He noticed her three days after the particle accelerator exploded. A young blonde woman standing near the outer gates, glasses pushed up into her hair, squinting at the building. Not unusual. Reporters and angry citizens of Central City alike flocked to the campus as soon as FEMA declared the site safe. Except, when their interest petered out in the ensuing months, she remained. Even Caitlin and Cisco had come to expect her routine appearances on the security feed, idly guessing about her life.
"Totally a scientists trying to steal secrets," Cisco had said, mouth full of red vine.
Caitlin rolled her eyes and moved the bucket of red vines further away from him. "Well I think she's just curious. Probably some… accountant."
Thawne disagreed. The woman beyond the fence was far, far more than an accountant.
If everything went to plan, Barry was due to wake up in the next few days, which meant dealing with any lingering threats to his safety. The woman fell in that category by virtue of being unknown. He waited until the end of her usual evening vigil, far past the time Caitlin and Cisco left, before venturing down.
His wheelchair brought him to the gate painfully slow. Then stopped. A single fence divided them. Her attention snapped down, eyes widening.
"Dr Wells! I'm a huge fan," she said, practically bouncing with excitement. Then with nerves as her eyes flitted around, reassessing the situation. "This- Okay I know this probably looks bad, but I promise it isn't."
Interest. Most in Central City blamed Harrison Wells for the explosion. Yet this woman still held respect for the man, even admiration.
"My evenings aren't so busy these days, care to explain exactly this is supposed to look like? Miss…"
"Danvers!" She stuck out a hand. Took it back as it ran into the fence. Blushed. "Kara Danvers."
He rolled forward now and produced a key, easing the gate open with a simple twist in the lock. "Well then, Miss Danvers. Welcome to STAR Labs.
Kara Danvers proved herself to be an enigma. Oh she was smart, no doubt about that. Yet, she hid it. He could see the way her eyes sparked with interest as their conversation meandered toward the particle accelerator. Saw her bite her tongue with understanding in her eyes as he explained how it failed. She would certainly be a great asset to Barry Allen.
Except, as far as he knew, and he knew everything about Barry Allen, Kara Danvers never appeared on his roster of teammates. He had no doubt the real Wells would've snapped this girl up if he knew about her. So where did she go in the history books? Curious.
She explained the reason she kept lurking around the lab. Apparently unable to sake the feeling it was important. True, of course, but also easily claimed by anyone who kept up with the history STAR Labs sought to make.
"What is it you do, Miss Danvers?" he asked lightly in a comfortable lull in the conversation.
She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I used to be an admin assistant for Cat Grant."
"Cat Grant," he chuckled, "chewed you up and spit you out, huh?"
"Um. No. Actually," she pushed her glasses up her nose, "I was her longest lasting assistant. And she didn't fire me. I…" she trailed off, a little crinkle appearing between her brows, "… left. Though I never that it'd lead me to Central City."
He noted the confusion plaguing her answers in regards to her past. Amnesia? Or a poorly planned lie. "And now?"
"Jitters!" Kara said, brightening now, crinkled confusion parting. "It's a coffee shop down by-"
Thawne held up a hand. "I know where Jitters is. What don't know is if you are looking for a new opportunity. I could use an assistant, after all."
Kara's head hurt. Waking up in the wreckage of what looked suspiciously like a particle accelerator and clawing her way out without arousing the suspicion of several rescue crews was not how she envisioned her day off going. Not that she remembered what she had planned to do instead… but still.
The headache only grew when neither Alex nor Eliza picked up when she called. Cat didn't respond either. Cal-El's number supposedly didn't exist. She tried to take the next plane back to National City, Alex's strict rules ringing in her mind with every long minute that passed.
But there was no National City. No CatCo. Cat Grant still worked at The Daily Planet. She did still have a secretary. Kara briefly held onto hope that maybe, somehow, Cat would recognize her. She did not. Her new assistant, Siobhan Smith, personally escorted her out. Wherever she ended up, it was somewhere Cat Grant never knew her, somewhere with no National City. With no her.
