Let us out.
We want to be free.
We will come out.
Belén jumped in her seat when Iris dropped a file of papers on her desk. Belén blinked up at Iris who was suspiciously eyeing her.
"What?" Belén looked around and saw none of their co-workers had stopped to look at them oddly. CC Pictures was, after all, a place of gossip.
"I just thought you forgot how to blink," Iris picked up her papers from Belén's desk then peered over to Belén's computer screen.
Belén was meant to be working on an article due that same day, in a couple hours actually, but was still nowhere near finished. Iris knew that, she'd been watching Belén all day and noticing how...distant Belén seemed. At random times Belén would just start staring into space, like she was forgetting where she was or what she was doing. It was odd, even for her.
"I'm just tired," Belén gave a little smile and got back to work. "Thanks for the wake up call."
"Mm," Iris eyed her for another minute before continuing on her way to her own desk.
Belén discreetly watched after her and scolded herself for being so weak. You can get this under control, she told herself.
She just needed distractions off her usual fear thoughts. She needed to take control. That was the key to everything. After all, it wouldn't be the first time she needed to work on getting control over herself. It was what she kept telling Caitlin to do and she should employ it herself to make the example.
"I can hear the voices, Cait," Belén explained as she and Caitlin walked into Jitters later that day. "What does that mean? That I'm actually going to go crazy here?"
"I think...actually, I don't know what to think," Caitlin admitted. She herself didn't understand how her powers came to be except that it was because of her siphoning device they used to "defeat" Datura.
They each ordered a drink then went to take a seat at an empty table. Belén fidgeted in her chair like she would lose it at any second. "Do you hear...her voice?" she asked in a whisper.
Caitlin shook her head. "No. At least, not now." Belén sighed, frustrated with her unique situation. Caitlin didn't like seeing Belén so...lost. She felt partially responsible because she created the siphoning device and now even she couldn't figure out where it went wrong, why it had gone wrong in this version of their time line. According to Barry, they had successfully defeated Datura in the original time line without any sign of...whatever the hell this was right now."You know, it might have to do with the fact you're using them more than I have."
Belén's eyebrows knitted together, taken aback by the assumption but definitely didn't discarded. "I...you think?"
Caitlin didn't say anything while the waitress stopped by to hand them each their drink to go. "It's possible that while you're attempting to use them, it's giving a chance for development. Involuntary development."
"I can't just not use them," Belén nursed her cup of coffee like her life depended on it. "I've been down the road of pushing powers away. It resulted in me losing total control. I don't want that again." She took a sip of her coffee and crinkled her nose. "It's cold."
Caitlin managed a weak smile as she drank from own cup, which turned out to be just fine. The two women then got up from the table and started to leave.
"I think, maybe, leaving them aside for now would be best," Caitlin offered a piece of advice after the two headed down the street.
"No," Belén knew that wasn't an option. "I can't ignore them, especially when they talk to me. I have to practice, take control before they do. And maybe you should too." Caitlin bit her lip, just nervous at that idea already. "Just because she hasn't talked to you doesn't mean she won't ever. She's lurking…"
"I...I don't think so," Caitlin shot that down before it could manifest in her own mind. "I don't want to use my powers."
"Well…" Belén came to a slow stop, "I didn't ask for them but I'm going to learn how to use them." Her eyes lowered to her cold cup of coffee. "In fact…"
Caitlin followed Belén's gaze and started shaking her head. "Bells…"
Belén made a hand gesture for Caitlin to stop. "Starts now," Belén shrugged. She focused her attention on her cup and the exact power she would need to use. It was strange — not the attempt to use her usual plant-based powers — but this was what she was given now and she would have to get by with it.
It just didn't work out the first time.
Caitlin gasped when the cup burst into flames. Belén dropped it instantly and, alarmed, stared with wide eyes at the flaming cup on the ground. "Oh my God!"
Caitlin looked around to see if anyone had noticed yet. Thankfully, most of them were on their phones. She quickly stomped on the cup and put out the small fire. She yanked Belén into a sprint-like walk.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that would happen!" Belén kept glancing over her shoulder to spot anyone who might have caught them.
"Don't look back!" Caitlin hissed and immediately Belén obeyed. "I understand you want to practice them—"
"But you don't," Belén forced them to stop at the end of the street. "Caitlin, you got one power from that siphoning device. I got...I don't know how many powers I got," she turned her hand over and let flames consume it.
Caitlin once again nervously looked around. "Stop that!"
Belén let the flames die and a red energy erupt from her hand instead. Caitlin looked so pale she could have passed out on the spot. Belén put her hand down and turned her head to the road where Caitlin saw her raise a couple of rocks.
"Belén…" Caitlin was terrified and so Belén finally let it all die.
"I almost burned myself a couple days ago when I tried out my heat powers, remember?" Belén made Caitlin think back to a the night they'd gotten together at Caitlin's apartment in order to...test out their powers. "Barry kept asking me if I was okay. And I definitely had to get rid of my clothes before his freaky forensics nose got into the scorch marks on my blouse."
"I'm so sorry I did this to you—to us—" Caitlin covered her mouth with the back of her hand. All she had wanted to do was save Datura from her terminal illness. She ventured to create such a complex siphoning device that would have - ideally - restored Datura's biology enough so that she would keep her powers and be stable. Caitlin never foresaw that instead she would alter her own friend's DNA along with hers. She'd given them a part of Datura's powers with the danger of unstable DNA as well. She recreated the problem, twice.
"Caitlin, it's okay," Belén hugged the near crying brunette. She didn't blame Caitlin at all. It was, unfortunately, an accident. The timelines changed and they had to make do with what they had. All that was left to do was try to control it.
~0~
Cisco stood alone in the breach room with eyes glued to the swirling breech in front of him. Little by little, the group began to arrive from his urgent call.
