Chapter 7:
Many had been missing after the Particle Accelerator explosion rocked Star Labs. One Doctor Caitlin Snow slipped into her own mind and disappeared into the basement in the weeks after the explosion. The terror which rocked through her eyes blinded the woman and she took in a deep rattling breath as she rocked back and forth within the basement. A hand running through her eyes.
A side of Caitlin slowly manifested through her mind. A side which she had mentally locked away for a long time. A side which itched to get out and play one more time. Caitlin tugged on the side of her head and breathed. Something deep into her mind.
"You can't keep me out forever."
Oh, Caitlin closed her eyes. It was just, just stress. Stress and nothing more. She took out a notepad and a pen and sketched some calculations. The amount of dark matter which flowed out of the Particle Accelerator, it hit her hard. Mentally, it caused her some great distress.
"You're just denying the inevitable. Let it go."
Caitlin bit down on her lip. The cool air in the basement got even colder. The pipes, slightly damaged from the fallout, iced up. Caitlin took a couple of deep and rattling breaths, and mentally counted to ten. No way, no way any of this could be real, could it. No, there wasn't a way at all. She was losing it mentally and completely.
"You know I've been real. And I'm who you truly are."
The walls of the basement iced over completely. Caitlin took a moment to take a deep breath before her brown hair turned blonde and her eyes shifted over blue. Her skin grew completely pale.
"How quaint? Were you trying to hide down into the basement for the rest of your life?"
Deep within the fractured psyche of Doctor Caitlin Snow rose Killer Frost. Frost held the sketchpad of Snow's scribblings and frowned when she looked down onto it. Yes. Something about it seemed a bit intriguing, to her at least. She studied every single last calculation and figured out what was amiss.
"It was Wells," Frost commented. "Wells was responsible for this. Wells caused all of this."
One more chilling comment from Snow echoed throughout the chamber. She took a deep breath and came to one alarming conclusion which only grew more intense with each passing second.
"Wells must die."
"For the record, it was kind of weird on the outside."
Iris and Brianna sat outside, with Oliver and Shado. Sara and Rose slipped in to meet them, having found their way into Central City.
"We better tell Dad the good news," Iris said. "Although, we should really just pass it off as a miracle and leave some of the seedier details out."
Brianna responded with a laugh. For the sake of Joe's heart, yes, she did agree with Iris. She had a large stack of pancakes in front of her, the third in less than an hour. For some reason, Brianna's stomach shifted into a bottomless pit where she kept shoving as much food as her mouth could hold into it.
"We've got so many questions," Oliver said. "And we'll answer them all."
Yes, and Brianna had questions for Doctor Morgan-Wells, although she had slipped off to her office for some reason. Maybe she was the one who made the call to Joe West, to tell them that the girls were fine. She would have to ask. Right now, pancakes beckoned.
"Well, dark matter increases your appetite," Rose lightly commented. "Who knew."
"Well, I'm not sure it's the dark matter," Sara said. "It's more likely that their powers. There's just so much more we'll find out about them."
"And that's what we endeavour to do at Star Labs."
Tess rolled down the hallway. Shado, who was nearest to the door, pulled it open a second later, and allowed Wells to roll in herself. She surveyed both Brianna and Iris and had been rather pleased with their recovery, at least so it seemed. Things would work out much better than they had before at the very least.
"We'll do it together at Star Labs," Wells said. "I'm responsible for this after all."
"Oh, you're actually taking responsibility for your own mistakes. That would be a change of pace?"
The room iced up at these words and Oliver, in particular, tensed up ever so slightly. He whipped his head off to the side and a blast of ice flew into the room. He dodged it, as did Sara and Rose. Rose grabbed Brianna and Sara grabbed Iris and pulled them out of harm's way. Shado took Wells and rolled her off to the other exit of the infirmary.
Oliver turned to face a woman who he had met once before. The one and only Caitlin Snow, a devoted employee and doctor of Star Labs. Only something about her.
"Look, cutie, I don't want to mangle your face," she said. "But, if you don't move and let me make Wells pay for what he did, you're going to get the worst case of Frostbite ever."
Oliver dove out of the room and knocked her down to the ground. The two tousled for a minute. Oliver slid back on the ice and landed at the end of the hallway.
"Doctor Snow, what's gotten into you?"
"You better keep up on current events. I'm Killer Frost. Caitlin's not in the driver seat any more."
Another blast of ice and Oliver avoided it. Caitlin, Killer Frost, whoever, seemed more miffed about Oliver. Her target had been Tess and Tess alone.
"You should go and do your job to protect him," Tess told Shado. "I'll be fine."
Shado raised her eyebrow, but the sounds of battle from outside indicated she would go. She managed to leave and a second later, Tess Morgan-Wells locked the door behind them.
"This should hold you," Tess Morgan-Wells said. "Gideon, we have a situation."
