"Jesus, it's cold!"
"Really? I don't feel a thing."
Laura couldn't help a smirk as Cisco sent her a dirty glare, bundled up in what, by the looks of it, must have been at least three coats and two sweaters. Ferris Air's abandoned airfield in Central City was the perfect place for Laura to practice her abilities, something that Caitlin had pestered Dr. Wells for after she'd woken up in the lab a few days ago, struggling with mild hypoxia. Waiting for her lungs to clear had kept her off her feet for the next few days before she was finally deemed well enough, but those days had been spent being lectured by Caitlin about preparedness without any opportunity for escape. Now, everyone was getting ready for Laura's so-called 'training day', aptly named by Cisco.
"Okay, so, the readings we took after the fire show that your core temperature was slightly raised, so we're going just going to see how much heat you can take before your temperature starts to change."
Laura nodded wordlessly, suddenly less focused on Caitlin's explanation as she adjusted the vitals monitor that was strapped to her chest, and just a bit more focused on the suspiciously large weapon-like devices in Cisco and Barry's arms as they exited the trailer.
"No offense, but are you sure those things are safe?"
"Positive. These babies only give off heat in microwaves. You'll be fine."
Unfortunately, the way Cisco's voice cracked on the last few words did nothing to comfort Laura one bit. Still, despite her better judgement, she shirked off her jacket, and made her way over to the circle marked in chalk on the runway. Barry and Cisco stepped up to either edge of the circle, and hefted up the devices at her, which now that she thought about it were starting to look a lot like flamethrowers.
"Whenever you're ready." Dr. Wells called out from the tent, and after a moment's hesitation, Laura nodded at Barry and Cisco, bracing herself for what was coming.
It was instantaneous. The searing sensation of heat, minus any visible flame whatsoever, was enough to make Laura wonder just how much she would be able to take. Within seconds, however, she could feel that her body was adjusting, as the heat became less and less noticeable. When she was ready, she gestured at Cisco and Barry to raise the heat, and they obliged. The change was just enough to make her stagger a bit in shock, but eventually, the feeling faded away. Laura was beginning to feel a lot more confident in herself, but she resisted the urge to get ahead of herself and merely gestured for them to continue. As Barry and Cisco obliged her, Laura realized with a start that she could not hear anything beyond the roaring of the devices in her ears, nor the beating of her own heart.
"You'll never learn your lesson if I don't teach you."
"Daddy, I didn't mean to, I swear. It was an accident!"
"There's no such things as accidents, girl. Now, roll up your sleeve and hold still - time for lesson number four."
As the memory forced its way to the front of her mind, Laura found herself overcome with excruciating pain. It felt as if every single nerve her body had to offer was being bombarded by a thousand tiny needles. She crashed to her knees, unable to stop herself from screaming wordlessly in her agony, and she knew then that she had to stop it.
With a scream rivalling the roaring in her ears, Laura forced her arms out until they were level with the weapons that Cisco and Barry had pointed at her. Vaguely, she heard Cisco yell at her to stop before the familiar cold was flowing from her hands. Through the haze, she heard both men drop the devices with cries of pain, implying that they probably hadn't let go quick enough, but it hardly mattered - she wasn't in pain anymore. The relief was glorious, and she gulped in the cold air like a man dying of thirst. On the other hand, she was fairly certain that the large, bright red patches on her arms were third-degree burns.
"Jesus, Laura! Why didn't you say something?" Cisco gasped as he knelt in front of her, unable to take his eyes off of the burns as he gingerly helped her sit up. "Caitlin, we need the first-aid kit!"
"Is-is it weird that they don't hurt?" Laura was aware that she was stammering, and as Barry and Caitlin joined her on the asphalt, Cisco prodded gently at the nearest burn, which covered almost a quarter of her forearm. Laura jumped on instinct, expecting agonizing pain that had been burned into her memory, but she was most definitely surprised when she felt nothing. Nothing at all. It was almost as if someone had painted the burns on her skin.
"Okay, that is freaky." Cisco breathed and stood as Caitlin shoved her way in, grabbing on to Laura with her own hands and tenderly poking at the marks, which were already starting to fade.
"There's a definite superficial reaction to the heat, but beyond that there's no actual tissue damage."
"Remarkable." Okay, so apparently Dr. Wells had joined in on the 'poke Laura and see if she screams' fest as well. She was cool with that.