"What's going on? Why'd you open a breach?" Barry quickly rushed up beside Cisco. Who the hell could be on that other side? He dreaded to know. If his luck was with him, maybe it was a benign area on the other side, maybe like Anais' world. He would like to see her again...or maybe…
"What's a breach doing open?" Belén made both men turn to see her and Caitlin coming in. "We didn't decide on that, did we?"
Caitlin shook her head to answer. "No we did not."
"I didn't do it," Cisco raised his hands in defense. "That's why I called you." He pointed at Barry.
"Well, can you close it?"
"Once again, I wouldn't have called if I could."
"Okay, well, who's coming through?" Belén cautiously stepped forwards with Caitlin.
The breach rippled as someone finally crossed through and with it went the group's nerves. Harry Wells jumped through, although if the group had been paying more attention they would have seen the urgency on the man's face.
"Allen," Harry Wells greeted, "I need your help."
Barry was still trying to process this unannounced visit to properly dread what new problem Earth 2 could be facing. "With...what?"
But before Harry could answer, someone suddenly zipped through the breach and went around the whole room before stopping in front of Barry. The gust of wind she left behind put everyone into a state of surprise.
"With that," Harry pointed a finger, unimpressed, at his daughter.
"Hey, guys," Jesse waved with a cheery hand at the dumbfounded group.
Harry would then have to explain how his daughter was now a metahuman. They moved into the cortex to better discuss the new change.
"When did this happen?" Wally was probably the most affected, but no one would really know then.
"A few days ago," Jesse was all too happy to explain. Everyone could tell she was over the moon happy with her speed.
Harry, not so much. "So, when I got Allen his speed back, Wally and Jesse were hit with the dark matter. Turns out she was affected," he glanced at his gleeful daughter. "She was totally affected."
"But I didn't get speed, so could it have been from something else?" Wally asked.
"No... I mean, I doubt it. Dark matter affects different people in different ways at different times...sometimes not at all, so be thankful, but she was affected, and I want to run some tests and find out just how much."
"Well, then, you've come to the right place. Let's go to the Speed Lab," Caitlin suggested but both Harry and Barry turned to her with similar confusion.
"Speed Lab?"
~ 0 ~
The 'Speed Lab' turned out to be a rather dramatically large room with everything a speedster would need to train...except Barry had no idea it even existed, and he didn't remember ever training inside of it. He was mostly struck by the large tube-like structure that actually ran above them. According to Cisco, Barry had been using it nonstop
"Something tells me you've never been in this room before…" Cisco sarcastically said to the open-mouthed Barry in the center of the room.
"Nope," the speedster confirmed.
Harry stopped and turned to Barry, only giving him a brief glance before he got the gist of what was going on. "Wait, you... You nev...Allen." Barry actually winced at the sharp edge in Harry's voice. "I suppose that means you traveled back in time again."
"Yeah, but—"
"How many times did I tell you not to do that?"
"How did you even figure that out so fast?" asked Belén.
Before they could say anything else, Nina walked in. Her condition made both Jesse and Harry gasp. She rolled her eyes and looked at the others. "Seriously, anyone else going to give me the wide-eyed look? I've been pregnant for nine months!"
"Not from where we stand," Harry settled a sharp glare on Barry.
"How are they immune?" Iris nodded to Harry and Jesse, wondering how that was even possible if no one else noticed the timeline changed.
"Because it's another Earth, so it's another timeline," Harry answered her. "So when did you do it?" He once again turned on Barry. "After we returned to Earth-2?"
"Look, Harry, only a couple things are different—" Barry didn't even get his attempt at an explanation.
"Oh, I'm sure. Not."
Cisco's eyebrows raised. "Really? You guys are doing "not" on Earth-2 now?"
"Uh, no. That's all him," Jesse jerked a thumb at her father.
"Okay, let's just get Jesse on the track and see what she can do," Barry hoped to get things moving because Harry's sharpened eyes were not something he could withstand for long.
"Yeah, let's do it," Jesse was all too happy to show off her new speed. "All right. Check this out!" she took off into the tubing and ran as fast as she could.
"Damn. She really can move!" Joe was the first to react with popping-wide eyes, making the others laugh...except Harry and Wally.
"Yeah, she can. Um... I got to go," Wally tore his gaze from the speeding Jesse and left in a hurry.
"Wally?" Iris called after him but it was no use. It was easy to tell he wasn't quite thrilled with the news. Iris offered to go talk to him but it still wasn't enough to ease Joe.
"Look, it's just... it is better if he doesn't have speed," Barry moved over to Joe but was surprised to find the opposite in Joe.
"Oh, you don't have to convince me of that. The last thing I want is two of my kids zipping around the city, running into danger!"
"Cause he looked pretty disappointed…"
"This is about that other timeline, isn't it?"
Barry had only just thought about the fact Wally could be next on Alchemy's list. He had been a speedster, and though not an evil meta, Barry was sure Alchemy would do something to make Wally a threat. "No, I just... I think you should keep an eye out."
~ 0 ~
Things were picking up with the metahumans Alchemy was summoning. At least that's what Barry thought this new case was all about. John Kane had been attacked with a street lamp post the previous night that just happened to fly into the apartment.
"That smells like a metahuman case from a mile off," Belén told her mother as the Detective led her daughter into the offices. "You have to give me something."
"Yeah, even though you're my daughter—" Veronica stopped and turned to Belén, making the younger woman bump into her, "—I can't do that. Iris came in with the same attempt about an hour ago."
"She did?" Belén blinked.
"Oh yeah, I thought you were worked at the same place…?" Veronica gave her a strange smile.
Belén weakly smiled back. Truth be told, she hadn't quite listened to Iris that morning. The voices were inhabiting her mind and Iris' voice just couldn't break through. "Must have forgotten."
