Let it be said that Laura Sanders was not a fan of two things.
The first thing being the dark.
The second thing being heat.
Of course, as her luck would have it, the minute Laura opened her eyes, she was met with both of those things in equal force. Opening her eyes only to find pitch black sent her into a mild panic, and it was only as she began to move around that Laura found that it was sweltering.
Unfortunately, in addition to being virtually blind and sweating through her shirt, Laura found out very quickly that she was unable to move. In the darkness, Laura couldn't see what was holding her down, as she pulled against the restraints, they reminded her somewhat of the cuffs the Reverse Flash had used on her. She could also feel several more along her body, including her neck and waist. In conclusion, she was blind, drowning in her own sweat, and paralysed. Whatever situation she was in, it was shaping up to be a great one.
"Dr. Sanders – good to see you're awake."
Laura bit back a stream of curses as the amplified voice startled her, and she dimly realized that whoever was speaking, they must have been using a speaker of some sort, considering how static piqued every word. However, as she laid there, doing her best to remain calm, Laura realized with a chill where she had heard the voice before. It had spoken to her, as she'd laid on the floor of her apartment, her mind hanging over the edge of oblivion, and it had said two names to her – both of them her own.
"Eiling."
"It's good to see that your mind hasn't been affected – it really wouldn't have mind a difference, mind you, but I can't say I don't enjoy a good conservation now and then."
Laura didn't respond; she recognized when she was being toyed with, when someone was waiting for her to trip up, to show her hand. The general was trying to gain an advantage, which Laura didn't really see the point of, considering her situation – perhaps it was for his own amusement. Stubbornly, Laura forced herself to relax against what felt like some sort of padded material, though it did nothing to calm her. As she laid there, sweat running down her face, Laura fought down a shudder as a rolling wave of nausea ran through her. Either Eiling and the mysterious figures backing him had somehow managed to fly her to Qatar, or they were deliberately using what she had come to realize was her greatest weakness against her. Despite how terrifying it was, she was inclined to believe the latter was the truth.
However, as she laid there, Laura suddenly found herself blinded by light. Instinctively, she screwed her eyes shut, but after waiting a few seconds to let the pain recede, Laura forced them open again. It didn't hurt any less to stare directly into the lights, though as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, Laura was decided that the pain was worth it, as the world slowly became visible.
"I hope you aren't too uncomfortable – unless you aren't a warm weather person."
Staring down at her through the glass with his stony grey eyes and cropped silver hair, Wade Eiling reminded her of a marble statue, immovable and expressionless. However, there was something behind that cold grey that made Laura hold her tongue, something that was waiting for her to make the first move, and she chose instead to try at least get a decent look at where she was. It appeared to be a container of sorts, with a viewport that allowed her to see out, the restraints around her neck and head keeping her gaze pointed forward. There wasn't much to see beyond that, other than the thick circles of metal that kept her in place, which were most definitely not going to be easy to get out of. However, Laura was stopped from speculating further as a sudden tapping rudely forced her out of her thoughts, and she reluctantly turned her gaze back to Eiling.
"Didn't your parents ever teach you any manners?"
"Now that you mention it," Laura grimaced as the dryness of her throat made it painful to talk, "I never got the lesson on what to do if an old man abducted me. The funny thing is, I did learn how to deal with an old man's bullshit."
It was almost worth it, to see the fury flash in Eiling's eyes, but behind the smirk on her face, Laura was terrified. She knew that as soon as she'd even thought about taunting Eiling, she had most likely put herself in far more danger than she'd previously been in. There was no way of knowing if she was still in the country, or how long it had been since she'd been abducted, and the thought left her feeling more than a little panicked. However, contrary to what she was expecting, Eiling didn't snap, or bark, or even respond; with a slight twitch of his lips, he moved around the capsule and out of her line of sight. She supposed she should have been relieved that he hadn't retaliated, but it was only a second later that Laura realized why he had been so impassive.
A wave of blistering heat passed over Laura, thick and heavy and excruciatingly painful, and Laura shouted in pain, tugging against her restraints as if somehow her strength could free her. Flashes of light blinded her vision, and Laura's shouts quickly died down into ragged gasps. However, just as she was certain that she was going to pass out, the heat disappeared, and Laura was left gasping in deep breaths of air that was by no means cool, but in comparison to the heat seconds earlier, it was as if she'd been immersed in a glacier.