With a sinking heart she dug the watch out of her purse. The same stupid watch Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane wore like proud badges. Because Rao forbid Cal-El ever respond to her messages. With a groan, she pressed the button.
He never came.
So she did what she did best. Research. Letting her mind fall back into a logical system trained into her since birth, letting it unfurl from its carefully restrained place in the corner of her mind.
Clark Kent did not exist. Alex, Eliza, and Jeremiah Danvers lived happily in Midtown. And of course, no records of Kara Danvers. She'd worry about that particular problem later.
Which led her back to STAR Labs. The center of he growing web of questions. She didn't remember coming to Central City. Maybe she heard about the particle accelerator and came to see it? She had been keeping up with Dr. Wells' initiatives both out of a sense of curiosity and caution, ready to step in if the scientists of Earth began following the path of the scientists of Krypton. But if she came out of concern, why did it explode? Kryptonian scientists successfully created particle accelerators millennia ago. Surely, she would've pointed out the fatal flaw that led to this disaster?
After month of discreetly x-raying the lab, the portions of it not lined with lead at least, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, other than a man undergoing intensive care, she was ready to give up. Until Dr. Wells wheeled his way to the gate. She'd read about his injuries and article after article ripping apart his reputation. Honestly, she thought she'd never see him.
She'd had to bite her tongue to keep from asking why he ever accelerated such a delicate project as they entered his office to discuss his project. If she recalled correctly, Dr. Wells' initial plan was to complete the project by 2020. Not 2014. The fatal flaw, once he laid out the circumstances of the day of the disaster, became horrifyingly apparent. She wanted nothing more than to shake the man out of his arrogance.
She didn't. Alex's insistence to 'be normal' reverberated in her head. But it was Cat's lessons that prevailed. People who listen, learn, and share the truth as a trusted face can do just as much good as some man in spandex punching people in the face. So she let the man talk, feigning disinterest instead of her growing anger. Something told her Dr. Wells saw through her facade.
And when he offered her a job as his assistant? Well, Alex wasn't here to tell her no. With STAR Labs at the center of her mystery, this was a chance she had to take.
"Uh… who is that?" Cisco scrambled to his feet, hand floundering behind him until it managed to turn the monitors off, obscuring whatever it was he was working on. A red vine drooped from his lips.
Caitlin jumped at the sound of Cisco's voice, turning quickly to face Dr Wells and Kara as they entered. Her hands sat frozen over a comatose man's chest, an electrode pinched between two fingers.
"Caitlin, Cisco, meet Kara Danvers," Dr. Wells said. "She is my new assistant."
"Hi!" Kara chirped, determined to make a good first impression. She decided to take pity on the frozen Caitlin first, and offered her hand to Cisco first. He shook it hesitantly.
"Nice to meet you?" He sounded confused.
Caitlin finally recovered her wits, taking Kara's hand next. "Nice to meet you."
With a smile, Kara began to roam, taking in the room with unabashed curiosity. The tech was definitely far past consumer grade. To be expected for a research lab, though it could use some improvements.
She shook her head. Nope. No upgrading the lab of someone who already pushed the boundaries too far too far and caused an explosion. Not… yet at least. She focused her attention on the man in the hospital bed instead. She'd noticed him appear a month or two into her observation of the lab. He never moved from his bed while she was watching. Cisco and Caitlin constantly hummed around him.
"Who's this?" she asked.
"That," Dr. Wells began as he wheeled across the lab, "is Barry Allen. Struck by a lightening bolt the same night as my particle accelerator exploded. The hospital treating him before was not equipped to handle his particular case, so we stepped in."
She felt her brows knit together. Tilting her head, tuning out the humming of the lights and the screens and the various other machines in the room, she listened. His heart puttered in his chest like a humming bird trapped in a cage. But it was steady. Surely Caitlin noticed his abnormal heart rate?
His heart accelerated a fraction. Breath hitched in his lungs.
"He's waking up," Kara announced.
