Chapter Twenty-One: Family Ties
Cisco wheeled the now empty food cart through the curved halls of S.T.A.R. Labs, shaking his head back and forth. This was what all his hard work had been relegated to: a food delivery person. Not that he didn't have any experience in that area. He had previously worked as a pizza delivery boy, so he knew how to handle talking with different kinds of people. Metahumans certainly were different kinds of people.
Just by looking at him, Gavin clearly wasn't the nicest person on the planet. He would take his food without much complaint, but he wouldn't ever give Cisco a "thank you" either. His lip would curl at the lack of freshness and heat to his food but wouldn't say anything else. On occasion, he would grace Cisco with some words of the "You're so pathetic," "This is what you want to do with your life?", and "Look at where you are" variety. While not any different than what his family, nor anyone that realized he was employed by S.T.A.R. Labs, had ever said to him, he had some serious deep-seated rage behind his words.
A part of Cisco couldn't really blame him: he used to be on top, working a great job at Mercury Labs taking in all the accolades and recognition a company like that would rake in. Now, he was sitting in a make-shift prison for who knows how long. It was a far cry from feeling like he had everyone and everything under his thumb. A feeling that Cisco knew well.
On the other hand, Dr. Hewitt had no issues with being forthcoming with his anger. All he had done since waking up in the Pipeline was scream and slam his fists against the walls, attempting to use his abilities to break himself out. The lights would flicker on occasion, giving him some chance at storing enough energy to break out. If he were smart, he'd use all that time to heat up the food Cisco just gave him.
Still, Cisco couldn't help but laugh at himself. At where he was. He had always set out to follow his interests, to prove to himself and everyone else that thought his passion for science was lame and wouldn't amount to much that he could make a name of himself. Here he was, back to delivering food to people. And without some sort of monetary gain out of it. Not much had changed depending on who was looking at his life.
He knew it had. It changed in a big way. In a way no one would ever imagine was possible. He was a meta-human now, and there was no way he knew of that could reverse it. Everyone always talking about how things happened for a reason, how you needed to accept what life throws at you and to move on. He had always grown up believing that his life was already set up for him, wherever he ended up, whatever obstacles he met in his life, it was supposed to happen that way.
Then he met Eobard Thawne in a Harrison Wells suit. Furthermore, he found out it was all set up to reach a pre-determined outcome. So, what was he? An outlier? Was he someone that just got in Eobard's way? No matter what he was, they were all just pawns to him. Pawns that had no idea what move to make next now that his game had ended in a way he didn't see coming. Now they all had to reap the consequences of everything that he left behind.
Settling back into the corner of the elevator, Cisco pushed his hair back behind his ears and let out a deep sigh, his cheeks puffing up as he did so. It was funny. He always wondered what it would be like to live the world depicted in comic books. Only now, when it seemed like he was losing his grip on whether he had a choice about the whole thing, it didn't seem to be as much fun as he thought it would be.
Was this how Barry felt? Cisco thought to himself. It suddenly hit him that he never really stopped to ask Barry about why he decided to step up and become a hero for the city. He never asked what it was like to wake up from a coma with new abilities you couldn't understand. Not once had he asked how Barry was doing, he was always about the "toys" and the cool abilities Barry had. What kind of a friend am I?
Stepping into the Cortex, he knew his answer. He may not be out on the field with Barry and Averey, but he used his experiences and knowledge to still be able to help the Flash and Visionary. That was where he was meant to be. That was where he felt like he was really making a difference, where he could really help Barry.
Not so many people would do what Barry does, step into harm's way to protect others. Then again, not many people would choose to stand by the side of a hero, either. Enough people had to have watched many superhero movies at this point, read enough comics to know that friends and family were next targets. Could be and would be used for leverage.
Leonard Snart proved that to be true.
"How are they doing?" Cisco asked, using one hand to push the food cart away from the door, the other brushing his hair back from his face. He crossed the Cortex with quick steps, coming up to Jay and Caitlin's side in the medical bay.
Barry's cowl was pulled back from his face, hands free of his gloves. Dirt was caked under his fingernails, a scrape sat on the curve of his cheek. He looked more like he was sleeping than recovering from a fight.
"I think the most important thing here is that they still have eyes," Jay commented with a single chortle through his nose. "And rapid regeneration. They should be coming around at any minute."
"I can't imagine how much pain they had to have been in," Caitlin said quietly, shaking her head back and forth. She reached for the tablet lying on the tray next to her and tapped her finger on the screen. "They just dropped so quickly."
