"You're getting better. For an old man," commented Olivia, teasing her training companion, as he gracefully dodged the short synthetic dagger coming dangerously close to her left arm.
After a couple of tries at different fighting techniques, the team and their new member figured out that knives were what the girl was best with for close combat. Why did they even consider anything else? After all, she did kill Hyde's son by throwing a knife at him with quite a good accuracy. Granted, that throw was 27% chance, but she still was a natural with the thing, so she might as well work on that. So, she soon ended up trying to defend herself with two knives in case she would need to protect herself without her powers.
"Nah, you're the one who's getting slow," teased back Barry, comically smirking while retreating a couple of feet to stay at a safe distance from the next attack. Both Metas were fighting in matching grey sweatpants and wearing S.T.A.R lab t-shirts, a black one for Barry and a grey one for Olivia. Her long, blonde braid was rhythmically dancing with her footwork as the young woman was moving around, dodging, and attacking again and again.
While he already had multiple ways of defending himself, plus the ability to just run and retreat when it was needed, Barry still happily joined his new friend in her training. Even if, to be honest, he probably was the one with the lesser skills in that area, he still enjoyed the training. They were hard, but a fun way to pass time with his new friend and introduce her to the rest of the team who was closely monitoring her progress.
"Or you're just cheating and speed dodging my tries," she said, biting her cheek to act as serious as possible while staying on alert. She wasn't Oscar's worthy, but her act was just enough to make Barry frown and wonder if she was serious.
"You do know the power dampening device is still active, right?" Said Barry, slightly turning his head toward the computers of the speed lab just behind him. Sitting on the desk was the small blue glowing device that was suppressing both of their powers to give the two meta the same chances. Standing behind his own gadget, Cisco was observing the scene closely, side by side with Caitlin. As both Barry and Olivia were teasing each other, Cisco couldn't help but giggle at these two messing with each other while the corner of Caitlin's mouth twitched in an amused smile.
The small instant it took for Barry to look away from his adversary became an opportunity Olivia took gladly, lunging forward with the intention of tipping her weapon in her friend's chest. It was going to pinch pretty well, that's for sure, a little something she knew by experience by now. Both practice weapons had been custom made by Cisco to ensure they would be just as heavy and balanced as real ones and yet, while they were sharp enough to pinch and make small scratches, they weren't dangerous enough to cut deep in the skin.
Except, her attack didn't end up as she thought it would. Seeing the swift movement at the corner of his eyes, Barry's fighting instincts kicked in way faster than his brain, even if he wasn't able to use his superspeed. Quickly turning back, Barry's left leg extended itself on the ground while his whole body moved slightly to the right and his two arms moved forward to get a grab on his adversary's shoulders. In one quick second, he managed to move his chest out of the way, just enough to avoid the attack, before grabbing the woman and forcibly throw her away, sending her tripping over his leg. After badly staggering for a couple of steps, Olivia badly stumbled and crashed into the stairs leading up the desks and computers. Her fall ended up harshly as her forehead connected with the side ramp just before her body finally stopped moving, sprawled on the stairs.
Caitlin and Barry both gasped in unison at the accident.
"Oh my God are you okay?" Caitlin asked, her heels clicking on the concrete as she ran and knelt first next to the young woman who was already, slowly, turning around and trying to get herself in a seated position in the steps, "don't try to move too much."
"I'm so sorry!" Exclaimed Barry with a slight delay as his brain was processing what just happened. Prompting himself into action, he rushed to the side of the two ladies while Cisco was running to the power dampening device to turn it off.
"I'm fine," grunted Olivia, who winched while reaching for her forehead with her right hand, wetting her fingers with a warm liquid flowing from the new wound. A clear and bleeding cut was apparent right at the limit of her hair as blood was running down her face and closing dangerously to her eyes.
"Take this," said Caitlin as she gratefully took a white S.T.A.R. labs towel given by the engineer and hand it over to the woman, "it looks deep. Let's get you to the med bay. No more training for today."
"You guys know I'm healing fast, right?" Said Olivia, frowning and already trying to get back up with her shaky arm, the one that wasn't busy pressing the white, bloodstained, towel against her forehead. Seeing there was no stopping her from getting back up, she instantly received help from her two friends positioned on each side by her.
"I wasn't asking," reiterated Caitlin.
It wasn't a fight the Meta was going to win, so Olivia gave in while comically rolling her eyes. Seeing his friend was in good hands, Barry let go of her, but not without gently patting her back in comfort.
"Alright, if training is over for the day, I should probably go check on Amanda and Lindy. It's been a while," finally said Barry which caused both Caitlin and Cisco to turn around and stare at him for half a second. Had they heard him right? Realizing they did, both friends smiled fondly. It seemed like with every new day since the speedster came back, a bit more of the old Barry was coming back to them and back to life. One day at a time. One step at a time.