Dr. Wells frowned as he examined her. His gaze sharp. Her own dropping down to her glasses as she took them off to rub at a spot that definitely existed.
"I- I think," she stuttered. "Just a guess."
Barry Allen shot straight up in the best, sucking in a gasping breath. Vitals spiked. Frantic beeping reverberated off of cold white walls. In an instant, Caitlin was pushing Kara aside. Or at least, Kara hoped that was what she was doing. It was always hard to tell if humans were trying to move her physically and respond accordingly. She hazarded a guess that she should step back, letting the woman take her place at Barry's side.
"Where am I?" he asked, holding up a hand to shield his eyes from Caitlin's probing pen light.
"Look at me," Caitlin demanded as he squirmed.
Cisco rushed over as Barry pushed away. "Hey, hey, whoa! Relax!" He placed a steady hand on Barry's shoulder as he fought to stand. "Everything's okay, man. You're at STAR Labs."
"STAR Labs…?" He looked around, confused. "Who are you?"
Cisco perked up at his obvious interest. "I'm Cisco Ramon. She's Caitlin- er, Dr. Snow," he gestured toward the Dr. holding a plastic sealed up threateningly.
"I need you to urinate in this."
"Not this second," Cisco hissed, plucking it from her hands. "Anyway. Over there is Kara…"
"Danvers."
"Right, Kara Danvers. She's new. And then there's…" he trailed off, looking around. "Where'd Dr. Wells go?"
"He left one minute and thirteen seconds ago," Kara supplied helpfully. She adjusted her glasses nervously under everyone's stares. "Approximately… that is."
Barry just blinked in surprise. "Dr. Wells as in.. Dr. Harrison Wells? Director of STAR Labs?"
"Yeah, man! Pretty cool right?"
"Yes- I mean no- I mean- What is happening?" he finally broke free of Cisco's hold to put distance between himself and the three of them.
"You were struck by lightning!" Cisco cried, a wide grin on his face.
Kara let his voice fade into the background as she checked her phone. Slipping out of the room unnoticed, her feet led her down an increasingly familiar path to the office of one Harrison Wells.
Thawne smiled as Kara stepped into his office. Just as he hoped, seeing Barry Allen had revealed another side to her. Was it a dangerous decision to put an unknown, clearly competent individual in a room with a defenseless Barry Allen? Yes. But it'd just been so long since something vexed him in a past he already knew. He wanted to keep her around, just to see what would happen. Her obvious talent for being an assistant certainly helped.
Though, that brought up another enigma. He had done his due diligence when hiring her. No Kara Danvers had ever worked for Cat Grant. In fact, Kara Danvers existed in name only. As far as documentation, records, signs of past activity, none existed. Someone created an identity, and did a quite poor job of it at that. So who was she really?
"Dr. Wells, you called?" she asked.
He hummed in answer, tapping his fingers on the arms of the power chair. "You've read Dr. Snow's notes, correct?"
She froze. "I- I don't know what you-"
He levied a stern look. She sighed. "Yes…"
"Good. Your thoughts?"
"Um…" She shifted from foot to foot. "I'm… I'm not a doctor. I didn't really understand them."
"Please, Kara. We both know you are far more intelligent than you let on."
Kara waffled. He waited. Perhaps Cat Grant did more of a number on her than he thought. Unless, of course, she was lying about the entire thing. Not likely given her very obvious tells, but technically possible.
"His vitals aren't normal," she said, warily watching his reactions. He gestured for her to continue, careful to keep his expression politely interested. "They're too elevated for a normal human, much less one at rest. His muscle aren't atrophied like they should be."
"So Dr. Snow's notes said. I want your thoughts, Kara." He leaned forward. "The world is changing, you've seen it. Dr. Snow refuses to acknowledge the… exceptional nature of Mr. Allen. I suspect you do not."
She pursed her lips. Ah. There she was. The scientist within. "Particle accelerators when used in energy research configurations produce outcomes dependent upon the particles studied to begin with. Without knowing what particles, I cannot say for certain what the side-effects might-"
"Clean energy, not research," he corrected. Well rehearsed answers flowed from his lips. "A power source for the entirety of Central City."