Cisco didn't have to look at the video. He had quickly (or as quickly as he could figure it out), hacked into the database that housed all the security footage at the stadium and stripped out any instance of metas being in the area. Then he and Jay took a S.T.A.R. Labs vans and trailer out to the high school to help Jax not only get Barry and Averey into the van, but to hitch the Cisco Cycle to bring it back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
His friends were so limp, it was almost eerie. Barry had short bouts of consciousness on the way back to S.T.A.R. Labs, frantically blinking, eyes wide, chest heaving before he would be slumped in his seat, out to the world. Averey on the other hand couldn't be awoken from her deep sleep. She had barely been awake by the time Cisco and Jay arrived on scene, eyelids constantly fluttering. Jax and Professor Stein had come back to S.T.A.R. Labs to get the green light from Caitlin that everything with them were ok before they had left to go home, both wishing well for Barry and Averey as they left. They both knew there wasn't much they could do but wait.
"Yeah, well," Cisco whirled around to face Barry when he heard his gruff voice, "luckily, your brain sends signals to disconnect from all of the pain." Barry pulled himself into a seated position and started waving his hand in front of his face. Confused, Cisco lifted a hand, waving back at him. "Um, dude?"
Barry's chest started heaving. His nostrils flaring with each burst of air through his nose. He gripped the sides of the bed he was lying on and looked around wildly, eyes stretched wide. "Guys, my eyes. I can't—I can't see."
"Barry, we need you to calm down a bit, ok?" Jay said, placing a hand on Barry's shoulder.
"Calm down?" Barry repeated. He swung a hand up and grabbed a hold of Jay's fingers curled, knuckles white, hand shaking in a tight grip. "I can't see."
"Dr. Light severely damaged your retinas," Jay explained, calmly removing Barry's hand from him. He grabbed onto Barry's shoulders, stopping him from moving as he hastened to get off the hospital bed. "Extensively. Your vision is going to be like this for a while, ok? Luckily, you can heal rapidly. You just need to take it easy."
"Wait," Cisco said, turning towards Jay, "you know Dr. Light?"
"We all do," Barry said. Leaning away from Jay's reach, he rubbed repeatedly at his eyes. Opened one wide, squinting the other before doing the same thing with the opposite eye. "God!" He sucked in a breath of air through his teeth. He pushed his fingers into his hair and scratched at his head. Dirt and concrete dust fluttered out of his hair. "It was Linda Park. Or, someone that looks exactly like her, I guess." He started nodding his head repeatedly. "Definitely another meta sent by Zoom. Hewitt just wanted to use her for all the energy he could get. I don't think he knew how dangerous she actually was."
"None of you do," Jay said, shaking his head back and forth. "Everybody on my Earth knows how Dr. Light is. She could walk into a bank, and people would just let her take whatever she wanted. Lest you'd be, uh…" He trailed off, looking over at Caitlin who bit her lower lip in a troubled manner. "Unless you want to find yourself branded."
"What?" Caitlin asked. Cisco gasped. Barry dropped one hand from his face "Branded? What does that mean?" Jay twisted his mouth to the side. "You mean physically?"
"Branded as being against Zoom," Jay replied, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. "She doesn't just emit light, mind you. Take all the lumen you can find in the stars and put in her hands. That's what you're looking at."
"Well, that explains that," Cisco commented, and Barry let out a short laugh.
"Yeah, for real," he replied.
"She really puts us men to shame," Cisco commented. Barry shot a confused look in the direction of his voice, looking more at the wall then at his friend. "I mean, come on, there's only so many times we can describe women's' eyes as sparkling like stars. This proves that really is not the case."
For a moment, Jay looked like he was trying hard not to burst out laughing. He loudly cleared his throat. "She can concentrate all that light into a laser point," Jay explained. "She'd make sure people knew who was against him." His cheeks puffed up as he let out a breath of air. He scratched the back of his head. "Once that happened, you're on your own. Friends leave. Families disown you. They don't want to be around when Zoom finds out. And he always finds out."
"But she just does that?" Caitlin asked, a shaking hand barely covering her mouth. "She just brands you?"
"Reckon it's strategy." All at once, Jay, Caitlin, and Cisco crowded around Averey's bed. Barry looked over in Averey's general direction, but still squinted a few feet to the right of where she was. Averey held one hand over her eyes, sitting up. "People will do a lot of things if they're scared enough. Besides," she gave a wry smile, "being branded isn't too bad. It almost kind of tickles."
"How are you feeling?"
"My head is throbbing." Averey made a face, leaning away from Caitlin's hands, and eye light. "Ow. I said ow." She slapped at Caitlin's hands, tears collecting in her eyes. "Stop it!"
"Give her some space, Caitlin," Cisco said, grabbing the pen light. "Jesus, you know she has a light sensitivity."
"She's lucky she can see at all with how much her flash burn has been exacerbated," Caitlin said, reaching to pluck her light pen out of Cisco's hand. Cisco made a warning-hiss sound with his mouth, stepping further away from her, eyebrows lifted in warning. "Cisco!"
"You just said yourself she has extensive flash burn—"
"Flash burn she's had since the particle accelerator accident."
"Anyone want to tell me what flash burn is?" Averey asked, waving her arms wildly in the air.
