this long, it'll probably be difficult to break it from her. The question remains that as she's in our compan why is she still keeping it to herself?"
His bright blue eyes narrowed for a moment. "And how we're going to get her to show us."
Caitlin nodded. She turned towards her mentor. "So, we're all going out for drinks tonight if you want to come." She watched as Harrison pulled back his wheelchair and turned so that he could leave the room.
"Sorry Dr. Snow, but I'll have to decline," he said. "I have important work to do."
Caitlin watched him leave. She went back into the examining room to find Cadence still sitting on the end of the table, passing a fireball back and forth between her hands, watching the movements of the ball intently, an orange glow across her face. She only looked up when Caitlin's heeled footsteps came her way. She then held her hand upright, where the fireball hovered before she closed her fingers into her palms, immediately engulfing the flames.
"You ready?"
"Yeah, let's go!"
It hadn't taken long for the two women to make it to the bar the group was at and as they arrived they were quickly swept into the group around the table, taking the drinks that were handed to them. Cadence glanced at the shot delicately placed in her hand, before quickly downing it. She closed her eyes, feeling the burn as it went down her throat before it cooled off once more.
"You look like you really needed that." Barry laughed.
"You have no idea," Cadence replied.
"Well, just don't get too into it," Iris warned her. "Or else you'll get arrested for public intoxication." She motioned towards Eddie who stood beside her, arm around her shoulders. The Detective laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
"I'm off duty right now," he said to the table. "So you don't have to worry about me." As if to prove his point, he picked up a beer bottle and clinked it against Iris's glass, causing the young woman to giggle, before taking a long swig. Barry rolled his eyes, bringing a shot up to his mouth and finished it.
Caitlin placed her purse down on the table and slid into a seat, crossing her legs. She addressed Cisco. "Did you get my usual?" She asked him.
Cisco nodded and handed over a glass with a dark liquid inside. He handed it over to her and she glanced at the drink before taking a long drink from it. "You're the only one I know that doesn't like anything other than a Rum and Coke." He tilted his head, passing a beer bottle back and forth in his hand. "And a very watered down one at that, considering the amount of ice you like in it."
"Hey, it's really good," Caitlin defended herself. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."
"Thanks, but I'm good with my Heineken." The two smiled and made a show of clinking their glasses together.
"OK!" Iris clapped her hands together, flashing a bright smile to the whole table. "Now that everyone's here, who's ready for a game of darts?" She pointed over towards the board that was held up on the wall nearest to them. "I promise I'll go easy on you this time."
"No way." Eddie shook his head. "You're way too competitive for your own good."
"Yeah, there's no way that you'll ever go easy on anyone," Barry agreed. "You're the one that screams at me when I accidentally break a rule when playing Monopoly. And even then, I'm surprised you haven't thrown your little racecar at me when I stack up my hotels on one side of the board."
The group laughed and Eddie turned his attention to Cadence, who had watched the group quietly, taking in their means of interacting with each other. It was obvious there was a sense of divide between the two of them, as Caitlin had mentioned before, but they all appeared to be having a good time so far. "It's good to see you here as well, seems like you're becoming a prominent figure in Central City."
"Yeah, well, I hadn't thought I would be here this long," she replied honestly. "But after having found Brady and seeing the kinds of people that are around here…"—she quickly changed the tone to her voice—"They're a lot nicer than some people in Metropolis can be."
"So you're going to stick around for a while?"
"How can I ignore the city that helped me get Brady back? Which I should thank you and Detective West for," she added. "If you hadn't continued to look into it I probably may not have found him." She shrugged. "Besides, I just got a job around here, and it wouldn't be fair to move again."
"Well, you're very welcome, Cadence," Eddie said with a warm smile. "Let's hope that you stick around for a while." He held his beer bottle out towards her and she brought out her glass, and the two toasted the air. "Cheers."
"Cheers."