"You okay?" Veronica asked and looked her over to make her own assumptions. "You've been acting...a little...odd, even for people like us."
"I'm just tired," Belén said and believed herself to be telling a technical truth.
"Hm, take a little rest, then," Veronica patted Belén's arm then spotted Barry coming in. "You!" she snapped her fingers at him, making him immediately hold his hands in defense.
"Am I in trouble?"
Belén rolled her eyes and turned around to him. "Have you done anything else?"
"No," he frowned at the similar stares he was getting from both mother and daughter. "I just…" he made a hand gesture to them, the open office where Joe was conducting an interview with a young girl, and to the reception, "...I'm just...doing my job…"
"Help me out on mine then," Belén walked up to him with a warm smile. "I need deets on this case."
"Nu-uh!" Veronica warned her. "You can't bat your eyes at our forensics to get private information."
"Is it a meta?" Belén ignored her mother and waited for Barry to answer her. "You know I can't write about that anyways. Not if it's...you know, Alchemy's doing," she whispered in the end.
Barry apologetically smiled at Veronica who groaned. "I'm pretty sure it's a meta, though I don't know if it has to do with Alchemy."
"Well, we wouldn't know that until we need this new meta," Belén waved a finger in the air and walked towards the nearest desk.
"Barry," Veronica called to him again, this time serious as a Detective, "What exactly did you find? Because we're not getting much from that girl," she nodded towards the open office, "Frankie Kane."
"Well, the outer layer of the lamppost is a half an inch thick, but to bend even a quarter-inch of steel requires 177 tons of tensile strength, so…"
"Are we looking for Mr. Incredible?" Belén smiled at the two, wanting to chuckle at her own joke.
"...but I'm the dork?" Barry playfully asked.
"That's a truth too," she gave a nod. "But back to that little theory—"
"I know you're not infiltrating information to a reporter, Allen," Julian strode into the room, missing Barry rolling his eyes at him, and met Belén's smug look. "You know it's against the rules."
"Mhm, I know how much of a stickler you are for rules," she leaned against the desk and crossed her arms. "But this is off the record, so c'mon…" she gestured with a hand for him to keep going. "Let me hear how the story ends."
Julian upheld her stare for about a minute or so before he continued with their discoveries. Veronica looked between her daughter, Julian and Barry and wondered to what extent did Belén have the two men in front of them wrapped around her fingers.
"...the only problem with Barry's little theory is there were no fingerprints found on the post."
Barry really had to force himself not to roll his eyes at Julian. "Again, Julian, not my theory, and the meta could've been wearing gloves—"
Julian did not hold back. He raised a hand to stop Barry from talking. "Yes, perhaps. But the curvature on the post suggests that equal amounts of pressure were applied to the whole thing at the same time. So, unless our strong man has a wingspan of over 20 feet…"
"Something else caused it," Veronica nodded.
"You two are not really going to fight over theories, I hope," Belén warned Barry and Julian seeing as the two couldn't stop glaring at each other.
"They've fought over less," Veronica mumbled to her and moved for the office. She had pulled Joe out from the office so that they could converse.
"Who's that?" Julian spotted Frankie from the open door.
"That's Frankie Kane, the victim's foster kid," Joe seemed to be harboring something."That poor girl's been in and out of homes for years. Listen, she said that she blacked out during the incident."
"Blacked out?" Julian repeated, confused. From the desk, Belén listened in with a little more interest.
"Yeah. Repressing memories is a coping mechanism for lots of foster kids," Barry gave a little insight but it didn't seem to keep Julian at bay.
"Hmm. Is it?"
Barry's glare was just automatic at this point. "It is," he mimicked Julian's accent.
"It could be something else," Julian pushed past him to get to the office.
"When will you two just...stop?" Belén sighed as she leaned away from the desk.
Barry gestured after the blonde who was in the middle of discreetly taking Frankie's glass of water. "Did you not just—"
"Like school boys, you are," Belén shook her head at him. "But those blackouts...what if they're not just blackouts?"
Even though Barry was fairly annoyed she was getting on his case for something Julian so easily provoked, he listened to her question. "Blackouts have been...a recurring theme for metas…"
Belén cleared her throat when the theory got back to her. It was how she'd started losing control of her powers when she first got them almost three years ago. That...made her wonder. "I have to go," she said with the idea fresh in her mind.
"What? You're not going to persuade these two idiots to keep telling you whatever you want?" Veronica's gesture at him made Barry even more annoyed.
"No, not today, gotta go!" Belén scurried out of there with the intention of finding someone.
~ 0 ~
Jesse came to a stop with a laugh after finishing up a new round of exams for Caitlin and Cisco. "So, how'd I do?" she eagerly waited to hear the response.
"Blood pressure, heart rate, metabolic rate all excellent. And you've got some serious speed, girl," Caitlin looked up from her computer scanner with a proud smile. "I think you're good to go."
Harry, who stood on the other end of the computers, pointed a finger at Caitlin. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still want to run a few more tests."
"Like what?" Cisco gave him a look. They were basically finished with every possible test they could conduct on Jesse.
"Like...more tests," Harry waved him off.
"Hey, so, is Wally here?" Jesse peered to the doorway of the room.
"No, not yet," Caitlin was sorry to say. She could tell Jesse really wanted Wally to be there for her.
"Right. Um... Okay, I'm gonna... I'm gonna go grab some food. I'm starving," Jesse sheepishly patted her stomach.
"Yeah, there's some PowerBars in the workshop. Help yourself," Cisco suggested. He waited until Jesse was completely gone before he called Harry. "Harry? Can I just ask...what are you doing?"
Harry would not tear his gaze from the screen in front of him. "Being thorough."
"Yeah? 'Cause it seems like you're stalling…"
Harry flung his hands in the air. "Okay, fine. I'm stalling. I'm stalling! So what?"