"Your eyes were exposed to a dangerous amount of UV light," Jay quickly spoke up, "both from the particle accelerator accident, and from Dr. Light. You got lucky. This—" He reached for the eyewear sitting atop her head, "stopped yourself from permanently losing your eyesight." He paused, frowning. "You can see, right?"
"Of course, I can see," Averey replied. She used the heel of her palm to rub at her eye. "But, why are you all wearing grey?" She dropped her arm into her lap and looked over at Barry. "S'really not your color, mate. Red does suit you, yeah?"
Frowning, Cisco watched Barry shift around on his bed to face Averey, looking past her completely. "I'm not wearing gray," he said. "I'm wearing red."
"Uh, oh," Jay said quietly.
"Would you look at what you did?" Cisco asked Caitlin. "You broke her."
"What do you mean you're seeing gray?" Caitlin asked in a low voice.
"I mean," Averey tilted her head to the side, nose wrinkling, "this place is pretty gloomy most times with the lack of bloody windows, but now I think you lot are pushing it to the extremes. Or is it the lack of decorations that helps keep you focused on your work?"
"Better than looking through a kaleidoscope," Barry said, massaging his temples with his fingers. He let out a growl of frustration, slapping his hands down onto the table.
"What color is this?" Jay pinched the shoulders of his dark brown jacket, lifting the sleeves.
"Grey."
"And what color is this?" Caitlin asked, hurrying across the room. She grabbed a hold of a box of blue elastic gloves.
"Grey."
Cisco shook his head back and forth, pressing his lips together. "It's like the time Armando tricked Dante and me into seeing who could stare into the sun the longest."
"Well, it's not all gray, like it's…" Averey waved her hand in the air in front of her face. "It's black, and white, too. But, like, ah, mate." She made a clicking sound with her tongue. "It's like someone took a cartoon and sucked all the color out."
"Colors are really only just how we interpret light," Jay explained, "your eyes and brain are working over time to try and make things have color to them. Combine that with your flash burn and—"
"And it feels like someone's taken a blow torch to my bloody face," Averey said through clenched teeth.
"Great," Caitlin sighed, putting her hands to her hips, "so we have a speedster that can't see what direction he's going in, and—"
"And an ocular meta that's living in a 1950s tv show," Cisco said. "Just peachy."
"Achromatopsia," Jay said.
"Bless you."
Cisco watched as Jay gave Averey an odd look, merely blinking at her. His lips moved silently, and he lifted his hands to his head, as if the mere presence of her annoyed him. Lips tightening, he looked back and forth between both Barry and Averey and shook his head. For a moment, Cisco saw so much of Harrison Wells in Jay that he couldn't help but stare at the man.
Hartley was easily recognized as Wells's favorite, and in Hartley's own words, best worker, but even he could bring out that look of frustration to Harrison's usually stoic face. The kind of look that made Cisco second guess not only his work with S.T.A.R. Labs, but also his own success in the field of science thus far. It was a look that was just as much frustration as it was disappointment. The kind of look adults perfectly crafted at some point in their lives; the look he had seen often enough from his parents, that it was downright embarrassing to be on the receiving end of with his employer.
"Achromatopsia; it's an eye disease that makes the person unable to see color. Just black, white, and gray. Dr. Light's attack greatly damaged the cones in your eyes, it's now purely operating with the cones." Jay lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, his words coming out clipped. He spoke slowly, pronouncing his words as if he were speaking to children. "I told you, Dr. Light is dangerous. She clearly has shown that she'll do whatever she can to act on Zoom's orders."
"If that's the case, why didn't she kill Barry when she had the chance?" Cisco asked. "Enough time passed between her—" he waved his hands in the air, "—light wave, and before we got there to collect you guys. Ample time to carve you like a Thanksgiving turkey."
"Thanks for that visual, Cisco," Caitlin said with a frown. He merely shrugged.
"He's got a point, though," Jay said, eyebrows furrowing. "Dr. Light not only has never left a scene without making sure everybody remembered she was there—"
"Believe me, there's no bloody way I'll forget what this is like," Averey said, massaging her temples. "Will it ever stop?"
Caitlin rubbed her hands together anxiously. "Well, Barry's rapid regeneration is bound to have his eyesight back to normal in a few hours," she said quietly.
"Thank god," Barry said, alternating between squeezing his eyes shut, and opening them wide. "Is this what it's like to need glasses? Everything's so blurry."
"I'm going to admit," Caitlin said, turning to Averey, "I've never met anyone with this. At least, they never told me if they did. I think everyone here has known someone that's color-blind at least. And because it's such a rare condition, I don't know what I could do to help." Averey's cheeks puffed up as she let out a huff of air. "Well, at least for the flash burn, I could give you some drops or cream, but it's still going to hurt for a while."
"I think we should all call it for tonight," Cisco said, burying his face into his hands, scratching at his hairline. "I'll let Jax and Professor Stein know how the two of you are doing, but there's not much else we can do tonight." He pushed his fingers through his hair before cradling the back of his neck with his hands. "You guys need to give your eyes time to heal, and what better than 8 or so hours of that?"