To her left, Barry made a snorting sound before taking another shot and downing it. "Well, as it seems like no one else is going to challenge me, Eddie, why don't we play first?" Iris grabbed onto Eddie's arm and dragged him over to the dart board. He watched the two of them for a long while as the group around them continued to hang out with each other and as the night moved on they all started to loosen up a little bit.
When Iris finally took her break from beating Eddie at darts, she went over to Barry, who was sitting at the bar by himself, watching her. She caught this eye and smiled, walking over. "Hey. Having fun?" She asked him.
"Oh yeah," he replied. "It's so fun watching you get so worked up over a game as silly as darts." He reacted with an expression of pain as Iris whacked him on the arm. "Would you stop that?!"
"Hey, my father taught me that when playing a game you always have to try your best."
"That's probably because he, too thinks it's funny to see how worked up you get over everything." Barry shrugged. "But that's your passionate nature so I guess I don't have room to judge." He smiled and looked behind them to see that Cadence had decided to take her turn with darts, taking up Iris's space as Eddie watched. The Detective laughed as each throw the fire metahuman tried out missed the target completely. Her face turned red, eyes flashing, and she snatched the dart away from the Detective's hands as he had gone to retrieve them for her. "But it seems like you're not the only one that's competitive."
They're not the only ones, he thought, not particularly enjoying the way Iris managed to sigh dreamily—as she just had—whenever she spotted Eddie. This whole secret crush thing was really starting to kill him. He knew he had to say something soon but…what would happen if she didn't feel the same way? Their friendship…their 'family' relationship would be ruined and he couldn't handle the fall out. If he couldn't have her in his life, even as just as a friend, then he didn't want her at all.
The thought of losing her was an even greater driving force of his decision to keep quiet than the thought of things going well.
Iris looked over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to him. "We should start a club," she said then placed her had on his shoulder. "Actually, I'm really glad that you invited Caitlin, Cisco, and Cadence," she said.
Barry's eyes lit up. "They're cool, right?"
Iris nodded. "Very cool," she agreed. "They're just so…different, but so much like you. It's nice to see there's someone else that understands you like I do, though maybe on an even better level because even I don't get all of the scientific explanations you give me sometimes." She crossed her arms, lowering her head. There was an air of sadness that suddenly enveloped her. "And…and they saved your life, Barry. I don't know what I would've done if there wasn't anyone that could…."
"Hey, hey." Barry placed his hands on Iris's shoulders. "I'm still here aren't I? Nothing can get me down that easily." Not anymore, anyway. He bent his head down to look at her face, bringing his thumb up, wiping her tears away. "I'm alright, Iris, don't worry."
"I know." Iris lifted her head and braved a smile, wiping away the rest of the tears. "I just don't know what I would do without my best friend." Those two words ripped through Barry's heart but he still managed to smile, putting on a brave face like she had. "And Cisco and Caitlin…the ones that saved you…they're the coolest people I know because of that." The two turned back to the Detective and fire metahuman, who watched with a slight pout on her face when the blond man managed to get the dart to stick to the board.
"And anyone that can get you to dance, Barry Allen, is cool in my book," Iris said. She laughed when Barry rolled her eyes. "Cadence is cool. We were talking about yoga and stuff and she even invited me to some of her classes. So you don't have an excuse not to come with me."
Barry's smile froze on his face. "I'll have to remember to thank her."
Iris giggled, noticing Barry's discomfort and rubbed his shoulder once more. She looked over her shoulder, noticing that Cadence had given up on her turn at the game. "Oh, I guess I'm up again!" She quickly went back over to Eddie, giving him a kiss on the cheek before taking the dart from his hand.
Barry had to look away, his stomach churning with jealousy and picked up the tray of shots that had been placed in front of him. There was something else that had been bothering him that night, something he didn't think would ever happen. He had drank before, and had been drunk so he usually could recognize the buzz he would get as well as the other tell-tale signs he was closing in on inebriation.
However, as many shots as he had taken that night, he felt nothing. No buzz, no slurring of the words, nothing. And he had drank a lot and being someone that as a kid freaked out thinking he was surely going to get lyme disease after having been bitten by a tick, this was even worse.
