I will admit...I am pretty nervous for this chapter. But here we go!
Enjoy!
"Cisco, please hurry," Caitlin said. "Barry's bottoming out. His body wasn't ready for this."
"I'm trying. Just a few…more…minutes." Cisco grunted as he wrenched open the control panel to expose the wiring.
"Iris doesn't have a few more minutes," Caitlin said stiffly. "I'm going up there to help."
"Oh, no you're not," Cisco said, waving a hand even without turning around. "Caitlin, you were almost just turned into a human popsicle."
Caitlin bristled. "I'm fine. I. Feel. Fine. You don't know what it's been like here. You can't tell me not to go after Iris."
Cisco paused and tossed her a frown over his shoulder. "Sorry. Don't bite my head off. Here I thought you were happy to see me alive."
The words tore a blazing hole through her chest. She opened her mouth to say more, but at that moment, there was no room for further argument. A scream bounced down the walls from the hallway beyond. Caitlin's head snapped toward the sound, while Cisco's jerked back to the control panel. He began working on it with increasing urgency as Caitlin started running to the hallway. She had hardly made it a few feet when flashes of red erupted and Iris came into view, flung backward into the doorway of the pipeline.
An arrowhead clattered into the pipeline beside her, useless, as a figure zipped forward and reached down to grab her by the front of the shirt. The Reverse Flash dragged her upward, but Caitlin's shout drew his attention her direction.
"You—" He cut himself off, gaze shifting to Cisco and lingering. His expression unreadable, he said, "You couldn't stay dead, could you?"
"Sorry," Cisco choked out. "I've got a great and noble destiny to live."
He ripped at a wire in the control panel, and Barry's cell opened wide.
The next few moments were a whirl of activity. The instinct to run to everyone at once hit Caitlin and immobilized her, but in the next blink she was stumbling backward as Wells sped past her en route to Cisco. In a flurry of lightning, Cisco was pounded to the ground as Iris had been, Wells kneeling over him with a hand raised. Caitlin had not seen Cisco's death in this timeline, but now that she saw the way Wells' hand vibrated, the details of her Cisco's bloodied chest came together.
There was no way she could get to them in time, but there was no need: with agility that would have been impressive even for the Flash, Cisco wrenched an arrowhead from his pocket and jammed it between Wells' ribs. The vibrating in Wells' hand slowed, even if it didn't dissipate completely, giving Cisco enough time to knee upwards and roll away.
Meanwhile, Iris had picked herself off of the ground and was dragging an arm across a bleeding lip as she dashed past Caitlin toward Barry. Caitlin followed, tripping over herself in her haste.
"This serum," Iris said, producing her second arrowhead which had not been knocked away. "You say it will counter-act whatever Wells gave him?"
Caitlin bit her lip. The truth was, she hadn't been around to see whatever last-minute adjustments the scientist had made to the speed serum. Her formula had been hypothetical, a shot in the dark—without tests, who knew what was actually happening in Barry's body. Not to mention, she'd hardly even talked with the Arrow, let alone seen his biochemical work in action.
"I'm not sure," she said. "It could very well make things worse. But it may be the only shot we have right now. We need to hurry."
Her timing couldn't have been more right. As soon as the words left her mouth, a strangled cry from Cisco caught her attention. The momentum of her turn was cut off by a rush of speed, a kick to the gut that sent her sprawling.
Wells' speed was diminished, not gone—the realization hit harder than the kick—and he was still faster than any of them. He had Iris by the throat in seconds, and even when she kneed him in the groin he barely relented. In another effort, she reached out and clawed at his eyes. He roared and swatted at her hands, and she seized the opportunity to knee him again.
By that point Caitlin had just managed to pick herself up from the ground and launch herself forward. Just as Iris ducked beneath a blurry right hook, Caitlin leaped onto Wells' back and wrapped her arms around his throat. She'd always been told to use her weight to her advantage, so she jerked backward and kicked at the crook of his knees. Wells bent, but didn't fall.