"This will also give me some time to think about this situation," Jay said, eyebrows furrowed. "Dr. Light has never actually worked with anyone before. So, why now? Why give Henry Hewitt the chance to one up her?" He shook his head, sharp movements from side to side. "It makes no sense to me. She wasn't like that on Earth-2, so why try that here?"
"Well, Atom Smasher killed his own version of himself here, right?" Barry asked. Cisco placed a hand on his friend's shoulder as Barry suddenly sounded very tired. Not that Cisco could blame him. Maybe all that work to heal himself was as physically exhausting as it was to put all your energy into a meta fight. "Maybe if Hewitt could succeed, then she wouldn't have to worry about Zoom. He gets what he wanted; my defeat."
"If Dr. Light came here to kill you, then Zoom gave her direct orders to do so," Jay instantly replied. "He'll look into why she wasn't the one to do so."
"You really seem to understand Zoom," Caitlin pointed out. Cisco nodded.
Jay let out a mirthless laugh. "It's nothing that should bring you comfort," he said darkly, "believe me."
"That's a comfort," Averey muttered. With a groan, she buried her face into her legs, wrapping her arms around her head. "Can someone cut off the lights?"
Jay then blinked, sucking in a breath of air through his nose. A close-lipped smile came to his face. "I agree with Cisco, we should leave it here for tonight," he said. "Regroup in the morning. There's not much else we can do right now." He lifted a hand and pushed his fingers through his hair. "I'll at least see if I can track Dr. Light down."
"Jay, you don't even have your speed," Caitlin said.
"She doesn't know that," Jay replied with a shrug.
"He's right," Barry said with a sigh. "We've got nothing else we can do right now, just wait and see how this will end up." He swung his legs forward and jumped off the medical bed. Arms swinging in front of him, he swayed from side to side and trying to keep his balance. Caitlin quickly rushed forward and steadied her friend. "Whoa. Ok, I'm ok." He attempted a smile. A tired smile.
"Look, whatever we decide, we should make that decision now," Cisco said, glancing at his watch. "If Jay wants to track down Dr. Light, I say let him. That way once this is all cleared up, we can figure out what our next steps will be. Either way, Cait, you and I are going to need to help them get home. Now."
"Cisco, are you ok?" Barry asked, reaching out a hand to try and locate his friend. Caitlin quickly ducked out of the way of a wide swing of Barry's arm. Cisco watched him bat around in the air a few times before he grabbed Barry's hand, placing it on his shoulder. Barry dug his fingers into Cisco's shoulder, furrowing his eyebrows into a look of worry.
"I'm fine," Cisco replied. "That's not the problem." He used his free arm to push his hair back from his face. "Averey has curfew, remember?"
Averey let out a horrified gasp and jumped to her feet. "Where are my clothes?" she asked. Eyes squeezed shut she started looking around wildly before spinning in a circle. "Where are my glasses?" Cisco watched her with confusion for a moment before remembering her ability to exactly remember everything she's seen. "I have to get home. I need to change. What time is it?" She started patting at the hips of her suit. She took a couple of steps forward, unsteady on her feet. "Where's my phone? I gotta go! If my P.O. decides to make a surprise visit tonight, I'm toast."
"Ok, hold on, calm down," Caitlin said. "We'll get you home. Let's just take it easy, try not to rush things. We don't exactly know how affected your vision is."
"Fair go, mate, but my eyes are burning, and I can't see color. I think we've figured it out."
"At least let us help you out."
Caitlin, "I know this place like the back of my hand, yeah?" Averey said, using her forearms to wipe at her eyes, heading towards the door. "I know that the door is right here," she pointed with her finger, starting towards it, "and you can't stop me from walking out it."
The end of her sentence was drowned out by a loud groan of pain when she walked directly into the wall two feet away from the door frame. "Oh, bloody hell," she groaned, words muffled behind the hands that flew up to cover her nose.
Caitlin gasped. Jay's jaw dropped. Barry's head whipped around towards the source of the noise but fixated unfocused on the wrong spot. He didn't even look at Averey as she fell back into a seated position on the floor, fingers reaching for the doorframe.
Cisco pressed his lips together, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. "Hey, Georgia of the concrete jungle," he said, flatly, lips twitching, "watch out for that wall." Sucking a breath of air through teeth, Averey moved to sit up on her heels. She lifted a hand and gave him the finger. With a sigh, he stepped over to her, offering his hand. "Come on, Twinkle Toes, let me give you a lift home."
"The door's always been right there," Averey said, taking Cisco's hand, allowing him to help her to her feet. "I don't understand." Cisco gently tugged on her hand, pulling her to the side, into the doorway of the medical bay. "But…it's…" She blinked repeatedly, rubbing at her eyes. "Black is shadows, this white. And it shouldn't be, but it is, and that doesn't have color, and that doesn't."