"I suppose you're wondering why I just did that. It's simple – to remind you of why you're here."
It took Laura a few moments to gather enough strength for her to speak.
"What – what do you want?"
"Now, now," Eiling's contrite expression twisted into something ugly, and if she'd been more aware, Laura might have feared for her life, "let's not get too worked up. You see, Dr. Sanders, we've been watching you, and your partner, for a very long time – almost as long as either of you have existed, so to speak. Now, I imagine it must be nice, being able to run around, pretending to be a hero, but in reality, both of you are being incredibly selfish. And I've never been fond of someone who doesn't have the common decency to share what they have."
Oh. Oh God.
"No…no, you ccan't-"
"I can, and I will. Imagine, the look on our enemies' faces when our troops can move faster than they can blink. Imagine how much a living weapon like F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. could do in combat. You're going to be an important asset, Dr. Sanders. The only choice you have to make is whether you suffer."
You bastard, Laura wanted to scream, but the heat had drained her, and even trying to put together to words was beyond her. Still, despite how sluggish and tired she felt, how much it felt she was about to melt in that tin coffin right there and then, Laura was able to put together what Eiling was saying.
"You're…you're delusional."
"Perhaps. But in the meantime, I have someone else to attend to – I'm quite curious to see which one of you will break first."
"Fuck you."
"Goodbye, Dr. Sanders. I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough."
And just like that, Laura was alone.
"Jesus Christ!"
To be trapped was an infuriating thing, Laura decided with a shout of frustration, as she was once again forced to halt her efforts to escape. She'd lost track of time since waking up to complete darkness, and the thought that hours – perhaps even days – could have passed since Eiling had taken her, frightened her to no end.
Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. Apparently, Eiling hadn't been lying about watching her and Barry; whatever technology the general and his men had put into the capsule, it was clear that it had been designed just for her. At least it seemed to be that way, if how the capsule suddenly seemed to turn into an oven any time she caused the temperature to drop was any indication. After a few seconds, the temperature would return to a bearable level, but Laura was certain that she'd blacked out at least three times out of the ten plus times she'd tried to summon even the least amount of cold. The worst part was, every time the temperature returned to normal, Laura couldn't help but feel as if it had risen somehow, which made using her powers even more difficult each time.
She wondered if Eiling and the Reverse Flash had ever gotten together to trade tips on trapping metahumans.
Sighing, Laura closed her eyes, forcing her body into stillness despite the voice in the back of her head that screamed at her to move, to break free. Past experience had taught her that constant exertion under high temperatures only left one susceptible to heat exhaustion, and in turn heat stroke, though she supposed it was a little too late for that. Still, she did her best to remain relaxed, keeping her breathing slow and shallow in order to conserve energy, and as the heat continued to seep into her body, Laura allowed herself to think.
There weren't a lot of options, that much was clear. It was only a matter of time before Eiling decided to stop toying with her, and she suppressed a shudder of fear at the thought of what he had planned. Unfortunately, the only other option, besides waiting for the general to return and hope for a chance of escape, was to escape before he returned, which Laura knew was not going to be an easy task. The only real weapons she had in this situation were her abilities; the unfortunate thing was, even if she could maintain a reasonable amount of cold long enough to break herself free, the resulting heat would only send her right back to square one, which would only waste more time. So, in reality, Laura did have options – except there were only two, and no matter which one she chose, there was a fairly equal chance of either killing her.
However, as she lay there, Laura's mind drifted towards the container itself that held her. The mechanism that raised the temperature was obviously activated by either a rise or drop in the capsule's internal temperature; there had to be some sort of mechanism that regulated how much of a change it could take before it needed to be corrected. The question was: how much could it take?
Laura liked to believe that she was intelligent. When she was alert and well-rested, the only thing that stood between her and the answer to a problem was time, and given enough of it, she would eventually persevere. Unfortunately, all of that went out the window when exhaustion started to set in. Not when she was merely tired, or when she hadn't slept nearly as long as she could have. In university, she'd learnt early on that once simple exhaustion turned into sleep deprivation, there was no limit to what kinds of ridiculousness she could dream up. At some point during her finals, for whatever reason, she'd had the absurd thought that it was a good idea to make macaroni and cheese at four in the morning without any water. Or a pot. Luckily, she'd just barely avoided burning down the dorm, but it just so happened that this process was happening at that very moment.
