Chapter Eight

"Are you certain this is wise?" Dr. Wells asked, frowning at the computer display. "Someone with her abilities could do an untold amount of damage to this city, to this country. What if Ms. Baez decides that instead of just popping into the back of a truck for a bag or two, she'd rather have the entire thing? Or decides she likes Mrs. Jones next door's teakettle and starts helping herself?"

"Dr. Wells," Barry looked at Cisco and Caitlin for support, and they nodded. Barry still had the edges of misgivings growing, the way some things didn't add up, but he still didn't want to flat out tell the man he'd idolized for so long that he was wrong about Peekaboo without back-up. He didn't want to have his own thoughts muddled and turned against him. "We've talked about it, and I think—"

"We think," Caitlin put in, not willing to let Barry throw himself under a bus without her to help haul him out.

"—that it's worth the risk. She wasn't violent, even when I fought her it was defensive."

"You got shot," Wells reminded him. Faulkner poked his head up from the computer desk where he was sprawled across the keyboard, having clearly learned that word.

"Grazed," Barry countered automatically, "and that was the boyfriend. I've looked. He's gone, probably out of the state by now, if not the country."
"And as much as she still loves him, she told me when I brought her lunch the other day that if she ever sees him again she's 'gonna smack him and maybe leave him on a rooftop somewhere, see how he likes being abandoned.'" Cisco shrugged, fighting to contain an agitated Fuzzwhump.
"Right," Barry nodded. "She's not a killer, and—my dad. He never hurt anyone, and I've been fighting since I was eleven for him. He doesn't deserve to be in prison and—well, neither does she. She made some mistakes, trying to help the people she cares about, and I've just been thinking about that, and it feels hard to blame her."
"I still cannot possibly condone—" Wells started, shooing Apricot from his lap.
"It's what we wanted to do in the first place," Caitlin said quietly. "Rehabilitate. She's not violent, she doesn't want to hurt anyone—which given that we locked her in a box without a trial is probably a miracle. Dr. Wells, this was what we wanted to do. Help people. It's one thing, Mardon and Nimbus and Bivolo, they killed people, or tried to, they like using their gifts to hurt people, and they had arrest warrants outstanding."
"We know how to find her, catch her." Barry said, wanting Wells to say something. "If she's a problem, we can deal with it. But this—what we have—it can't last forever, for the rest of their lives, and the sooner we do something…."
Apricot leaped back onto Wells's lap, purring earnestly. He took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"When this goes wrong, do not expect me to say that I did not warn you. But I hardly think I can stop you, if you all have your minds set on this." He plucked at a pant leg, then relented and scratched a spot behind Apricot's left ear.

Shawna didn't believe them at first, and said as much staring blankly at the mirrored door of her cell with a look that seemed more heartbroken resignation than anger.
"Yeah, you're just gonna let me walk out of here? As if. What's the catch, huh? You got some kind of," she waved a hand, " slave collar that tracks where I go and what I do, so you can swoop in and lock me up again if I jump across the street, something that'll block what I am? What you people made me with your particle thingy? Or am I your errand girl, trip up any traps for you, play fetch, cuz I'm supposed to be grateful? Be at your beck and call, with this box waiting if I screw up? Yeah, right. That's no life either."
"No strings, Shawna," Caitlin said carefully. "Except that you obey the same laws everyone else is supposed to. You can use your—gifts."

"Just not to steal." Cisco finished. "But feel free to kick serious butt at Parkour or mess with magicians in Vegas by disappearing on them."
Before Shawna could reply to that, Peanut Butter stepped easily through the cell door, purring loudly and licking the young woman's hand as she bent to greet the cat. After a moment, she said in a soft voice, "what would I do? I—I don't have anything. It's been months, I've probably been evicted, I don't have a job, or….You took that all from me."
Barry opened his mouth to remind her that she'd been the one to commit grand theft and getting locked up would have been the outcome no matter what, but Cisco interrupted.
"Actually, it's, um, only been six weeks, and I called your landlord yesterday." Cisco blushed slightly. "Says your apartment's paid up till the end of the month. Some foundation took care of it. And as for a job, I mean…you could probably start a delivery service or something. You know how much college kids would pay for stuff that's not pizza to be delivered? Not a whole lot because broke students, but it adds up, and you wouldn't need to buy gas or anything so it'd be all profit. Heck, office guys too, on dinky little 15 minute lunch breaks, now that's an untapped market." Aware that everyone was staring at him, except Shawna who was staring somewhere vaguely to his left, he shrugged. "I came up with plans for everyone else, too. Mist could make bank as pest control, Weather Wizard should really just offer to end the drought in California in exchange for ten bucks per citizen, if Prism can manage other colors and affects he'd be the best therapist…what? You guys have your hobbies, I have mine."
Shawna chewed her lip. "You mean it." It wasn't a question. "You aren't—this isn't some trick, you're not giving me to some—someone who'd try to—"