"Ok, you're starting to sound delirious," Cisco said. "Let's go." Ten minutes later, they were both in Cisco's car, making their way through Central City. Silence filled the car until he asked, "Are you ok?"
"I don't know," Averey replied with a heavy sigh. Still, she didn't turn away from the window. Out of the corner of his eye, Cisco watched her head shift from side to side, no doubt taking in everything they passed. "I mean, I can still see but…I'm not seeing anything."
"Ave—"
"I should be happy I'm not like Barry," Averey said, interrupting him. She then gave an odd laugh, indicating the glasses that were now situated on her face. "You know what the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life is?"
"No," Cisco replied as he came up to a red light. He tapped his thumb on the steering wheel. "What?"
"My mum, and Daniel and I were eating dinner outside. And I couldn't stop looking at the stars, or how the city looked. I couldn't stop looking at them, even long after mum and Daniel went to sleep. But the best part of it, was watching the sunrise. You don't see as many colors at one time then when the sun is rising, and they were so vibrant. Like, someone turned up the saturation on the world. And, it made me wonder if it always looked like that wherever I went."
Cisco let out a "Ohhhh," as he carefully lifted his foot off the brake pedal, allowing his car to roll forward, closer to the one parked in front of him before he stopped it again. "That's why a lot of your photography is nature or cityscapes. Your portraits are good, too."
"Ah, cheers," Averey said with a short laugh. "There's a reason I don't do them often. I mean, I'm still learning." She then let out a louder laugh. "I still have to use cardboard and aluminum foil for a bloody light reflector."
"You're talking to the person who had duct tape, coins, and zip ties as tools when I had them taken away from me for one too many experiments gone wrong," Cisco said with a half-smile. "And I couldn't afford any more. I was too young for a job, and I was saving up my allowance for some computer software."
"By experiments, do you mean the time you took apart the vacuum cleaner and couldn't figure out how to put it back together?" Averey asked.
"Something like that," Cisco replied, pressing his foot to the gas pedal when the light turned green. He made a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth as a thoughtful look came to his face. "I think it was taking apart the coffee machine that might have put my mom over the edge, though."
Turning away from the window, Averey managed a smile. "Before I came to Central City, I never needed to wear glasses. Even after the accident, I never really worried about my eyesight." Cisco glanced over at her and watched Averey remove her glasses from her face, squinting at the lenses before putting them back on. "If I was just tired, or even if it was just looking into too bright a light, it'd always go back. I never thought about what'd be like if it didn't fix itself, because it always does. But not for anyone else; people who are colorblind, blokes who actually have this acromantula or whatever—"
"You realize with your abilities, you can remember specifically how to pronounce that word," Cisco said, giving the road in front of him an odd look.
"Ehh, that'd take too long," Averey said, waving her hand in the air. "Us Aussies like things short." Cisco chuckled and rolled his eyes. "The point is, I never stopped to think about the fact that people actually live with this every day. I couldn't imagine that; not being able to see color. Ever." She reached out a hand and grabbed Cisco's wrist before releasing it. "Or even to go blind and not be able to see anything at all. Not the sky, animals. Movies. Not even your friends or family." She was silent for a moment and then said quietly, "And if they die? At least, if you can see, you'd still have memories. If not, it's just their voice, or how they smell, or how they make you feel."
"Memories aren't just made because you can see things," Cisco said. "It's all those things that make something worth remembering."
"Yeah," Averey agreed, "I know. But I could never imagine it being this way. Maybe for a short time. Maybe forever."
"Because you never had to before," Cisco said. "There's nothing wrong with that. But just because it could possibly stay this way, that doesn't mean it's going to stop you from being able to do what you want to do. Not really." Bringing his car to a stop and turning on the left turn signal to pull into the subdivision, Cisco settled back into his seat. His words echoed in his head.
He, too, never had to think about it. He never had to think about any of this. Even when it looked like his career was slipping away from him before it ever really started. He feared what would or wouldn't come next, but he didn't have any time to dwell on it as he soon met Barry Allen, and his life had changed. Now, it was changing again. Once or twice, he had stopped to think about what it would be like to be a metahuman. But that was from a distance. A safe distance. Something he could only experience from the sidelines. And now.
Would being a metahuman really change things? He thought to himself. Sure, Barry and Averey go out to fight every day, but that doesn't mean you have to, too. Heck, he still didn't even know exactly what his abilities were. Besides, what if he wasn't good at it? He shuddered, wondering if it'd be like gym class all over again.
Feeling the steering wheel vibrate underneath his hand, Cisco snapped out of his thoughts. Momentarily, he looked around, trying to find the car that was blasting, their music too loud, until he realized it was him. A grayish, blueish light swirled underneath his hand as he lifted it from the steering wheel; rings of pulsing light waves hitting the steering wheel and reverberating around the car. His heart rate speeding up, Cisco removed his hand from the steering wheel and put it in his lap, the vibrations driving into his thigh.