As far as she knew, Laura had never reached the full extent of her abilities. Pushing herself to her limits and beyond was simply something she'd never considered, as there had never been any need for it. Now, as she laid there, her mind working in every possible direction, it suddenly became clear that if she had no idea of the limits of her powers, then neither did Eiling. Which meant that his machine was flawed.
And if there was a flaw, then she could exploit it.
Here goes nothing.
It began slowly – a small wisp of cold curling to life in her stomach, rising out of the underlying energy that thrummed beneath her skin. As it grew, swirling inside of her like the beginnings of a tornado, it was almost a herculean feat to keep it that way. Laura knew that if she let it out too soon, then the heat would return, and she would be damned if she was going to waste anymore time. Still, some part of her ached to release the cold as it continued to grow; she'd never held so much of it in before, and Laura wondered beyond the strange sensation of being pulled apart at the seams if she had overestimated just how much her own body could handle the task.
Too late to turn back now.
Gritting her teeth, Laura pushed more cold into the vortex, gasping out in shock as it suddenly and quite violently pushed to be released from the confines of her body. Unfortunately, what she had the ability to control now seemed to have gained a mind of its own, and agony shot through her body as she fought to keep all of it inside. Dimly, she registered that the air was scalding, but there was nothing she could do to dissipate the cold, not without releasing it. A few more seconds passed, and Laura let out a gasp as something clicked inside of her. It was almost as if the floodgates that held the cold back had been unlocked – they were just waiting to be opened. All she needed to do was let it all out, let go of all of that energy in one single blow, and hope that she had not been wrong.
God, she hoped she wasn't wrong.
And with the force of a thousand storms raging inside of her…
…Laura let go.
The world was white.
Any other time, it might have struck her as odd, that her entire world appeared to have been bleached white.
Unfortunately, Laura was more concerned with other things – such as how her stomach had suddenly decided to rebel against her and jump up her throat. Sweat dripped down her face and her entire body seemed to shake, and if she'd had been able to, she might have said something rather obscene, rather loudly. Seeing as she didn't, though, Laura was forced to remain satisfied with the fact that her stomach, thankfully, had nothing left to give to the floor.
Through the haze of sickness, it vaguely came to Laura's attention that she had previously been restrained. If she'd had had the presence of mind to investigate, Laura might have looked behind her. She might have seen the lid of the capsule she'd been trapped inside, damaged to the point that it looked like someone might have punched it off, if not for the unnatural layer of frost on the underside. She might have seen her restraints lying shattered, covered in frost.
If she'd looked, Laura might have understood that the reason the world was white was not because it had suddenly become so. She might have looked down at herself and seen how pale she'd become. She might have wondered at the sight of thick sheets of mist flowing out of her skin, radiating a faint white light in the darkness.
But Laura didn't. Instead, Laura pushed herself up to her feet, and began the arduous process of making her way towards the door, leaving a trail of frosted footprints in her wake.
No one stood outside the room, but Laura hardly would have noticed if there had been. The effort it took her to take each step would have landed her all the way at the top of Mount Everest, and it was no small thing that she managed to round the first corner, leaning against the wall the entire time. Fortunately, as with every step Laura took, the white that left her blinded bled away, until only all that was left was the concrete hallway. It was only when Laura had made her way around the fourth corner that she heard something she'd heard before. A distinct popping sound, somewhere in the distance, and…and shouting.
Lots of shouting.
It could have been hours before Laura reached the doors, and years possibly passed in the time it took her to wrench them open. But as she stepped out into a sprawling compound, Laura was met with a troubling sight.
Through the gates of the compound stood a figure that Laura just barely recognized, the sight of his face causing fear to bubble up inside of her, even from such a distance. She couldn't see who he was speaking to, if he was speaking at all, but then the man was reaching for something at his waist, a move she was all too familiar with. At once, the fear that Laura felt transformed into rage of a magnitude she hadn't felt in a long time, and she screamed a name across the distance as white filled her vision once again. As she broke into a run, her body bursting with energy, one only thought filled Laura's head:
Not again.