"So what? So why?" Cisco would like to know.
"So why? Why? Why? I got to explain myself to you two? Oh, I guess I do, 'cause you're not parents. That's my daughter, okay? And she spent months on this very Earth watching Barry Allen defeat meta after meta after meta... And Zoom... And all of a sudden, bam! She's got speed, and now she wants to be a hero just like him. And I think that's a great idea. Not!"
"Harry, we can help her. We can train her just like we did with Barry," Caitlin took a much kinder approach than Cisco's sarcasm. "We've done it with Belén and Nina too. We know what we're doing."
"Yeah, except I don't want you to train her, okay?" Harry didn't know what else he needed to do to get that point across. "I brought her here for you to talk her out of it, not talk her into it, all right, Ramon? You... you should talk to her. You're a meta."
Cisco pretended to think about that crazy idea. "Yeah, which makes me the last person she should talk to about not using her powers."
"Okay, Snow... Caitlin... You and her—" Harry put his hands together like a prayer, "You've always had such a special relationship. You talk to her."
Caitlin looked at him like he was crazy. "No, we don't. And I don't know anything about having powers, so I'm the last person you should talk to, so don't ask me…" she knew she'd rambled on a bit too fast during that last sentence. She should start learning how to lie better - it was something she and Belén would need to work on together...just another thing they needed to get under control.
~ 0 ~
Belén arrived at STAR Labs and found Caitlin first in the cortex. "Where's Harry?"
Caitlin looked up from her computer and sighed. "He's probably still cooped up in the breech room trying to figure out how to keep Jesse from using her powers."
"What?" Belén was only momentary surprised but then remembered this was Harry Wells the protective Dad and brushed it off. "Whatever, I think I have a way to figure out a little more about...our situations."
Caitlin turned her chair in Belén's direction. "Like…?"
"Well, besides us and Datura, who exactly would know about Datura and Killer Frost's history?"
"I...I don't know…"
"Harry!" Belén exclaimed. "He kept tabs on the metas in his city. Granted it might not be in-depth but something is something."
"Belén, I don't know about this…" Caitlin sighed. This was a tough situation alright. She knew that unlike her, Belén wanted to understand and control these powers while Caitlin felt said powers were more of a curse. So far, Caitlin didn't know much about their powers and she didn't exactly have the support from the others since they were choosing not to say anything about it.
"I'm not revealing anything, I'm just...asking some questions," Belén tried to explain her idea so that Caitlin could see no danger of disclose would loom over them. "I can make it work as if I'm trying to understand Datura more. He has to know whose powers she owned and what exactly happened to make her...crazy. He can give me the timeline we need."
Caitlin tapped her fingers along the desk, indecision written all over her face. "I just...I don't want people to know…"
"And they won't," Belén promised her. "Worst case scenario, I'll tell him about me."
Caitlin could see that despite Belén coming to her to explain her idea...there wasn't much convincing her otherwise. "Just be cautious, please."
Belén beamed and assured her it would be alright. Unfortunately, Belén didn't have the time she needed to talk to Harry because their metahuman had finally made a true appearance.
Frankie Kane was their culprit.
Barry stared at the profile picture of Frankie on the wall screen. He, Joe and Veronica had the unpleasant task to meet her metahuman side after Julian practically forced it out of her. He nearly paid for that with his life if Barry hadn't gotten him out of the way.
"Her name's Frankie Kane, but she's calling herself Magenta," he told the others.
"Meh," Cisco crinkled his nose at the name.
"That Magenta is a whole different person than the scared, kind girl I was interviewing," Joe remarked. Magenta had an air of smug confidence that Frankie Kane was very far from.
"She's dissociative," Harry said.
"You mean split-personality?" Belén asked and gave Caitlin a discreet look of 'he knows what he's talking about' to which Caitlin inwardly sighed at.
She instead focus on the computer screens before anyone noticed. "According to her medical records, it's a condition she's been dealing with her entire life. I'm sure all the yelling at CCPD is what triggered it."
"So Frankie is Jekyll. Magenta is Hyde," Wally simplified it. "Classic good versus evil."
"Or she's pulling a "Primal Fear." She's faking it," Harry suggested.
"No, she's not faking it. I saw the struggle going on inside of her," Barry reassured them all this was a real case. "Magenta's trying to take over completely."
Belén looked down with an actual twinge of fear. It was an all too familiar fear she wished would leave her alone. Seeing it happening in someone else, a young girl like Frankie, didn't help.
"You said she was raised in the foster care system?" Caitlin asked.
"It's in her records," Veronica came over. "She's been going from home to home."
"Yeah, and maybe not good ones," Caitlin said after checking the records of Frankie's current home. "Her current foster father, John...the one who was hurt in the attack has got a few disorderly conducts."
"He might have some information we can use," Iris saw a chance to help and went over to Caitlin's side. "Belén and I can follow up with him."
Iris' smile made Belén feel terrible when she shot her down. "I can't go. I...have something else to do…"
Iris raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"I...I just...can't," Belén quickly looked down at the floor to avoid Iris' suspicious stare.
Even Barry was wondering, at this point, what she meant. "There is...something else…" he spoke up only to keep Iris down. He had began picking up on some strange behavior from Belén after Iris had pointed it out. He was going to look into it, soon. "She got her powers from Alchemy. When I said his name, she knew who he was, so Magenta must have existed in the other timeline too."
"Who's Alchemy?" Jesse asked.
"Well," Cisco began with an overly sarcastic tone, "Doctor Alchemy is a magic man in a cloak who can somehow restore the powers that people had in Flashpoint."
"Okay, and what's Flashpoint?"
"That's what we're calling the alternate timeline that Barry created when he went back in time and saved his mom," Caitlin explained.