Suddenly Caitlin was zooming backward, her hair rippling in front of her with the speed. Her back hit a wall, and Wells pinned her there, one hand raised to strike, the vibrations starting in the tips of his fingers and working their way down his arm.
"I wish you wouldn't make me do this," he said, in a voice that indicated he didn't give a damn. "I think we could have had a beneficial partnership, if you'd cooperated."
"You know what I think?" Caitlin breathed. The words nearly stuck in her throat, caught by fear, but she spoke past her thrumming heart. "I think you're pathetic."
"And you know what I think?" Wells echoed, his breath ghosting off of her face. "I think that you've overstayed your welcome."
His hand descended. A rush of fear so powerful she couldn't comprehend it cascaded through Caitlin's body, and she jerked back against the wall. In the jolt of fear, the jolt of adrenaline, something else emerged from her veins; it pulsed outward, dousing her in cold, solidifying in the air in front of her.
Wells flew backward in a burst of cold and light and sharpness. A blast of ice from Caitlin's fingertips. He crumpled to the ground and the pipeline erupted in silence.
The world itself seemed to freeze in shock, waiting for explanation or confirmation as Caitlin now did. She understood how Barry felt, seeing things in slow-motion, with unlimited time to process, and still not enough. However, unlike Barry, she could not trust her own eyes. She could not piece together the visual of the snow at her fingertips and the reality she'd known, the reality of false normalcy. The two struggled to piece themselves together, but no matter how many times she blinked, they stayed stubbornly separate.
Ice.
Trembling fingers were all she could comprehend. Trembling fingers, which had just moments ago produced the impossible. They couldn't be hers, could they?
"Fascinating," a voice, now disjointed on the edges of her awareness, filtered through to her. "My locking you in a freezer was meant to be for my personal amusement only—I had no idea it would actually trigger your powers."
Practically choking on panic, Caitlin looked up. "What did you say?"
"All this time, I've been waiting to see if the particle accelerator had given you powers," Wells said, grunting as he lifted himself to his elbows. The front of his shirt was white with frost, and he winced at the movement. "It turns out you just needed a little persuasion."
"I don't have powers," Caitlin said hollowly. "I'm not a metahuman."
"Then I suppose what you just did was a convincing magic trick," Wells countered. He let out a breath and levered himself up to his feet. "Ah, Dr. Snow. What a future you have in front of you. Or would have, if I wasn't forced to kill you."
"What have you done to me?" Caitlin said, looking back down at her shaking hands.
"Nothing you wouldn't have discovered yourself, I presume," Wells said. "Metahuman Caitlin Snow. What a plot twist."
Caitlin looked up, registered his sneering face, panicked, and burst outward once more.
Ice flew in all directions, sending a deadly barrier around her. Wells, anticipating it this time, sped away from the blast. He skidded to a halt, opening his arms wide. "Is that your best shot?" he said. "Come on, Snow. Channel your anger. Your fear."
He jerked forward and, frightened, Caitlin sent out another surge of ice. Wells dodged easily.
Her breath coming quickly now, she held up a hand experimentally. The ice came rapidly, rushing from her fingertips toward Wells. A low chuckle accompanied his evasion.
"You know what they call you in my time?" he said. "Killer Frost. People fear you. The Flash has never been able to stop you."
She could feel it now, the powerful chill that had acclimatized to her blood, the same dreadful nothingness she'd felt after leaving the pipeline cell. Caitlin paused, terror hitching in her throat. Ice, unbidden, launched outward, and she pulled her hand to her chest in an attempt to stop it. She had to stop it, make it disappear, eradicate it before it—before—
Was he right? Was this the beginning of her becoming a monster? She thought about all of the metahumans they'd encountered, all of the scared, lonely people whose powers had suddenly exploded into existence as hers did now.
And she fought Barry? And he lost?
"I don't believe you," she said, but even as she said it, she knew the words were empty.
Wells' eyes narrowed. "Prove it."
Thanks for reading! If you could take a moment to leave your thoughts, I would really appreciate it. You guys make me smile. See you Sunday.
Till next time,
Penn