And then, Laura was streaking across the distance, catapulted forward by some unseen force, before she collided with a solid body, her arms locking around the person as she did so. The force of the impact reminded her of being thrown into a wall, but the body gave way and the two of them were sent sprawling. Reaching out blindly for the man's weapon, Laura felt a small sense of triumph when it froze underneath her grasp, and with all of her strength, brought it down against the ground, shattering it into bits. For a while afterwards, Laura simply laid there, staring at the mess of her hand, before she dragged herself to her feet and staggered over to the man.
From where she stood over him, the man – Eiling, she remembered – looked far less threatening than he had on the other side of the capsule. Tired. Pained. Small.
"Do it."
It took Laura several seconds to realize that he had spoken.
"Do it." He spat at her, and Laura would have taken a step back, would have flinched, would have reacted – if she'd felt threatened. There was no fear, no unease in her now, as she stared down at him, for she knew now that she had the upper hand, and that he was the one at a disadvantage. It filled her a sense of triumph, of power, something that not even discovering her powers had been able to give her, and beyond all reason, it excited her.
If Eiling asked for her to end it, if he begged for her to spare him, there was really nothing that he could do to stop her. It would easy to get rid of him, she thought, to be done and over with it, to wipe Wade Eiling and his terrible legacy of the face of the earth. She could do it, and there would be nobody to stop her. It was an exhilarating thought.
It terrified her.
"No."
"Afraid to make a choice?"
"My choice is no."
A laugh. Bitter and cold and angry.
"You're cowards, all of you. You're never going to be worth anything if you can't make a goddamn choice."
"I've made a choice," it was becoming harder to string together words, exhaustion slurring her words, "to not kill you."
"But I can always go back on that choice. The next time I see your face, I may not make the same choice I'm making now. If I ever, ever see you near this city again, I will make you regret everything you've ever done. And when that day comes – we'll see who the real coward is."
When Laura finished speaking, it was clear that her message had gotten across to the general. As he clambered to his feet, she registered a wariness in his eyes, something that didn't quite fit with the image of the man who had abducted her for the sake of turning her powers into weapons. There was a moment of silence as they stared each other down, neither of them speaking as they kept each other's gazes. It was with a sense of relief that Laura watched Eiling finally turn around and begin dragging his battered body back towards the compound. She continued to watch, even as her knees began to knock together, her vision blurring, and it was only when he finally disappeared from her line of sight that Laura wrenched her gaze away.
"Laura?"
The world seemed to tilt on its axis as Laura turned to face the voice, relief bursting in her chest when she saw Ronnie standing there. However, there was something off about him that she couldn't quite place, and the exhaustion that ran through prevented her from holding her tongue.
"Are – are your eyes white?"
"Oh, about that – Stein says he's grateful."
"…t-that's new."
"You could say th – Laura, are you alright?"
He was staring strangely at her now, and on the edges of her vision, Laura thought she saw another figure, though she knew that she didn't need to defend herself against them, whoever they were. Every part of her seemed to be on fire, and the world tilted again as Laura grabbed on to two pairs of outstretched arms, the warmth of the darkness calling to her temptingly as she looked up into a pair of concerned green eyes.
"I think – I think I'm going to pass out now."
The last thing Laura saw before everything went blissfully dark was the ground rushing up to meet her, and then nothing else.
"Well, it looks like your temperature has finally gone back to normal. That means that the nausea and the dizzy spells should disappear soon, but I wouldn't recommend doing anything to extraneous for the next little while. Any questions?"
"Yeah; did you just say normal?"
"…oh my God, I don't why I said that. What was I thinking?"
Laura would have laughed if she'd had the strength. She did manage a small chuckle, but she was forced to cut it off as the pounding headache she'd finally gotten rid off returned with a vengeance. Caitlin just clucked her tongue disapprovingly as she pocketed her thermometer, and handed her a few painkillers with a glass of water, sitting down at the foot of the couch to watch Laura swallow the pills.