Gritting his teeth, he curled his hand into a fist and pressed it into his leg. Then, finally, it stopped. He let out a breath of air. Taking the steering wheel in his hands again, he turned the car, quickly looking over at Averey who was wiping the lenses of her glasses with her shirt.
Averey slowly nodded, lips pursed in a thoughtful look. "The eyes are the first thing I notice about people," she said, head still down. "I think I'd miss that the most. Soft greens, haunting blues—"
"Boring browns?" Cisco asked with a snort. He gave her an incredulous look.
She countered with a quick wink. "Chocolate brown with flecks of gold," Averey replied. "Reckon they're more amber, really."
Cisco felt himself start to smile. Had it really been a year since they had first met? When she had started to just learn the extent of her powers? When she had given him the very same compliment? He tightened the muscles in his cheeks.
"Can I talk to you about something important?" he asked.
Averey's lips twitched. "You can tell me anything, Cisco," she said, turning her head to look at his profile as he slowly steered his car up to the large gate situated in front of them, "I mean that." She reached into her pocket for her keys and held it out towards Cisco. He took it, rolled down the driver's side window, and pressed the fob attached to her keyring to the pad on the call box situated just outside of the empty guard's box.
Chewing on his bottom lip, waiting for the gate to swing open, Cisco wasn't sure where to even begin with telling her that he was a meta. Did he start with how he felt about it? How he figured it out? All the strange things that had occurred lately? How he should tell Dante? If he should tell Dante? There was just so much that went into it – and Barry made it look easy most of the time.
"Guess I haven't earned that back as a friend," Averey said in response to his silence.
"It's not that."
"It's fine, Cisco. It's only fair. I mean, I reckon I haven't been too much of a friend to you to hold up my end of that two-way bargain, anyway." It had also been a while since they had been together. And Cisco never really was broken up with. But he recognized a ghosting when he saw it. Pulling into her driveway, Cisco glanced over at the monitor attached to Averey's wrist. While some things, big things had changed, others still stayed the same. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok," Cisco said, busying himself with releasing the buckle to his seat belt.
"No, it's not. I'm sorry for how I treated you."
Cisco pressed his lips together and attempted a smile. With a nod he said, "Thank you," and the two of them got out of the car – Averey nearly falling out onto the dark driveway. Cisco slammed his car door shut and hurried around the front and helped Averey up to her knees. "Are you ok? What happened?"
"That's a longer drop than I remember," Averey said. "It was like walking off a bloody cliff."
"I guess this has altered your depth perception, too," Cisco said with a frown. "Come on, let's just get you inside." With small, shuffled steps, they managed to get up the porch stairs and into the house.
"Has it always been this bright in here?" Averey asked with a groan, alternating squinting one eye, then the other.
"Oh, thank god," Ellie said, dropping the pot that she was scrubbing into the sink. She used her elbow to turn off the water faucet and reached for a dish towel, turning towards the two of them as they came up the stairs. "Ava, we were getting worried about you! We didn't think you were going to make it home for curfew." She frowned as she looked her daughter over. "What's wrong?"
"We have a little problem," Cisco said, staying close behind Averey as she slowly stepped into the dining room, reaching for the nearest sturdy object to hold onto.
"What happened?" Daniel stepped into the kitchen, setting down the book he had in his hands. "You've never been this close to missing curfew before." He tossed his book down onto the dining room table, where it landed with a loud thwack. "Your probation officer could have decided to make a surprise visit tonight. And you still need to call them to let them know you've made it home in time."
"At least she's made it home, honey," Ellie said. Daniel briefly looked at her, mouth forming a thin line.
"I know, I know," Averey said. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She rolled her shoulders back and walked over to the black landline housing unit that was her wrist monitor's unit sitting next to their landline phone. Cisco held his breath as he watched as Averey walked stiffly through the area, bumping into the leg of the dining room table, and the side of the island, before reaching the counter, leaning against it.
"Are you drunk?" Daniel asked to Averey's back.
"No, I'm not drunk."
"Is she on something?" Daniel asked, turning towards Cisco, indicating towards Averey back with his thumb.
Cisco put his hands up into the air. "I promise you, she's not drunk or on any drugs," he said. "There is one tiny problem, but I wanted to make sure she got home, ok."
"Averett," Cisco even winced at the stoniness that suddenly came to Daniel's voice. The "parent voice." The voice that any child dreaded hearing, especially while in the company of friends. Averey spun around to face Daniel, the phone to her ear, jaw already set. "Look at me and tell me you have not drunk a drop of alcohol or took any drugs."
"Daniel, she already said she hasn't," Ellie said.
"She hasn't," Cisco repeated, "I promise.
"I'm asking her."
"If she says she hasn't, then she hasn't. We should be trusting her."
"Fair go, El, we also trusted that she wouldn't break any laws, and here we are." Daniel's nostrils flared as he pushed out a sigh. "Have you?"