"I'm going to need samples." Caitlin sounded way too excited, and Laura groaned internally at the thought of going through yet another biopsy, but let Barry stand her up and walk her back over to one of the chairs the others had set up underneath the tent. By now, the patches were started to fade even faster, and as Caitlin used a scalpel to scrape away a bit of skin from the inside of her arm, Laura found herself struggling to not return to the memory that had started this whole thing, with little to no success. Luckily, she was distracted by Barry as he handed her a bottle of Gatorade and a power bar, which she took gratefully.
"So, what happened out there? What went wrong?" For a moment, Laura was unable to think of an excuse that wouldn't raise any red flags, and ended up settling for an old favourite.
"I - I had an accident when I was a kid. Never really got over it, I guess." Disbelief flashed over his face, and Laura knew that she was slipping in her storytelling, but she didn't say anything more. Luckily, he didn't feel the need to ask any further questions, and instead settled for standing by her side as she ate.
A couple of minutes later, Caitlin reappeared, obviously very flustered, but apparently also very excited to get to work with her new cell samples, which she had to admit was just a tad creepy. Still, it was nice to Caitlin smiling again; it was always a relief when she cracked a smile or tried to joke along with Cisco, usually ending with awkward results.
"I need to get back to the lab, right now. Laura, tell me if anything changes." Laura nodded as she sipped at her Gatorade, and watched as Caitlin sped away in her car, before turning back to Barry with a weary sigh.
"We'd better go after her, or she'll end up living at her desk for the next few days."
"Yeah. Hey, does this mean that you might be invincible now?"
"Here's hoping, Barry. Here's hoping."
"Dear God, I've never exercised so much in my life."
Whoever said that they enjoyed exercise was a damn liar, Laura seethed. Seeing as she would be joining Barry in the field, Dr. Wells had deemed it vital that she take place in physical training exercises with Barry, with consisted mostly of pain and sweating. Well, crunches, push-ups, running and weight-lifting, but mostly pain and sweating. She and Barry had spent the last few hours doing those exercises, and Laura was so past done that she just decided to lay down on the mats set up in the training room and take a nap.
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."
"Says the man who doesn't have to exercise at all to stay fit. You have abs just by existing." In reply, he laughed, and Laura wondered if she could freeze him from where she had collapsed. She tried to focus for a second, just to see if she could do it, but judging by the way her arms laid limp at her sides, there would be no Barry Allen Popsicle for her today.
"Alright, I think we're good for today."
"Barry, you're going to have to carry me home. My legs aren't working anymore."
Barry just shook his head in disbelief and helped Laura to her feet, chuckling as she tried to get some feeling back into her limbs while he walked her out of the room.
"We will never set foot in that room again."
"Oh, good, Laura. I've finished the biopsy, and I think you're going to be very interested." Caitlin piped up from her desk as they entered the control room, where she had been working furiously since before they'd arrived.
"Okay, shoot."
"Well, there's no tissue damage from the burns, and the only explanation I was able to determine from the vitals that the monitor took was that your body was actually lowering its temperature to compensate for the heat. That's why there were no burns. It was like an immune response to heat - your body cooled down so much that it was almost entirely ineffective."
Cisco let out a low whistle, and Laura couldn't shake the feeling that she had just walked into another dimension. "With enough practice, I think that you'd probably be able to sit in an inferno and not even notice."
Laura frowned and tried to look a bit concerned, suddenly feeling a little terrified at the prospect. "Yeah, hey, Caitlin? How about we don't test that hypothesis, because another way I could be sitting in in a fire and not notice is if I were dead."
Caitlin barely noticed the sarcasm in Laura's voice as she continued to type, staring at the computer screen so hard Laura was starting to wonder what else she was looking at. She had to admit, now that she had the time to think about it, it was pretty amazing, to be able to not only produce cold but withstand heat. The deck was stacked in her favour, as some people would say; although that was not presently the case. With a small groan of pain, she detached herself from Barry and used a nearby table as a crutch to fling herself into an office chair, where she simply relished the feeling of not moving. At all.
However, only a minute later, Laura was forced to use her muscles when her phone started to ring from across the room. Luckily, Barry got it into her hands on the second ring, and she hit the call button clumsily. "Hello?"
"Dr. Sanders?"
"Oh, Detective West," Laura shifted in her seat to sit up a little straighter, "it's good to hear from you again."