"Oh. So Magenta is another side-effect from your time trip. Genius," Harry spat at the speedster in question. "Not. Who knows what else you've changed!?"
"I don't need to be reminded. Thank you," Barry crossed his arms.
"Look, anybody with those powers and as angry as her needs to be tracked down," Joe said, getting them back on track. "Fast."
"Well, great. I mean, fast I can do!" Jesse exclaimed and started out. "Let me just go carb-load."
"He didn't... That's... you don't…" Harry was left calling in vain. "Snow!" the brunette flinched in her chair.
She knew exactly what he wanted and groaned. "Okay, Harry, I'll talk to her, but I don't know what I'm gonna say." She got up from her chair and went after Jesse.
"And I guess I'll go see John Kane," Iris announced, lingering a sharpened look on Belén.
I am a horrible friend, Belén thought.
"Belén?" Veronica startled her out of her thoughts. "Still okay?" she was watching her daughter for any movements but Belén knew that trick all too well.
"Just tired," she recited her lie and waved her and Joe off.
~ 0 ~
Caitlin took in a deep breath before she entered the pipeline where Jesse was finishing her snack. Jesse sheepishly smiled as she cleared the crumbs of power bars off her face.
"You guys weren't kidding when you said speedsters were hungry all the time…"
Caitlin gave a little smile, an awkward one too since she wasn't sure how this conversation was going to turn out. "Listen, Jesse, before you speed off to find Frankie, I just want to make sure that you feel like you're ready."
"Why? Is something wrong? I mean, did the test results say something?"
"No, not at all. All the test results have come back fine so far. It's just... maybe you should take it slow…"
Jesse thought about it for a second before shaking her head. "Sorry, is this how you guys treated Belén when she got her powers?" Caitlin blinked, sensing the sort of accusation Jesse was about to throw at her. "Because we're girls? We need to take it slow?"
"What? No! Not at all!" Caitlin exclaimed. "It was the opposite - she was scared-"
"Well I'm not," Jesse cut her off without intending on being rude. "I like my powers and I can use them!"
This was going downhill, thought Caitlin. "Well, I mean, I'm sure you think that it's a great thing to have powers, but sometimes, it's not so great. Trust me," Caitlin paused involuntarily as her own secret began to resurface in her mind. "I'm just saying that if I had powers, I would probably take it slow…"
Jesse sighed and got up from her seat. "My dad put you up to this, didn't he?" Caitlin opened her mouth but Jesse didn't give her the opportunity to answer. "Yeah. I mean, of course he did!"
Caitlin winced as Jesse stormed out of the pipeline. She quickly went after Jesse, but by that time the younger girl was already shouting at her father in the cortex.
"You don't want me to have this speed, do you? I mean, that's why we're here, right? Not so you could test me, but so you could get everyone to talk me out of using my powers!"
Harry briefly looked over Jesse to Caitlin - the brunette quickly lowering her head and rushing to sit beside Cisco and Wally at the desk. Harry returned his gaze to his outraged daughter still waiting to hear what he had to say. "I just want you to be…"
Jesse groaned when she recognized the same old story about to be told. "To be safe, yeah. Yeah, I know. I've heard it my entire life!"
"This is different. This is way different!"
Jesse scoffed. "Yeah, no, it is. 'Cause I'm not Barry, right?"
"Right. You're not Barry—"
Jesse didn't give him the opportunity to speak. She was tired of hearing the same excuses for everything she did. She whirled around and left the cortex. Harry helplessly watched after her but the action of actually trying to speak with her again was definitely not the right one at the moment.
Wally cleared his throat and slowly got up from his chair. "Let me...talk to her this time," he offered. Harry gestured him to get a move on it.
~ 0 ~
Despite the troubled air in STAR Labs, Belén still managed to secure Harry alone in one of the cortex's side rooms. Caitlin had distracted Cisco with something that would hopefully take at least ten minutes.
"Harry?" Belén poked her head into the side room and gave a wiggle of her fingers.
Harry wasn't exactly the talking sort, and it was even less when he was in problems with his daughter. Belén had to remember that as Harry gave only a brief wave of a hand before returning to a deep work on the computers.
Belén cleared her throat and slowly stepped into the room. "Um, I have something to ask you...it's...um, it's about my doppelganger."
Datura was a delicate topic for Harry considering the woman helped kidnap Jesse and nearly got them both killed. "What could you possibly want to do with her now?"
"You haven't heard, then?" Belén dreaded to be the one to give Harry yet another point against Barry regarding the time lines. "Datura sort of got away from me in this time line."
"WHAT!?" Harry wouldn't try to keep his voice at bay even if Belén clapped a hand over his mouth. "ALLEN! I swear to God—"
"Harry, please! It's already done! There's nothing we can do about it. I'm trying to figure out where she is right now and I need your help!"
"I want to know why the hell Allen is still allowed to walk when he so clearly can't help screwing things up!"
"Harry, I know what Datura being free means to you so if you really want her to pay for everything she did, help me out," Belén put her hands together, "Please?"
Harry shook his head knowing that he would end up helping Belén with whatever she wanted. "You need to put that boyfriend of yours in the pipeline for at least a week."
Belén cracked a small smile. "Sure."
"So, what do you need to know?"
"Datura's history." Belén bit her lip nervously. "Uh, specifically her development into, uh...an evil meta."
Harry cocked his head, his scrunching face pretty much implying he had no idea what that had to do with her search. "What do you mean?"
"I was, um, thinking that perhaps learning her true history would help me ensure things end differently the next time we meet," Belén explained and gave herself silent props for making her excuses sound legit. "What I mean is, I'd like to know what powers she's been known to have. I know a couple, of course, but I also know that she only showed a pea-sized amount of what she actually had."