"No," Averey replied, "I haven't drunk anything. I have not taken any drugs, either." Daniel's eyebrows lowered, but he didn't say anything. "I didn't." She threw her hands into the air. "Go ahead and do a bloody shake down if you don't believe me, then."
"If I have to, I will," Daniel said.
"Daniel," Ellie said, moving to stand next to her husband, wrapping her hands around his elbow. "I don't think that's necessary. She says she's not on anything, so we should believe her. She's been doing everything she's supposed to while on probation."
Cisco made it a point not to look in Averey's direction. Sure, this was a close call, but there was no telling just how many close calls there would be if she continued to act as Visionary. Plus, there was no telling how many metahumans they could face has a sordid past. Look at Henry Hewitt; without his digging, his past wouldn't have been known. And, he had already helped her break the rule of no more than one guest at a time with Barry and Caitlin.
He was also stuck on one thing: "What's a shake down?" he asked.
Averey's face, still contorted in a deep frown of annoyance to Daniel, slid her eyes towards Cisco. For a moment, he watched her face fall, embarrassed. She swallowed, shifting her weight from foot to the other. She parted her lips and wet them, face slightly pink.
"It's what they do in jail and prison," she explained. "If any of the C.O.s feel as if you have any contraband, they'll take apart your bunk and look through everything, to see if you're hiding it anywhere."
"Oh. That's not necessary, sir," Cisco said, hastily, taking a step further into the room. He looked back and forth between Averey and her parents. "Please. I know for sure she hasn't had any drugs or alcohol tonight."
"See?" Ellie said, rubbing Daniel's arm. "You know Cisco would tell us if there was something going on."
"Well," Cisco's eyes widened when both Daniel and Ellie looked over at him, "um, there was a little accident. And it's kind of, um, distorted her eyesight?" He didn't mean for the end of his sentence to come out as a question. But he wasn't sure how he was going to explain all of this. Flash burn was easy to explain to an extent, but even then, he wasn't sure how they as parents would handle the situation. After all, he turned up to their home with their injured daughter. "Her vision is off, and her depth perception. It's why she's off balance."
It was every parent's worst nightmare. He had seen how his mom reacted when he gave word that Dante had been attacked. So many questions. So many tears. And so many "How could this have happened?" She may have been asking him how could he have let it happen? Cisco had explained the situation as best he could without giving away Barry's secret, but even then, Dante seemed to come out on top with his small act of heroics trying to save Cisco. He event felt guilty thinking that way, too: as if his parents' attention was a prize to be won in the situation.
"Ok." Daniel put his hands on the table and bowed his head. "Ok. So, what exactly are we looking at here?"
"See, uh, well," Cisco put a hand to his chin. "Well, it's flash burn. Shouldn't be too hard to treat with some rest and ointments and stuff—"
"I CAN'T SEE." Cisco was sure Averey hadn't shouted those words, but her frustration and fear suddenly burst forth, filling every inch of the room. Not that Cisco could blame her.
Daniel's eyes narrowed and he reached a hand out towards Ellie, gripping his wife's hand in hers. "I know this may not be his area of expertise, but call Henry over here," he said to her, "now."
"Caitlin's already looked at her," Cisco said.
"I appreciate that, Cisco," Daniel said turning to put a hand on Cisco's shoulder. "I'm glad you all have stuck with Averey. But it'd still help bring me some piece of mind if Henry looked at her as well."
"Henry's coming right now," Ellie said, removing her phone from her ear. "He's taking a taxi. I said I'll cover him for the trip."
"Ok, let's go wait for him," Daniel said, offering his free hand to Ellie. She took it and he gently squeezed it. "Thank you. I know you haven't really talked with him, so thank you for calling him." Ellie gave Daniel a smile and leaned into his side. He gently squeezed Cisco's shoulder. "Mate, thank you for bringing her home safely."
"Yes, Cisco, thank you," Ellie said, leaning into Daniel's side. "We truly appreciate you looking out for Ava."
Cisco felt all the energy suddenly rush out of his body. He leaned against the kitchen table for support. He didn't know how much he wanted to hear those words until now. He could understand the confusion, and fear, and elation and the amalgam of emotions his mom could feel at the return of her sons – and he saw it on his dad's face when he was finally able to get home and set his sights on himself and Dante – but to hear something like that would have been nice. He could clearly see it, clearly feel it, but to hear it would have been the best thing.
"Of course," he said. He lifted his hands to brush his hair back from his face. "I'd do everything I could to help her." He glanced over at Averey who was now leaning back against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over her chest, watching as her parents moved to wait for Henry on the front porch. "You ok?"
"I haven't seen that side of him since I was in my teens," Averey commented, twisting her mouth to the side. She spoke more to herself than to him. "He's right, though. My probation officer could have been here. I could have been late…"
"Do you need to call them or anything?"
"No," Averey uncrossed her arms, holding her left wrist in the air, brandishing her wrist monitor. "This picked up my location the second I got in range. They'll call to check my schedule in the morning, though." She looked Cisco in the eye. "You can't be here when dad gets here, you know."