Bringing the tray over to the table Cisco, Caitlin, and Cadence occupied Barry spoke, "Guys, I have a problem."
Cisco snorted, his eyes trained on the object of The Flash's affection and her boyfriend. If there was a prize for the 'perfect couple'—if it even existed—they were probably it. And as Iris moved to take her turn at darts, Eddie's eyes moved down to her backside, an appreciative smile sliding onto his face, before taking note that another man nearby had done the same thing. He glared menacingly at the man and the man quickly got up and went to the other side of the bar.
Attractive and protective, those are qualities she probably doesn't see in you, Barry couldn't help but think.
"With guys like that around, all of us have problems," Cisco remarked, knocking Barry out of his thoughts. But it was Caitlin's words that had caused the three to look at her in surprise, "Yeah," she sighed with longing. "He's so hot."
"Caitlin?!" Cisco said in surprise.
She gritted her teeth sheepishly, turning back to the group. "I mean, aesthetically he is," she quickly corrected himself. "You know how, scientifically….genetically speaking. Because I'm a geneticist." Her eyes widened in worry. "I'm not sounding like Felicity am I?"
Cadence's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "Who's Felicity?"
"Oh!" Cisco grinned. "Felicity Smoak. Not only is she super smart, a computer science wiz that works at Queen Consolidated, and smoking hot, but she also works with the Arrow!" He elbowed Barry in the side. "Barry knows the Arrow, too. And he might know Felicity a little bit intimately but he won't really give us details not hat."
Now Cadence's eyebrows flew up into her hairline and she turned towards Barry with an amused smile. "Really?"
"No." He shook his head. "We're just friends."
"Like you and Iris are?"
"Anyway!" Barry brought the attention back to himself. He motioned to the shot glasses on the table and using his enhanced speed, he started to down all ten shots in a matter of seconds. Cisco, Cadence, and Caitlin exchanged a glance as he finished off the last shot. "Here's the problem…I can't feel anything."
Tilting his head to the side, Cisco made a 'cuckoo' sign beside his head, causing Caitlin to smile and Cadence to burst out laughing. "Uh, yeah, that's what happens when you drink a lot."
"No!" The fast metahuman shook his head. "No. I mean, I can't feel anything. I'm not drunk. Which sucks because being twenty-five years old and being the youngest of one of those at the precinct and…" he nodded over towards Iris and Eddie. "I have plenty that I need a drink over."
"You see,"—Cadence lifted a finger—"if alcohol moves through your body that quickly, it just brings me back to my thought of what would happen if you were with a girl and—"
Caitlin cut the fire metahuman off as she sat up straight. "That's it!" She cried. "Your metabolism is burning off the alcohol at rates faster than any human would." She exchanged a glance with Cisco, who immediately leapt up from his seat to get more drinks. "I need a blood sample!" She turned and started to root through her purse as Barry and Cadence simultaneously pushed up their sleeves and offered out their arms.
It wasn't the fact they were basically trained at that point to anticipate when samples or tests were to be had, but that Barry was surprised she had a blood taking kit in her purse and had said so. This caused Caitlin to respond with a defensive, "You have your hobbies."
"And I hope it's not darts!" Cadence broke in, suddenly irritated. Her eyes flashed dangerously as they trained on the dart in her hand, glaring at it as if it had personally offended her. "Who likes to play this game?! It's so stupid anyway; you just take this stupid little thing and throw it at a wall for what? To prove that you have good aim? If I wanted to do that, I'd take up target practice at the gun range, at least that's more fun! Let me just say if anyone ever wanted to suggest something fun for me to play it's not going to be fucking darts!"
As the last word came from her mouth the dart in her hand erupted into flames, stuck in the center of a fireball, causing Caitlin and Barry to jump.
Once the fire went out she turned her hand to the side and dumped the small pile of soot to the table-top. Barry and Caitlin exchanged surprised glances at Cadence's outburst before looking at her once more. She leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, continuing to glare down at the pile of ash. When she noticed things had gone quiet, she looked up at the two.