It had been a few days since the end of their battle with Eiling, and Laura had spent most of that time under the watchful care of her team, her body a haphazard collection of bruises that made even sitting down a chore. Once she'd woken up in S.T.A.R. Labs, with enough painkillers in her system to take down an elephant, the others had it upon themselves to help her catch up with current events. From what she could recollect of what they'd told her, Barry had been the one to notice her absence at the lab the following morning, right around the same time Stein had been declared missing. Apparently, Eiling had taken them both on the same night; the only reason they'd been able to find them both was the lingering connection between him and Ronnie that had led them to the compound. How exactly it worked, Laura had decided she was better off not knowing, at least if she didn't want her head to implode.
As it so happened, unfortunately, their rescue and Eiling's defeat had been followed by the announcement from Ronnie and Stein of their decision to depart from Central City for the time being. One of Stein's colleagues, an old classmate who had consulted on F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M., was apparently willing to work with both men on expanding their abilities, and it was with some regret that they had departed just that day.
"Thanks." Laura murmured, burrowing herself further into the makeshift bed she'd set up on the couch, doing her best to return Caitlin's fond smile. As Caitlin stepped away to return the glass to the sink, the front door swung open, and Barry and Cisco stepped inside, carrying a couple of plastic bags with them. Laura could only presume that they were snacks from the way Cisco seemed to somehow already finished half a package of red licorice.
"So, what are we watching tonight?"
"Not Star Wars."
"Aw, come on!"
"My house, my rules. Besides, it's not like I have terrible taste in movies."
"Debatable."
Laura rolled her eyes as Cisco began to make himself acquainted with her TV's remote, smirking at the chuckle that Barry let out as he caught her expression. In a flash of lightning, the snacks were laid out in bowls across the floor, one filled to the brim with pretzels positioned right where Laura could reach without having to move too much.
"I'm going to miss that." Barry turned to look back at her as she settled himself against the couch, a cushion propped up behind his back.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, when I learn how to fly, I'm going to see less and less of Barry Allen's version of the teacup ride at Disneyworld."
"Hey, don't get too excited."
"Oh, I would never. There's simply nothing I enjoy more than jumping into the Flash's arms every time we have to go fight crime."
"Shut up, you love jumping into my arms."
If she hadn't needed it to hold up her head, Laura might have smacked his head with the pillow underneath her head, but she settled for tossing a pretzel at him. She grinned tiredly at the startled noise it brought out of him, and she ducked underneath the blanket as he tossed it back at her. However, just as the two of them were getting riled up, Cisco stepped in with a mock scowl, waving the remote at them both.
"Hey, cut it out you two!"
"Sorry, Cisco. Did you find a movie you liked?"
"Oh, right. Are we all cool with The Fifth Element?
As the movie began, everyone settling into their own little place on the floor, Laura's eyes lingered on Cisco for a moment longer, her mind drifting as the opening credits played. Her mind was no longer with her friends in her apartment, but with the envelope she had taken the time to put together that was on its way to Cisco's apartment, two pieces of paper inside, and a simple note tucked between them with her handwriting on it. She thought of the words she'd written on the note, not demanding answers but promising him that she would wait until he was ready, ready to tell her whatever it was that he was keeping from her.
As long as it took, she would wait.
But as she turned her attention back to her friends, Laura was content in what she had at the moment.
There was no need for more.
"General Eiling – we have some business to discuss."
"W-who the hell are you?"
"Oh, you know exactly who I am…Wade."
"You…I should have known. You're one of them."
"Yes, yes, I am. And if there's one thing you should know about me, General, is that I protect my own."
"What do you want?"
"You conducted tests on Laura Sanders while you held her captive. You took samples of her blood. It would be in your best interests if those results were in my possession."
"Over my dead body."
"Oh, Wade. You stupid, stupid man. You really are nothing more than the jock you were in college. I was hoping you would say that."
"What the hell are you going on about?
"I already have the results, and the samples – took them seconds before I took you – and as a bonus, every bit of information on Dr. Sanders and F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. has been wiped clean from your operation's database. I have no need for you, General."
"So why I am here?"
"Because I think it's time for you to meet a dear old friend of ours. He's been waiting a very long time to see you again."
General...
"Who is that?"
General...
"That voice – it's in my hea-Dear God."
Not God.
Grodd
Hey guys, sorry about this late addition, but this storyline has been so hard to complete and my midterms are killing me! Anyways, I hope you all continue reading because things are about to heat up here!
P.S. REVIEWS ARE LOVED
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