"Nobody knows all the powers Datura had, Belén," Harry shrugged quickly, "I doubt even she knew."
Belén blinked at the revelation. "What?"
"The whole reason Datura's meta physiology was unstable was because she couldn't control the powers she had. She couldn't stabilize enough to switch between them and actually identify each one."
"But...but what about the people she siphoned? There has to be records about those victims—"
"I can get you the reports from my STAR Labs on her and her victims but her actual body count isn't known, neither are her powers. She kept losing some while gaining others."
Belén let out a heavy breath. This conversation wasn't going exactly where she needed it. Make do with what you have, she reminded herself. It was all she had left. "Okay, um, can I just please get whatever you have on those?"
Harry nodded. "Give me a couple hours to compose all the profiles, alright?"
"Yes, of course." Belén would have to anxiously wait to receive those profiles and get started on a proper plan for her future.
~ 0 ~
"Seriously, what the hell were you thinking? You can't just go stepping into the street like that! I mean, you got to use your head!"
Belén, Caitlin and Cisco each squirmed in their respective spots in the cortex as each of Barry's shouts carried into the room. And if it wasn't enough, Harry and Jesse were going at a similar match in the very room. Apparently, Wally had gotten the idea that he could jumpstart his 'speed powers' like Jesse had - involuntarily - done in her own world. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and Jesse had to pull him out before he got ran over by a car.
Now everyone was mad...except for the leftover trio hearing everything. In the end, both Wally and Jesse each stormed away from their shouters.
Harry immediately called upon Caitlin, who jumped in her chair at suddenly being put in the spotlight with an accusation. "What did you say to her?"
"Me?" the brunette pointed at herself.
"Yeah, you," Harry directed a finger at her face.
Caitlin got over her initial startle and scowled. "Don't blame me for this. I tried to help!" Helping was all that she tried to do lately with no success.
"Help her or help me?" Harry's demand only pushed her further into annoyance.
"Listen, Harry," Caitlin pushed herself up from her chair and slammed a hand on the desk, startling both Belén and Cisco. "Maybe the reason she's shutting you out is because you're not trying to understand what she's going through—"
"I don't need to unders—"
Caitlin was not giving him the chance to speak. "Maybe if you helped her navigate her powers rather than just assuming they'll destroy her, she'd turn to you rather than push you away!" she gave him a sharp glare before leaving herself.
"Point one, Caitlin," Belén mumbled to Cisco who 'mhmed' in response. Harry overheard her and sent the two a murderous glare which prompted them to get out of there too.
~ 0 ~
"Iris, what are you doing here?" Nina accidentally startled the focused reporter in the hospital hallway.
Iris stopped and turned sideways to see the doctor smiling at her. "I'm following up on John James...for job purposes and…" she leaned forwards and whispered, "...meta reasons."
"Ah," Nina understand and looked around the rather empty hallway. "Our street lamppost victim. He's this way," she started walking with Iris. "What's going on with him?"
"His foster daughter is the metahuman," Iris began to explain in a quiet voice since nurses were still passing by.
"Frankie Kane?" Nina recalled the girl which took Iris aback.
"You know her?"
"Not personally, but…" Nina stopped Iris for a second. Her eyes flickered around in case anyone lingered by. "I'm not supposed to disclose anything, but...she's been in here a couple times with some...weird accidents."
"What kind of accidents?" Iris crossed her arms.
"Broken bones in the arms, one time a leg," Nina shook her head. "If you asked me, it's abuse but I can't exactly prove it which is…"
"Why you haven't said anything," Iris nodded, understanding the position Nina was in.
"I can't do anything unless I have concrete proof and if the girl comes forwards. I've just reported my suspicions to the social worker but...there's not much I can do."
Iris began to wonder how that might factor into Frankie's current condition. It definitely made sense. If Frankie lived in a hostile environment, she would try to cope with it some way or another...which might have made her an easier target for Alchemy. "Wait…" she grabbed Nina's arm when a new idea suddenly entered her mind, "...maybe that's why turned into Magenta."
"Magenta?" Nina wasn't in the loop about Frankie's new identity for the moment, but Iris didn't stop to explain.
"Maybe Magenta came out as a defense mechanism! She tried to get back at John Kane for hurting her…and if she did it once - and failed - she's going to try again!" she dashed for the room the nurse in the reception room had indicated was John's.
"Can we not run? I can't run!" Nina grumbled and walked her fastest after Iris.
"Nurse!" Iris found one nurse in the room at the moment and went directly to her. "We need to get this man to a safe location!"
The nurse gave the reporter a strange look. "Why?"
But before Iris could even attempt to expalin with an excuse, they heard distinct noises of metal from outside. Nina came in with a slight short of breath and saw Iris nearing the room's window.
"What is it, Iris?"
Iris' mouth fell open at the sight outside.
"Oh my God," the nurse nearly fell back.
Magenta was back...and with a tank.
~ 0 ~
In the cortex, an alarm went off but it wasn't one that Barry recognized. "What kind of alarm is that?" he looked over to Cisco and Caitlin who were already working on the computers to see the situation.
"That's Iris' panic button," Belén came rushing into the room with Joe and Harry. "What's going on?"
"Her what?" Barry was dead confused but apparently no one else was. "What is that?"
"Her panic button. We installed them on everyone's phones!" Cisco exclaimed and looked up to Barry's confused face. "Cause we kept getting kidnapped!" he nearly shouted.
"After I could start making an actual tally mark chart counting my kidnappings, we decided it was better to be prepared," Belén looked at the others who nodded in agreement. "I still won, though."
"Yeah you did," Cisco smirked.
"We got it!" Caitlin pulled up Iris' location on the screens behind Barry. "It's...the hospital…"
"Iris said she was visiting John Kane, remember?" Belén blinked. Now she definitely felt terrible leaving Iris on her own.