"What?" she snapped.
The shot glasses that sat on the table with remnants of alcohol still inside, immediately burst into flames; the fire going out as quickly as they had come.
"Woops."
At Cadence's sheepish smile, the three burst out laughing as Cisco walked over, carrying another tray of glasses. He took in the laughter of his friends and frowned. "Did I just miss something cool?"
The starts twinkled just as brightly as the lights of Central City on the rooftop of the office building where three metahumans had gathered. It was an informal meeting but was to be one that would cause a lot of damage and destruction, as they hoped, but would also bring their plans even further to fruition. They just needed to wait for the arrival of one more metahuman before they could officially start.
"Bette, we were hoping that you would be the one sent to help us."
Lucas tossed his lit cigarette to the ground and crushed it underneath his foot. He glanced over at the red hooded figure, whom he knew to be Breathtaker, and walked up to his side. Across from them was a young woman with long, auburn hair dressed in a black leather jacket, a purple blouse, blue jeans, and black boots. She looked back and forth between the two, her hands at her sides, fingers gently rubbing against each other.
"I'm here," she said slowly. "I thought there were five of you I would be meeting."
"At the moment there are only three of us that are in Central City," Breathtaker said in his low, quiet voice. "The other two are off doing their assignments and shall be back when I need to call them." Lucas suddenly turned his head to the side, noticing the sudden change in air currents around him.
"She's coming," he said and faced Bette once more. A second later and Cadence was standing at his left side.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized, eyes flashing. "Traffic." She crossed her arms, nodding over at Bette. "So who's this? Is she the contact from the Suicide Squad?"
"Precisely, Cadence," Breathtaker agreed. "Bette Sans Souci." He then turned to the auburn haired woman and nodded at her as well. "This is Cadence Nash; she works with us as well." Bette looked Cadence up and down, nodding. "Now I'm sure you're wondering what it is that we need your help with though I'm also aware that you're currently under an assignment for yourself."
"Yes," Bette agreed. "I'm looking for some answers to things I've been questioning," she explained. Tilting her head to the side, she brushed her hair behind her shoulders. "Though as you know, I'm a part of the Suicide Squad as well, though now we're known as Task Force X. I'm aware that there have been talks of an alliance with the Assassination Bureau."
"Yes, and you can help us with that," Breathtaker said. "Only I had to be sure that you would be willing to help and your appearance here has shown me that." He nodded towards the city. "Please go and finish the task you had brought upon yourself and when you're ready, come see me again. I'll contact you."
"What about our assignments?" Lucas asked Breathtaker.
"Right, are we going to shift them now that Task Force X is working with us as well?" Cadence agreed.
"No, Cadence, you still have your assignment at hand. Keep digging…keep waiting and you'll have your chance to strike. For the time being, I will contact you and Stratos when it comes to another bounty. As well, Stratos, I need you by my side for something I need to have done sooner rather than later."
"Yes, Breathtaker."
"You are dismissed."
Bette, Lucas, and Cadence moved to leave the rooftop. "And Cadence?" The fire metahuman turned towards Breathtaker. His eyes glowed from underneath his hood, hands stretched out from underneath the robe, clasped tightly together. "It's good news to hear that Brady has been given back to you. I'm sure you're pleased.
Cadence watched him and as she did so, her eyes started to glow a light orangeish-red color. She gritted her teeth and turned her head away. Don't do it again, Cadence. You can't risk it. She let out a breath of relief when her eyes turned back to its normal color.
Pressing her lips together, she nodded at Breathtaker before turning and zooming off of the rooftop.
Review Reply:
Ella Sutton: I'm glad you're enjoying the story and continue to enjoy it as I keep writing. *Sigh* The part where Cadence brought Brady back I know is confusing because I had just randomly time-jumped since I didn't have a clear idea of how he was going to get back other than he did. Let's just say that Barry raced in and got him. And for the 'dun dun dun' part it's because it was revealed that Brady is Cadence's son, not her brother as initially assumed.
Cheers,
-Riles