"Come on, girl," encouraged Caitlin in response to the interrogative look she received from the meta with the long braid. Once the doctor was sure the younger woman was following her and wasn't about to drop from hurting her head, she let go of the arm.
As Olivia sat on the medical bed, her legs dangling off the edge, she stayed as still as possible to allow Caitlin to work her magic. The blonde was looking straight ahead as the doctor put her gloves on before walking back toward her patient to clean the blood away. Olivia winced and flinched at the stinging contact of disinfectant on the open wound, but otherwise stayed still.
"It's not as bad as I feared," concluded Caitlin as she took a closer look, "I think a couple of butterfly bandages will do the trick once I'm done cleaning the wound."
"You do know that you don't have to do this, right? It's going to heal just fine on its own in a couple of hours," said the woman who grimaced as she fought the urge to scratch her wound while the doctor had her back turned on her to gather more of her medical supply.
"Just because you can heal doesn't mean I can't take care of you," added Caitlin before turning around, smiling softly, "bedside, it's been really nice having you around in the last week. I haven't seen Barry this happy and free of a guilt in a very, very long time. Last time was way before he even got captured in the first place," genuinely said the doctor who came back to work on the wound, "just yesterday, he called his boss to talk about getting back to work." The doctor was smiling warmly as she continued, "plus, you're great company."
For the first time since before defeating Zoom, Barry was finally starting to smile and laugh again. Plus, slowly but surely, he was starting to worry less and less about the things he did as The Ghost.
"Who's Amanda?" Asked Olivia, remembering the shared happy expressions she saw on Barry's friends' features at the mention of that name.
"She's..." Caitlin stopped a moment in her task to look at the young woman's face, "she was the wife of Barry's cellmate when he was Hyde's prisoner. The one that got turned into a mindless slave in the cave after Barry. The one we told you he couldn't save."
Oh, right, that man. Closing her eyes, Olivia could still remember his screams as she was passing by the room. She could still remember the man whispering about a woman he loved, a love he was trying to hold on to for his sanity. Olivia nodded, indicating she was remembering.
"His widow asked for Barry to stick around, for Matt. It's actually the first time since his funeral that he actually goes to check on her and her children, mostly on her new baby Lindy."
"That girl isn't gonna grow up alone," whispered Olivia, almost to herself. Every time she thought she knew everything about Barry, the man would find more ways to prove he was an amazing hero.
Lost in her thoughts, the woman lowered her head, a gesture that was corrected by her new friend who straightened it up to finish her treatment. Now that they were talking about children and parents... Caitlin jumped on the occasion to skip right to the next subject while still treating the woman:
"What about you? You thought about going back to your parents yet?"
"Really? You too?" Olivia exhaled deeply. As soon as Barry's foster dad, Joe, spilled the beans on meeting the Woodward and their interest in seeing her again, the whole team started getting excited. Especially Barry. Since then. the speedster had kept on pushing her to go back to her house, again... and again.
"Caitlin, just... drop it. Please?"
Putting the last butterfly bandage over the cut, Caitlin turned around to throw her gloves in the trash, carefully and slowly executing her action to gain more time to think about the best answer, "you told us that you worked with Hyde's organisation because they were threatening your family. So now that all of this is in your past, why are you so against the idea of seeing them?"
Sighing, Olivia scratched the side of her head that wasn't wounded, "just because I don't want them dead doesn't mean I want things to go back to normal. Doesn't mean that they can even go back to normal or that I'm ready to confront them."
"Olivia-" started Caitlin, sitting on the side of the bed to join the young woman, "do you know why Barry is so insistent about all of this?"
Olivia shrugged, "I don't know... guess he's been having it good with his own folks."
Caitlin bit her lips, carefully choosing her next words, "not exactly... Well, actually-"
How to explain what happened to Nora and Henry Allen without stepping on a chat that should be happening between Barry and Olivia? "Well, he did have a great relationship with his parents, while it lasted. But, without going into the details... they died. Violently."
The blonde meta closed her eyes for a second at the shocking revelation and her lips parted as she was about to add something, but Caitlin interrupted her, "look, it's not my story to share, but you need to understand that if Barry had any chance to see them again, he would."
"I'm sorry, I didn-"
"I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad or anything, I'm just saying so you would understand. My dad died too, he had ALS, and my mother and I grew estranged after that event. There's nothing I wouldn't do to go back to a happier time with both of them."
Sighing, Olivia stretched her long legs and jumped on the ground where she stood still with back turned on the doctor and with her hands scrubbing both her cheeks for a moment.