"Never," Barry said firmly, realizing what she meant. It occurred to him that all of the metas must have some of that fear, like what had happened to Bette, what Eiling probably would have done to him if Scrap hadn't mauled him half to death. "We won't bother you, either. So long as you don't hurt anyone, or commit any crimes, you'll never have to deal with us again. Unless you want to—you could probably save a lot of people with your jumping. But I promise, we won't hunt you down unless you give us reason to."
She nodded. "I—what about Peanut?"
Barry looked at Caitlin and Cisco, who stared bewildered back. They hadn't thought about that. Finally Caitlin answered. "She's a cat who walks through walls. She goes where she wants, and if she wants to stay with you, we can't stop her, any more than you could stop her from staying here."
"Fair enough. Cats are…I like cats. They—they don't need anybody, but they still—like company. Sometimes. Alright. I go straight. No more…anything. And you leave me be."
There was a general sigh of relief. Cisco reached out to open the door, and when the glass slid apart, Shawna didn't run, or jump away until she and Peanut Butter (and a box of cat supplies) were standing outside.

Fuzzwhump sat in Cisco's lap as he typed, all the humans looking very worried about something. The Nyoomman had come back from work smelling singed and upset, and there had been a lot of very loud bad noises earlier. Bombs, Faulkner said. Fuzzwhump was working on kneeding her kitten claws into her human's pant leg, to assure him she was there and wouldn't leave him again. But then Georgia called a Meeting and said that Bear was there, and it had been such a long time since she'd seen Bear….She mewed at Sco, trying to make sure he knew to stay with Nyoomman, and Nyomman's friend, the big man with no fur on his head who was Protector. She hoped it would work.
(Bear, how Goldie, how Puppy and Ris?) Felix wanted to know.
(Goldie fine, all fine. But. At meet, with Koshek and Havoc and other cats, like us cats, Goldie talk to Rita. Rita fine. But say, Fuzz saw Wheelman kill Sco. And Goldie and me, we know lie. We know truth.)
(yes?)Faulkner chirped, swishing his tail.
(Is true. Wheelman kill Sco. Maybe, not stay happen. Do not know how, but. Wheelman dangerous.)

(lie!) Apricot shrilled, loud enough that Caitlin looked in at the gathered covey of cats. (He no-) She could not finish the sentence, not with Bear there.
(What we do?) Frieda asked her twin. (Faulkner tell, warn?)
(No.) Georgia hissed after a moment. (If tell, he maybe say, is cats, cats do not know. Or, is joke. He maybe then hurt Fuzz, hurt Faulkner, so can no tell again. We watch. We do like lionesses, like tigers. Protect the litter, all the litter. Sco, and Soft one, and Nyooman, all. But careful. Always listen, always watch. Agree?)

(Agree) came a chorus of meows, followed by Georgia licking Fuzzwhump's ear in a motherly sort of way.
(Sorry did not believe.)
(believe now. Enough.) Fuzzwhump went back to her Sco's lap, purring. They would keep him safe if Wheelman tried again. She could not grow big like Scrap, or set herself on fire like Ginger, or grow spikes like Spike, but she would protect her human, no matter what.

Iris debated calling Barry again, enjoying how absolutely nervous his voice got when she made another pun, how awkward he seemed upon showing up. But she decided against it, opting to prepare for the mayor's shindig instead. She was glad to finally get a story that wasn't about the Flash, or riding on Mason's coattails, even if she was sure she'd just been the last second replacement since Mason was…wherever he was. She was getting more and more worried about that, she'd even mentioned it to her dad, but he'd just looked like he was worried about something else and told her it was probably nothing. If not for the bombings, she might have thought he was hiding something. Then again, if Barry really was the Flash, he probably was. Maybe she should start making puns at him, too.

"What do you think of the dress?" She asked Eddie, eyeing their two cats watching from the bed. Eddie laughed.
"You look beautiful, Iris. I'd say that with or without our furry little polygraphs."
"I know," Iris grinned. "But this way, I know you aren't just trying to make me feel good."
"I should get going," he said, crossing the room to kiss her. "With that lunatic Jesse on the loose, it's all hands on deck."