"I know," Cisco replied. "I'll go. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I wasn't going to let you get on a bus by yourself. Not like this."
"Cheers." She was silent for a moment before turning to face him. "Thank you for everything, Cisco. You remembered my curfew, and my probation restrictions, and all that. Not just now, not just tonight, you always remembered, hey."
"You're not the only one with a great memory," Cisco said with a hint of a smile, earning a chuckle from Averey. "It's important to you. Of course, I'd remember." He then cleared his throat, shifting his weight to his foot. "I should go, though. I don't want to get you in any trouble. Just take it easy for the rest of the night, ok? Tell us how you are in the morning."
"I will." Averey nodded. "I'll let Cait know what dad says, too."
Cisco lifted his hand in a small wave. "Bye," he said, heading towards the door, "I'll see you back at S.T.A.R. Labs later, then?"
"Guess I could try and make time in my schedule to head over there," Averey said with a mocking sigh. She allowed a smile to come to her face. "I can't let the Flash have all the fun, can I?"
"As if your life isn't boring enough already?" Cisco said with a snort. "A meta attack here and there is bound to spice up your life." He pointed over his shoulder. "I better get going. Dante's probably too comfortable in the empty apartment by now."
"See ya."
Cisco stepped out the front door of Averey's home, giving Daniel and Ellie a quick wave as a set of headlights pulled into the driveway. Henry pulled himself out of the backseat of the taxi and headed up the driveway, leaving the door open in his rush.
"Averey had an accident?" he asked, reaching Cisco. He glanced at the front porch and lowered his voice. "Was the Flash involved?"
"Yes." Henry's eyes darkened with worry and he lifted his hand to brush at the scruff of hair on his chin. "Barry's ok. They should both be by the morning. But, um, Daniel and Ellie don't know about them and their, extra curriculars. So, I'll just quickly give you a run down." Henry slowly nodded, eyebrows lifting at Cisco's explanation.
"Got it." Henry let out a small laugh. "I've got to admit, Cisco, I've seen and heard a lot of things in my years working in a hospital, but this is new. Thanks for filling me in." He used his thumb to scratch at his eyebrow. "This is still something I have to get used to."
"I've been dealing with it over a year now and I'm still not used to it," Cisco joked, stepping past him. Cisco got to his car and pulled open the driver's side door and turned back towards the house, watching Henry, Daniel and Ellie.
"Thank you for coming so quickly," Daniel said, offering Henry his hand.
Henry hesitated for a moment before taking Daniel's hand, shaking it. "Thank you for taking care of our daughter all these years," he replied before the three of them stepped into the home, shutting the door behind them.
Cisco then lowered himself into the driver's seat of his car, slamming the door shut behind him. Retrieving his phone from his pocket, he checked his messages and found one from Caitlin letting him know she got Barry home safely. He checked the time, aware that Dante hadn't even sent a text wondering when he was going to be back at the apartment. Not that he expected as much.
They weren't that kind of family. Maybe they never would be. Even standing in the room, watching Daniel and Ellie arguing with each other over the plight of their daughter was uncomfortable, but it was still evident to Cisco that they were fighting to find the right answer for her. Like they had for Barry and Averey after their encounter with Dr. Light. Like how he always would be there for him, and her, and Team Flash.
Coming together like a family should. As he reached for the steering wheel, Cisco still found himself wondering how they'd be whenever he got enough courage to tell them about himself.
A/N: Thanks for being patient, everyone! Consider this an early Christmas gift for you guys; one more update before the end of the year. This chapter actually started out differently, but I like how it ultimately all ended up being from Cisco's point of view. It's a nice change of pace, don't you think? Plus, I'm really getting to the point of letting my feelings of "there has to be action in every chapter" feeling come to rest – chapters will be done when they tell me they're done.
Also, loved writing Averey and Cisco together. I hope the description of what's up with Averey's vision made sense. It's a plot point I knew i wanted to happen with this fic and the little bits of Averey's confusion over her abilities from the last fic leading into this one was something I've been building on/planning since re-watching season two to plan this story so I'm excited to see what you all think and how this works out with Dr. Light continuing on.
Enjoyed a specific spot in the chapter? Need further explanation on anything? Leave a comment.
-Rhuben
Also: What have you guys been thinking about the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover so far? It may take a while, but I'm excited to think about how Averey would be a part of it.
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Review Replies:
Ethan: It was both a threat and a hint. Both Malcolm and Jay have been shown to have egos, so they do have fun kind of dangling things in front of them without Barry noticing. And she did get blinded to an extent.
gods-own: Nah, I hate having writer's block. A lot of the time it's knowing what I want to happen but not really figuring out how to piece it all together to get it out right - if that makes sense. Your idea really helped me out, I just needed to get this part in before I implement it later on. Thanks again!
shethoughts: Thank you for taking the time to not only read all of Averey's story so far, but to take the time to review. I'm glad you're enjoying it.