Please let it be the job, please let it be the job. Laura prayed quietly to herself even as she listened to West.
"I'm glad to hear that. Listen, I talked with my superiors and they think you'd be a great addition to the precinct. Are you okay to start Friday?"
"Well…actually, yes, yes, I am. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Actually yes – wait a minute."
Laura was so confused when Joe suddenly went silent on the phone that she didn't realize the last words he'd spoken had come from inside the room, until "Dr. Sanders?" resounded from both behind her and through her phone.
Crap.
Laura forced a smile on to her face and turned around to see Joe West standing in the doorway, his eyes wide enough to be as large as saucers, and she felt her stomach drop to her feet.
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii, Detective West."
"Why didn't you tell me that the person I was interviewing for a job was a metahuman?"
Joe's voice was hushed, but not too quiet that Laura, Cisco and Caitlin couldn't hear what he was saying through a closed door. They were all sitting together at Cisco's desk, watching into Dr. Wells' office through the door from an angle that made it hard to see either man's face. For some reason, Cisco had popped popcorn, which she had jumped on the moment she smelt the butter, despite the utter anxiety she was currently wracked with.
"I didn't think it was important. Laura's a good person. You heard about that mystery metahuman took down the bank robber last week right?"
"Yeah, but...oh God, don't tell me. That was her, wasn't it?"
Honestly, if Laura hadn't been so worried about the fact that she might not get the job, it would have been an amusing conversation to eavesdrop on. Working with the police was a career she probably would have considered had her life turned out the right way, and if she was being truthful with herself, there was a small part of her that really wanted the job. She just hoped that Joe would be open to the idea of having a metahuman on the police force.
When the doors to the office swung open, and Barry and Joe stepped out, Laura stood to meet them. "Detective West."
"Dr. Sanders. You're...you're a metahuman."
"To be fair, I only found out about this a week ago. So we're pretty much on the same page, if that helps."
Laura had a feeling it wouldn't help at all.
"Just - just hold on. Since Barry's come out of his coma, I have seen men who can control the weather and turn themselves into gas, and a woman who blows up anything she can touch. So long as you aren't t some sort of megalomaniac who knows who I am, we'll talk. Maybe."
Okay. Okay, good. She could work with that.
Several minutes later, Joe was looking at her a lot differently, with just a smidge less of apprehension and a bit more awe. Seeing as she didn't want to give him frostbite by shaking his hand, Laura had opted to display her abilities in a subtler fashion - freezing Cisco's coffee, his third cup so far that day. For a while after that, all he could do was stare at her, his mouth hanging open slightly, and when he had finally regained the power of speech, Laura was the one joining the detective in conference. This time, however, they were outside of the building near Joe's car in the parking lot, somewhere he was certain would be far enough away to prevent a certain group of scientists from eavesdropping.
"Listen, Laura, I looked over your files. Metahuman or not, you're probably the most competent person we've interviewed for the job this year. I'm not saying that I won't give you the job, but I need to know I can trust you."
"Absolutely, Detective. What do you need me to do?"
"Your foster care records. The CCPD needs them declassified before they can make the final decision."
Well, shit. That was going to be a big problem.
"I don't know if I can do that, Detective. There's...there's a reason I had those files sealed."
"Well, there's a reason that I need to see them. Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't affect their decision."
Laura was at a crossroads, so unlike she had been almost eight years ago, when she'd had the details of her time in foster care classified. Of the first eighteen years of her life locked away, perhaps forever. There had been no hesitation then, no second thoughts. Now, she found herself being pulled into two different directions by two opposing forces, both of which had an equal chance of succeeding. But she had to make a decision; something had to give. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she opened her mouth to speak.
"Alright, I can get them for you."
"Thank you."
"Just - whatever you find, promise me you won't tell the others."
"I can't promise you anything, but if I do find anything, I'll do my best to keep it quiet."
"Thank you, Detective," she said with a sigh, feeling as if the iron grip on her airway had finally eased, "I appreciate it, I really do."
Joe nodded curtly and shook Laura's hand, pulling back a bit quicker than he might have before he'd discovered her secret, and she took a few steps away from the car as he settled himself in the driver's seat. She watched as he pulled out of the parking lot, and as he drove away, Laura had the feeling, despite a small voice in the back of her mind telling her otherwise, that everything was going to turn out alright.
Chapter 8, woo-hoo! Keep on reading and review when you can!