Iris nodded. "Be safe."
"You too," he told her seriously.
"I'm going to a fundraiser, not active shooting sites and chasing after bombers. Don't worry about me." Iris tucked her phone into her bag, and wondered if she ought to take a jacket, but it was a warm enough evening, and her dress had sleeves.
"Be good, kitties," she called as she left.

It could have been worse. It really, really could have been worse. As it was, it still sucked, and Iris was seriously questioning the universe. How was this fair? In the last nine months she'd been held hostage twice, not counting the Tony kidnapping her thing (and that was a question, what had happened to the guy? She hoped he was rotting in some prison strong enough to hold him, her hand had hurt for weeks.) and her dad was probably never going to trust her to leave her apartment again without Eddie and four other cops, at least.

On the bright side, she was alive, Jesse had been arrested, and she had absolute proof that Barry Allen was a lying liar who lies because he hadn't bothered changing his voice when he was standing right in front of her. Maybe the puns had broken him down. She was still gonna let him stew for a while, though. Possibly grovel for her forgiveness for lying about everything that had happened since he woke up.

Honestly though, all she wanted right now was a long, hot bath and a cronut or three, diet be damned. Eddie wasn't home when she unlocked the door, but Goldie and Bear greeted her with worried mews, as if they knew how scared she'd been.
And she had been. Terrified, even if Barry had unwittingly saved her life ages ago by telling her never to drink on the job, and then again by taking out Jesse and his sidekick. She'd been petrified for him, the bomb on his wrist, sure that she was never going to see him again, sure that everything was going to go wrong….but then it hadn't. He'd been ok, he'd come back in a streak of lightning, flickering and shouting reassurances. She'd put on a calm face, the way she always did. First rule of being a cop, or a cop's kid: panic later. After it's over, you can be as scared and panicky as you want, but during crisis, it only gets you or others killed. It had saved her life time and time again, being Strong, but now….Everything seemed so much.
So she scooped up her cats, both of them, burying her face in their soft, warm fur and let herself calm.
Too many secrets in her life, and too many close calls to not demand truth. Tomorrow. She'd get answers tomorrow.

Henry Allen allowed himself to be mobbed by cats, a welcome comfort following his hostage ordeal. Barry explained on the way to STAR about the powers some of them possessed, but the true power was how calming they could be, how they seemed to realize how cold his hands were. They purred and arranged themselves around him as everyone spoke, as he got the chance to speak to his son, face to face, no windows or cuffs or cameras.

He knew it couldn't last forever, but also that with Joe and Barry looking for answers, neither could his arrangement. He just hoped they'd be careful.

As he left, Joe walking beside him, not pushing or leading him along in cuffs, he only had to pause once to disentangle a kitten from his pant leg.

"Eddie, we need your help with this," Joe repeated. Eddie raised his eyebrows.
"Can I get this straight?" he asked, looking from Joe to Barry. Barry Allen, who was apparently the Flash. Suddenly a lot more made sense, like The Flash's anger around the time he'd been trying to get a task force approved, all those times Barry'd mysteriously arrived somewhere or vanished…even the lightning psychosis thing—of course Barry'd been acting strange, his friend had been abducted by a supervillain that day. Honestly it explained a lot more than it didn't. "You both want me to lie to Iris about her boss."

"He's probably dead," Joe said grimly. "And we can't let her go poking around. The man who did it—"

"The man in Yellow. Who killed—"

"My mother. Yes. I can't let him hurt Iris. We have to protect her." Barry scooped Nyoom up, cradling the fluffy ball of static and fur.
"I want to keep her safe as much as you do, believe me," Eddie said earnestly. "But you're forgetting something."

"What?" Joe asked. "If it's her tenacity, I know, I raised her. That's why we need you on this."

"That's not it," Eddie shook his head. "I mean, you guys do realize I live with lie detectors, right?"
Barry and Joe shared a look, communicating a silent "oh crap" that Eddie took to mean that they had forgotten.
"Um. In that case. Uh." Barry went visibly paler. "I think…she's been saying some things…she might….already know."
Joe glared, but sighed. "Then it's not me being angry you should be worried about. It's her."

"Well, it was nice knowing you, Allen. I'll alert the morgue." Eddie shook his head disbelievingly. "She's going to kill us all."

So I'm basically working full time now? but I'm gonna try to keep this updating at least every other week. Let me know what you like, keep me motivated :)