"Is that...a tanker?" Joe nearly fell over seeing the security feed.
Cisco slowly rose from his chair in utter shock. "Th-th-that's a tanker, yeah."
"She's gonna kill everyone in there," Jesse was wide-eyed like the others.
"We have to go there," Barry looked over to Belén, wondering if her strange behavior would also carry over to their work.
But Belén would be damned . "Let's!"
~ 0 ~
Inside the hospital, Iris and Nina were working to get John out of there, even though the man didn't really deserve anything at this point.
"I should really be up there helping," Nina struggled to get people moving without bumping into her.
"Are you kidding me?" Iris sent her a sideways glance while pushing John's wheelchair. "Don't you even dare! Let the others take care of things."
They made it to the front doors but stopped simultaneously when they saw Frankie's figure outside. Magenta was holding her hands on either side of her, controlling the tanker moving over the hospital.
Barry sped to the hospital's roof with Belén. The two settled on their feet and gazed at the tanker coming their way.
See, super strength would be very handy right now, thought Belén. She wished Datura could have had that power siphoned somewhere…
She shook her head after realizing the implications of that. Another metahuman killed for their power was definitely not something she should be wishing for.
"There's not enough time to get everybody out of the hospital. This thing's coming down," Barry communicated with the others through the comms. "What if... What if I create a wind funnel?"
"You won't be creating enough updraft to keep that tanker up," Harry shot him down.
"No, no. Not with my arms. If I run. That could…"
"Propeller," Cisco realized. "That could work."
Harry agreed too. "Barry! Run in a figure eight fashion. You'll act like a propeller. The wind will build upon itself. It'll create the supersonic resistance we need. Could work."
"All right," Barry exchanged nods with Belén then started running in the infinity symbol trail keeping the tanker from crashing over them.
"Okay, well, that worked, but now what? He can't stop her if he's up there," Joe remarked.
"We don't need to fight her," Belén said, still staring down at Magenta. "If she's dissociative then we can get Frankie to assume control again."
"That's your plan?" she heard her mother's doubtful voice and rolled her eyes.
Belén jumped over the ledge and let tendrils of vines create a downward slide allowing her an easy landing in front of the girl. "Frankie? Frankie Kane?"
Magenta's pink eyes glowed bright in the dark and settled over Belén. "You need to leave," Magenta ordered. "I'm not allowed to hurt you."
Belén blinked pretty rapidly, confused by Magenta but took any advantage she could. "Allowed? Why not— you know what, that doesn't matter because I don't want to hurt you either. I know that you're sick, or that...someone made you sick. Let us help you. My friends can help you figure this out…"
Magenta growled under the strain of her tanker. "You need to leave!"
Belén jumped when the tanker gave a large creak on the roof. "No!" she shouted at Magenta to stop. "Magenta—ah!" she lurched forwards as she started to hear voices again.
They want us.
We want to come out!
Use the fire!
This was the worst time to get sucked into the whirlwind of voices. What was worse is that she could actually feel some of those powers forcing their way up her finger tips. "No! Leave me...alone!" Belén clutched her head, shaking it frantically as the voices continued to invade her mind.
~ 0 ~
"What is going on…?" Cisco checked the monitors and saw Belén's vitals spiking up and down. "Magenta hasn't touched her!"
Caitlin immediately took over and smacked Cisco's hands away from the computers. "It's probably her sugar levels," she said the only thing she could think of.
"What's that got to do with this right now?" Cisco frowned at the ruddy excuse.
"Blood pressure is going up, really up…" Caitlin mumbled the readings with growing concern, "Neuron activity spiking...I...Belén!" she called into the comms. "Belén!"
"If she's not getting through Magenta will let that tanker crush everyone in that hospital!" Joe was in equal frantic state since Iris was still in said hospital.
"He right," Harry slowly met Jesse. "They need all the help they can get."
Jesse was a little doubtful of her father's seriousness. After everything, it wasn't expected. "Dad…"
"You need to get out there, now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I know you can do it. You're more than fast enough. Now, run, Jesse," Harry encouraged her with a smile. "Run!"
Jesse smiled back and sped out of there. She met Barry while he was running on the roof. "Hey, thought you could use some extra help. I got this. You go take care of her."
Barry was happy to see her there. He let her take over and rushed down to where Belén and Magenta were.
"Go...away…" Belén said through gritted teeth but the voices were swirling like a vortex, overlapping one another.
"Azalea…" Barry wasn't sure what was happening but he started getting flashes of her earlier days when she wasn't in total control of her powers. Could it be the same thing was happening again? Had he caused that too?
"Barry, Magenta!" Harry's voice rang in his ears.
Barry took care of the priority - he supposed - but felt a little better when Belén managed to send a weak smile his way. She was coming back…
But from what? And why?
"Magenta, killing your foster father and everyone else inside that hospital isn't gonna give you what you need-" his step forwards put Magenta into a snappy mood.
"You have no idea what I need! It's not just John that I want to get rid of. I want them both gone!"
"I know you're still in there, Frankie. Don't let John destroy the good that's still inside you…."
Magenta's eyes flickered pink to dark brown, but inevitably filled with tears. "He said I was weak. That I was pathetic! He said I was a horrible person."
"He's lying," Belén managed to get a word in, simultaneously taking in a deep breath. The voices were going away, but that was an episode she definitely did not want to repeat. "He's just blaming you for all the bad things he's caused in his life. It's not your fault. This isn't because of you."
"I just want him to stop hurting me," Magenta slightly lowered her arms.
"This isn't the way. Your foster father never forgave himself for his mistakes. That's why he took them out on you. He couldn't move forward. But you can…" Barry took cautious steps towards the girl.
Magenta's pink eyes faded to brown, and remained that way, this time. She looked up at the tanker and redirected it back to its place. Seeing the immediate peril was diminishing, those inside the hospital who could leave did.