He watched in fascination as she rapidly synthesized that information. Yes, this was proving to be quite a good decision.
"That still leaves the question of the particles unanswered. Standard protons and electrons? They would never be able to power a city." Her nose scrunched. "Unless you used uranium, the amount of energy produced would never surpass the energy consumed by enough to be a viable power source. And I doubt you did use uranium, considering how quickly FEMA declared the site safe."
"Tachyons and bradyons."
"What?" She blinked. "You were messing with tachyon particles in a cyclotron in the middle of a city?" Her voice steadily rose. "The possibility for energy is there, yes, but the risks are always considered too high! No wonder the explosion was so catastrophic! Who knows what you just unleashed!"
"The risks are always considered too high?" He asked. The rest of her spiel was standard now. He'd heard it countless times over the months. But that comment stood out. "I was unaware anyone else was conducting research in this field, and I try to keep up with upcoming research."
"You don't have access to the physicists I did," she said absently before jumping back into her main concern. "Barry was altered by whatever came through the tear you created with your accelerator. If you were using tachyons…" She shook her head. "What exactly was the blast radius of the explosion? We could be dealing with a heck of a lot more than Barry Allen."
He held back his smile. The speed at which her mind jumped between concerns and variables was nothing short of addicting to watch. He wished for nothing more than to hold her here until he picked every inch of the brain she kept so hidden. But it wasn't time. Not yet.
"I see. I will have Cisco and Caitlin set up an alert for more affected individuals." An alert he had already established. And speaking of alerts, he dismissed one concerning the opening of the lab's main door. "In the meantime, I believe Mr. Allen is on his way out now. Did you set up the rendezvous?"
"Yes, just outside of the city to avoid any mishaps as you suggested," she replied with all the passion of a robot. Clearly stuck far away on theoretical particles and impossible results.
"Good. Send the pin to his phone. Let Detective West and his daughter know where to meet him."
"Yes sir."
Kara made sure to double and triple check Dr. Wells' schedule for the rest of the day before she allowed herself to hole up in her lab. Her borrowed lab, she reminded herself. Though given Dr. Wells' first hire in months had been her, she doubted the abandoned physics lab would be needed anytime soon.
She stepped into the center of the room. Took a breath. Cast a critical eye over the equipment haphazardly thrown across tables and desks, the papers littering the floor, the chairs thrown to the corners. In this moment, she could almost feel her father beside her, hand on her shoulder, silently prodding her to think of the solution. Even after all those years with the Danvers, wonderful and terrible all at once, a true family, if new, she could never shake the feeling that they were not home. Not when they forced her to abandon the home she had been ripped from without time to grieve. Without anything to connect her to what she had lost, save for a cousin who could barely stand to look at her.
No. She was expected to be Cal-El. To be normal. Human. Alex is interested in biology, you know? Why don't you try majoring in the humanities instead? A thinly veiled plea for her to adopt Earth as her own as Cal had. So she tried. Kept her head down, let the world pass her, let hurt and pain ring over and over in her ears as she did nothing to help despite knowing how to prevent the hurt. Having knowledge to share.
The truth? Cal-El was supposed to be her world. Instead, he adopted Earth, abandoning his suddenly younger cousin. He didn't need her, barely wanted her. So Kara continued to yearn for her world, the life she had once before, a life her family begged her to leave behind. And now… well she didn't need to go see Alex and let her blank, confused look cut a second wound next to the hole left by Krypton. But she did have a lab. A link to Alex and her father.
This, this would be her new world. One she would not let pass by idly. She smiled faintly as Astra joined the whispers of family threading through her lab.
So she got to work. After all, she could hear Caitlin and Cisco coaching Barry Allen through his first attempt at being a hero. If Barry chose to save the world with his speed, he would need someone else keeping an eye on the things speed couldn't fix. She did wonder how long it would take them to realize she knew their… 'secret', though.