"I understand, we have a case of premature Frost."
Yes, that was a problem. And she had not been too happy with Tess at the moment. If she learned what Tess had to do to make sure the timeline remained stable, she would be even more happy. Hell, Tess was not too pleased with herself with the extent and the measures she had to take. But, what was done was done, and she could hardly do much of anything to change that.
"I do have some encouraging news despite Caitlin Snow going all Killer Frost earlier than expected," Gideon said.
Good news was good.
"Tell me, Gideon," Tess said.
"Your guest's position in the timeline is slowly stabilizing, although she's not completely cemented," Gideon said. "And if Oliver Queen dies in his attempt to stop Killer Frost, then I'm afraid we're back to square one and all of your plans are for nothing."
"He's the Demon, he has resources, death is only a minor inconvenience for him," Tess said. "Granted, it's one that I would rather not have to deal with. But, I'm confident that he will win the day."
The panic room's security should hold. Tess could feel the chill coming from the building. She rubbed her hands together and created a tiny bit of friction. Brianna and Iris tapping into the speed force restored a modicum of her power, but not enough.
Tess spent years studying how to not slip further into madness. However, madness always lingered a half of a step away.
"You really are persistent. The two of you aren't sleeping together, are you?"
The blinding arrow sent Killer Frost flying down the hallway. She knew there was more to Oliver Queen than met the eye. You did not spend five years away on a deserted island without picking up some kind of survival instinct. Still despite knowing, this, Killer Frost had been taken off guard.
"There's a darkness inside of you that wanted an excuse to get out," Oliver said. "I understand it. But, I can help you channel it."
"You can help me channel it?" Killer Frost asked. "Is this the part where you tell me that I'm better than this?"
"No, this is the part where I distract you while my wife knocks you out."
As if on cue, a Canary Cry from Sara sent Killer Frost smacking down against the wall. She smashed down hard into the wall from the impact. Killer Frost struggled, and Oliver jumped into the air and curb stomped her into the ground. He slapped a device on her neck and caused Caitlin to shudder as she passed out.
"She's going to be a bit miffed when she wakes up," Sara said.
"It had to be done," Oliver said. "She's not wrong to be angry. But Tess needs to be alive, until we figure out why and more importantly, who she really is?"
This question caused Sara's eyebrow to raise. She caught on quickly and responded with a nod. Well things were about ready to get more interesting.
"Rose and Shado have Brianna and Iris secure," Sara said.
"Help me get Caitlin down to a safe place."
Caitlin Snow woke up, as Caitlin Snow. She saw Oliver Queen standing over her and she just smiled.
"Killer Frost, I thought I had her locked away for a long time," Caitlin said. "But, I guess that's such a huge part of me that I can't keep her locked away for very long. Even this device that you put on my neck, that will only keep her at bay for a little while."
"It's more to give her a chance to cool down more than anything," Oliver said.
Caitlin rose up to her feet and sighed. She took the device Oliver put on her neck off and would gain control.
"The trauma of that night, the trauma made her break out and lash out," Caitlin said. "I'm not happy with Doctor Morgan-Wells, she ignored the advice of others that there was a chance. I only worked with her because I thought that I could help mitigate the damage. Several left, and I lost….I lost a lot of friends because I was stubborn."
"That happens to the best of us," Oliver said to her. "There's potential in you and potential in Frost."
Caitlin snorted. She did not see the potential. Perhaps she could be a bit biased on the subject of Frost though. It showed there was a darkness in Caitlin which she could not fully embrace.
"When you pushed her away, you made Frost hostile," Oliver said. "Which is a huge problem. The darkness is something which should be embraced, if you want to function in life. Otherwise it will consume you."
"That's a lesson you learned," Caitlin said. "Five years away. You must have learned a lot of lessons."
A smile crossed Oliver's face as Caitlin rose up.
"More than you can know, Doctor Snow."
Caitlin leaned in and nibbled on her lip. She cupped Oliver's cheek and edged a bit closer.
"Call me, Caitlin," she said. "We're going to be on a more personal basis after all."
With that, Caitlin dove in and aggressively kissed Oliver on the lips. She went all in, because after tonight, Caitlin needed to seize the moment. Caitlin grabbed Oliver's head and pushed her tongue down his throat. Her hands worked and maneuvered down his body.
The first few buttons came undone and Caitlin traced a line down Oliver's muscular abs. She leaned in and peppered him with a few more kisses.
"Oh, and for the record, this is one thing Frost and I agree on," Caitlin said.
"Well, if you come to a common ground on me, perhaps you can come to terms overall."
Perhaps, but for now, Caitlin wrapped her legs around Oliver and practically jumped into his arms as they kissed. Oliver set Caitlin down on the bed and prepared to take her in every way possible. A pleasant warmth erupted through Caitlin's body as Oliver climbed on top of her.
The Shameless Smut Commences In the Next Chapter.