With Magenta gone, Frankie Kane sobbed her apologies.
~ 0 ~
"So no one else got hurt?" Frankie was now properly there and sitting in the cortex with the group.
"Luckily, no. You don't have to worry about that," Veronica gave the girl a little smile.
"What about John?"
"The DA's prosecuting him for what he did to you. So I think he's gonna be serving time, and he's not gonna ever be anybody's foster father again," Joe was happy to report. It definitely helped having Nina's records on file just for extra evidence of that man's abuse.
"It's just so strange being responsible for all of this and not remembering any of it," Frankie stared at her hands, the ones who apparently had control over...terrible powers.
"What do you remember about how you got your powers?" Barry asked her, in the guise of the Flash. "How this all began?"
"Um... I started having dreams, at night, of Magenta."
"Dreams?" Wally asked, and she nodded.
"They were more than dreams. It was like I was living another life or something. And then I started getting them all the time. During the day. And the more it happened, the more painful they became. Then I started hearing a voice."
"What voice?" Barry had a good idea of who that voice was, but he wanted to confirm…
"It was a man. Named Alchemy. He said he could give me what I wanted and make me powerful again. I didn't understand. I thought I was going crazy," Frankie shook her head.
"Trust me. Magenta is not here because of anything that you did. There may be a darkness inside of you, but if you face it, it'll make it easier for the good side of you to win."
Frankie took his words' meanings with shock. "You're letting me go?"
"None of this is your fault, Frankie. Caitlin found you a good home in Keystone. People that will never hurt you."
"But what if Magenta tries to come back?"
"Fight her. And if you need help, we'll be there. We have faith in you, Frankie," Barry's smile was infectious to Frankie. She thanked them all for the second opportunity she would be getting.
~ 0 ~
"Your neuron levels spiked up like crazy, Belén!" Caitlin was reading over the reports she'd stored while Belén had been out with Magenta.
Belén was now the one sitting down in her greenroom while Caitlin circled her chair. "I don't even know what that means, Dr. Snow," Belén reminded her they did not speak the same scientific language.
Caitlin leaned on one hip, not amused with the response. "Whatever happened out there, caused every single vital of yours to just go up! I barely hid it from Cisco."
"I'm sorry, I didn't...know that would happen," Belén fiddled her fingers together. "I was just talking to Frankie when...the voices started. They were like attacking me with different things."
"They were doing more than just saying stuff," Caitlin looked over the reports on her tablet. "It's like, for a brief second, they were taking ahold of you."
"I felt the powers try to force themselves out of me," Belén admitted.
Caitlin shook her head. "I knew you shouldn't have tried to use them—"
"So then what the hell am I supposed to do with them?" Belén snapped and pushed herself up from her chair. "Because the last time I was in this situation was because I didn't use my powers! They controlled me, Caitlin, remember that? I worked hard to control them and be the Azalea. I refuse to let them take me over."
Caitlin pursed her lips and stayed silent. Of course she remembered. Belén had been close to fighting even Barry off in her non-controlled state.
"I'm just trying to do things differently here," Belén crossed her arms, her anger softening as she calmed down. She wasn't angry with Caitlin, and she wasn't upset...she was just...scared. "It's happening again and I don't want it to. I don't want to lose control. I want to take control. Not using your powers works for you but it's not how I want it for me."
"Okay," Caitlin sighed and passed some hair over her shoulder. "Let me...device a training plan, alright? Maybe, if we start slow, then we can take control of each power you siphoned."
"Thank you," Belén said softly and sat back down on the chair. She rubbed her forehead and somehow the fear she felt only increased as seconds ticked by.
~ 0 ~
"Hey, what's going on?" Barry walked into the precinct's desks where Joe and Julian already were. He'd gotten the call so suddenly when he was all ready to go home after such a day.
"Listen, Singh wanted me to show you guys this," Joe motioned Barry to quickly come over. His hand was hovering the clicker of the computer where a video was paused. "This happened a few days ago at Iron Heights. They tried to keep it under wraps 'cause they didn't want anybody to think there was a security issue, but check it out."
"That's Clariss," Julian said without care. "Is this why we were brought in?"
"No, this is why," Joe let the video play.
Clariss was shouting in his cell for Alchemy when all of a suddenly he was picked up and pinned at the wall. He was thrown around like a ragdoll, harshly, until he was flung one last time and hit the ground.
"Dead before he hit the ground," Joe muttered and looked up at the two wide-eyed forensics.
"Alchemy. You ever heard that name before?" Barry asked specifically for Julian just to try their luck at some new information.
"Alchemy? No, I haven't," the blonde shook his head.
"Maybe there's an invisible meta," Barry thought otherwise. Iron Heights was made specifically to cancel out any powers...so where exactly would this invisible meta come in?
"Maybe it's a ghost," Julian suggested. "Do you believe in ghosts, Allen?" Barry's flat face gave him the answer. He rolled his eyes and left the place.
"Hey, do you think this thing is part of the Flashpoint timeline too?" Joe asked once Julian was surely gone.
"I have a feeling a lot of things are these days," Barry muttered and tore his gaze from the video.
A/N:
So Belén is OC #1 out of 3 total Arrowverse OC I now write! The second one is Graciela Haynez from my new Legends of Tomorrow fic too and the 3rd OC is Anais Mjorkland from my Supergirl fic! Feel free to check their stories out under my profile! They will, eventually, have some future crossovers!
*So I'm trying to come up with a name for this series and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? I don't know if I'm clever enough for the task xD. SO far I've thought of like "Azaleaverse" instead of 'Arrowverse'? I'm asking because I'll eventually post another Barry/OC story and I want them to be separated from each other. So, any suggestions are well appreciated!
As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"