"I appreciate the sentiment," she finally said, turning around, "and what you're trying to do, but it's not really the same thing. They kicked me out. They called me a monster and treated me like one, I can't get the horror in their faces out of my mind,"
Smiling sympathetically, Caitlin lifted her legs off the edge and brought them on the bed, to sit cross-legged, "we're not asking you to move back in, but go talk to them and see for yourself. It might surprise you."
The blonde Meta's mouth twitched between a smile and a contained sigh, the doctor had a point, but it wasn't making it easy. If only she could convince herself that she didn't like them at all anymore, but it wasn't the truth, "thanks, Cait, you're a good friend."
"What? You thought I was just a doctor?" Smiled the older woman.
Both girls turned their attention toward the entry of the room as Cisco arrived carrying a big box wrapped in red and white paper. Even without having been told what was going to happen, Caitlin already had a pretty good idea of what was hidden inside the box.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, his face filled with excitement, like a kid on Christmas' eve.
"No, it's fine," said Olivia. More than fine, really, she was glad to change the subject of conversation as she needed some time to think on her own about her parents, "what's in the box?"
"A little welcome to the team gift," proudly said Cisco, barely containing the excitement as he handed over the box to the young blonde whose eyes widened in surprise. When was the last time has anyone gave her any sort of gift? Before the explosion that's for sure. "For real?"
After being obliged to steal and be an accomplice to torture and murders just to get a place to stay and food to eat, receiving gifts wasn't something she was expecting anytime soon out of life. She could feel water building in her eyes as her hands softly ran over the box.
"You deserved it, you are a part of this family now," said Caitlin. No need to have seen what was inside to know it was probably a delicate piece of work.
"Open it," encouraged Cisco. The engineer looked more enthusiastic than the person who was holding the gift high in the air and turning it around in search of any flaw in the wrapping paper, so she could start opening it.
When the small fingers found an opening in the wrapping paper, the box got free of it all in a matter of seconds. Gently depositing the box on the bed, right in front of Caitlin's curious eyes, Olivia took the lid off and gasped at the delicate mask that kind of looked like the Trajectory's one except for the fact it was a beautiful mix of blue and purple. The mask was designed to go all around her head and included a small electronic component right next to her left ear that was beautifully shaped in a small yellow lightning bolt. Right next to this item were two half-fingers gauntlets, reminding of the Vibe's ones, except for the small electronic boxes on both gauntlets. Plus, the right gauntlet also had a small light on it, protected under a transparent patch of plastic.
Delicately putting the accessories out of the box and placing them on the bed, slowly and carefully as if they were ancient and priceless artifacts, Olivia took out what was underneath and breathed out once the strong fabric got unfolded. There it was her own beautiful and breathtaking uniform. Except for the blue high V collar, the top of the leather vest was a clear and bright white all the way 'til just below her breast. Under it, it was a beautiful royal blue colour, except for a white band around her waist that happened to have a pale purple line in the middle of that band. The exact same pattern was reproduced on the long sleeves. Black leather pants completed the outfit. At the sight of it, Olivia wanted to cry out of emotions.
"What's all this?"
"It's all yours," proudly smiled Cisco from ear to ear at her reaction, "if you're gonna be part of the team, you deserved your own suit. This-" he said, moving closer to the bed and pointing at the little lightning accessory on the mask, "will help you gain better control of your powers. Thanks to Caitlin's sharing her findings on what activate your healing blue and purple attack, I was able to create a little something that will stimulate the right parts of your brain. Plus, this and your gauntlets-" he added while pointing at the electric component on both devices, "will assist in controlling just the right amount of energy you use for what you need. That way, you don't overuse all your energy on small and moderate injuries."
Carefully hovering her small hands over the tech, Olivia stayed silent. More like speechless. All of this for her?
'Plus, your suit is filled with sensors that will monitor your vitals," continued to explain Cisco to Olivia's disbelief. There was more‽ "And it's all connected to your gauntlets. So, if your powers are ever about to put your life in danger again, a red light will start glowing on your right gauntlet and the suit will block your powers, ensuring we're not gonna lose you like we almost did."
Breathing out, eyes wide opened, Olivia just shook her head slightly, "Guys, I don't... don't know what to say." She really didn't. Now she fully understood why Barry picked them as his friends, these guys were amazing, and she couldn't believe the chance she now had to be part of this team, "thank you. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome," Cisco replied as Caitlin stretched her legs and jumped out of the bed to hold the young blonde against her.
"What do you say that tomorrow, first light, we do a test run in the lab?" Enthusiastically added the engineer to the delighted new member of their family.
A/N: Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on Olivia getting her own suit ;)
5 more chapters to go 'til the end.