*Slithers up from the bottom of the ocean*

Heeyyyy everyone. So, um, sorry for DROPPING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH! I have been ridiculously busy recently, and haven't had a whole lot of time for writing. Anyway, for those of you who didn't know, I am still alive so no worries. I have come back from the grave and am here with a new chapter! I apologize that it is so short, but I figured that it would be better to get it out rather than nothing. Again, a shout out to all those who have commented on this story, especially those who left comments long after I stopped posting, you guys are all angels and I love you.

Also, a heads up, it will probably be a very long time before I post another chapter, so I am apologizing in advance. I am letting you know that I don't plan on dropping this story at any time, I just have very sporadic updates. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing from you!

The first thing he saw when he burst into the main room was smoke, and it sent his instincts into overdrive. He leaped over the desk that was in the center of the room, coming up to the thing causing the black cloud just in time to see it go from smoking, to bursting into flames. He immediately stomped on it repeatedly till the fire was completely out before turning to the others in the room. Eyes landing on Claire, he quickly came to her side, checking every inch of her for injury.

"Jim, I'm fine, I promise." He grunted, giving her a doubtful look and continued looking over her, "I'm serious, I'm fine, just a little startled is all, and you came to my rescue, didn't you?" Her tone turned teasing, and that soothed his nerves just enough for him to back off, though he didn't leave her side. He looked at the two men, Flash looked startled and Cisco was looking at the object on the floor like he had just witnessed a murder. Jim gave the still smoking object a closer inspection, and realized that it was some sort of electrical device. He had smashed it a little more than intended, but from what he could tell from the mostly intact pieces, it looked like a scanner.

"What happened in here?" He asked, seeming to startled Cisco out of his shock. The man looked up from the device, mouth opening and closing like a fish, before blurting out.

"She blew up my Dark Matter scanner!" Both Jim and Claire blinked.

"How would I have done that, I didn't even touch it?" Claire finally said, and it looked like Cisco was about to have a melt down. His face turned red and he pointed his finger at her angrily, taking a threatening step toward them. Jim stepped in the way, completely blocking the man's view of Claire, and snarled, a growl vibrating deep in his throat.

"Hey! Everyone calm down!" Flash shouted, suddenly appearing in between Jim and Cisco, clearly doing his best to stop any sort of fight from breaking out. "Cisco, we can't be sure that she did that on purpose, let alone if it was her at all, so let's calm down and stop pointing fingers." He glanced nervously at Jim, and Jim figured he probably looked pretty threatening, hackles raised and a snare on his face, all of his teeth bared and on full display. Cisco seemed to notice this too, and quickly backed down, stepping away and letting his anger go for the moment. Jim relaxed to his best extent, though he was unable to fully calm down quite yet. Caitlin startled them all out of the tension by clearing her throat.

"Alright, does anyone want to explain what happened? Cisco?" Cisco grumbled, but gestured to the scanner on the floor.

"I brought out the meta scanner to scan both of them for dark matter, I was interested to find how much radiation was needed to change Big Blue over here on such a dramatic scale, but when I turned it on, and turned it towards Claire, it started to spark and exploded."

"How is that even possible? There isn't enough dark matter in the world over load the scanner at such a quick rate, let alone contained in a single being, she should be dead." With this Caitlin came forward and started looking Claire over, much to the girls discomfort. Jim was about to interfere, but Claire put a hand on his chest, holding him in place.

"What did you say this scanner was able to scan for?" The girl asked, her fingers running along his stone skin, only then did he realize that he was running around without a shirt, and the faint blush on Claire's cheeks told him that she had just noticed as well.

"It scans for Dark Matter, or dark energy that is prominent in all Metahumans, and is the cause for their powers and abilities." Cisco explained, kneeling down to pick up the smashed pieces of his scanner. The man looked at the scanner like a fallen soldier before shaking his head, "This is completely ruined, there is nothing salvageable." He gave Jim a weak glare before proceeding to throw the crushed remains in the garbage bin by the door. Jim watched him, his stomach growled and he licked his lips. His gaze remained on the bin for a moment longer as Cisco walked back over to the group, but a nudge to the arm brought his attention to Claire, who smiled at him but shook her head. He turned back to the group and stood a little straighter, slightly embarrassed by his slip.

"I'm sorry about crushing your scanner, I was just trying to put out the fire." Cisco shook his head, a small sigh leaving his lips.

"It's alright, I'll just make another one later." There was an awkward silence after that, no one quite knowing what to say. Flash finally broke the silence, stepping forward to address the two newcomers.

"Anyway, moving on from that fiasco, would either of you mind answering some questions for us?" Jim and Claire turned to each other before Claire answered for the both of them, though slightly hesitant.

"We suppose not, as long as they are not violating questions." Flash smiled at this.

"Great, thank you." At this, Cisco sat down at the computer.

"Alright, let's start out with your full names." The man said as his fingers sped across the keys.

"Ah, James Lake Jr." Jim started, watching the man with caution. Cisco immediately pulled up the police records and birth certificates. He finally stopped when Jim's name popped up in the juvenile records, casting the image to the screens around the room. "Wait, they have me on record? I thought those were private records?"

"Oh they are, we just hacked, uh, gained access to the files." Cisco replied. Jim practically squirmed in place while everyone, including Claire, studied his police records. After a moment, Flash was the first one to speak.

"Wait, how old are both of you?" He turned a confused gaze to them, and Jim was starting to regret letting them ask questions.

"We're both sixteen, but I turn seventeen in a couple of months." Jim said, trying not to show how uneasy he was starting to feel. Flash seemed startled, and was about to say something but was interrupted by Cisco

"What kind of kid breaks into a museum?' Cisco spun around in the chair to look at them, "Like, what were you even doing?"

"Well, my friend got his watch stolen and we were going to get it back. In doing so, we found a gob, uh, an animal nest and went in after the museum curator, Nomura, to warn her." He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "At the time we didn't know she was actually the one taking care of the animals and most definitely not on our side. Then we got attacked, nearly died, and made it out only to be arrested." Claire was staring at him at this point, confusion clear on her face.

"When did that ever happen?" she asked, glancing between him and his mugshot.

"Before you joined the team." She gave him a look that clearly said she was not satisfied with his answer and that they would be talking about it later, but to his relief, she dropped the topic for the time being. The rest of the group dropped the topic as well and they moved on to looking at a couple other records, such as birth dates, place of residence, and where they were when something called the Particle Accelerator exploded.

"You were both in California when the Particle Accelerator exploded?" Caitlin finally asked, her and the two men looking baffled.

"Yes, but I don't see how that really applies to anything at this point." Jim grumbled, standing up and folding his arms while glaring at the occupants of the room. "At this point I feel like I have been dropped into a mystery novel half way through, so if someone could start explaining what is going on, we are kinda on a time crunch and have people we need to get back to." The three of them looked at each other before looking back to Jim and Claire. Flash stepped towards them, looking both of them in the eyes before starting.

"Sorry about all this, we probably should have explained everything much sooner and not just assumed that you already knew. Metahumans are people that have been exposed to Dark Matter from the energy wave that was expelled from STAR labs when the Particle Accelerator exploded. This exposure mutated their DNA and often gave them strange powers such as turning into living gas or controlling another person's emotions." Cisco and Caitlin both winced at that one. "Essentially they are mutants, but to we call them Metahumans." Jim and Claire both just stared for a moment. It sounded crazy, but they weren't really all that surprised, after everything they went though this last year, how could they be? But after a moment, what had been said, and what had been implied finally set in. Jim was the first to open his mouth.

"Wait, are you saying that you think we're mutants?"